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Celia A Slave Sparknotes

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In Celia, A Slave, Melton A. McLaurin presents a harrowing account of slave life and the complexities of the peculiar institution of antebellum America. Through the lens of Celia's trial, McLaurin unveils the brutal realities of slavery while also shedding light on the societal attitudes and contradictions surrounding the institution. In the narrative of Celia, A Slave, Melton A. McLaurin delves deep into the life of Celia, a young enslaved woman, and her eventual trial for the murder of her master. McLaurin's account not only illuminates the harsh conditions of slavery but also provides insights into the societal perceptions and contradictions that underpin the institution. Celia's narrative offers a stark portrayal of the harsh realities endured by enslaved …show more content…

Moreover, the specter of violence hung heavy over the lives of enslaved individuals. Celia herself fell victim to the predatory advances of her master, Robert Newsom, whose abuses underscored the vulnerability of enslaved women in the patriarchal hierarchy of slavery. Their bodies were treated as commodities, to be exploited and discarded at will; their cries for justice were drowned out by the deafening silence of systemic oppression. The trial of Celia for the murder of her master lays bare the contradictions and hypocrisies that defined antebellum society's views on slavery. On one hand, the legal system purported to uphold the sanctity of property rights, treating slaves as mere chattels to be bought, sold, and disposed of at will. Yet, when confronted with the complexities of human relationships and the innate desire for self-preservation, the rigid boundaries of property ownership began to blur. Celia's defense argued that she had acted in self-defense against the repeated sexual assaults of her master, seeking to assert her agency and autonomy in the face of unspeakable

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The book, “Celia, A Slave,” is a true story written by Melton A. McLaurin and published by the University of Georgia Press in 1991. McLaurin was an educator at the University of South Alabama where he served several years as Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs before retiring. He is known for writing several articles and books about the American South and race relations. He wrote this book specifically about slavery and how women and men or blacks and whites were divided. Whites were superior in the United States.

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264 Words | 2 Pages

Celia a 14 year old slave kills her master due to him raping her quite often in a cabin by his house. When she is put up for trial the verdict does not focus on why she killed her master but because she killed her master. This relates very much to real life. During the 1800s when a slave committed a crime that the master wanted

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Whenever a man acquired more slaves, the amount of his wealth increased, and so did his social status. This led to Newsom, having slaves to add value to his social status. Most of his slaves worked on his farm and around the household. Among his slaves was Celia, who he made a sex slave, but to avoid a scandal, she also cooked and cleaned for him (McLaurin, 1991). Making her fulfill his sexual pleasures denied Celia control over her life.

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The book Celia, a slave, was written by Melton McLaurin to show the horrors of slavery in America during the slavery periods and thus, provide insight into the dark times of the slavery encouraging America of the time. In the book McLaurin expertly explores the topic of sexual exploitation of slaves by narrating the case of Celia, a slave that was convicted of the murder of her owner. Celia was only fourteen years old when she was bought as a slave for her owner who at the time had five other slaves. At the time owning of slaves was the apex of wealth, and her owner who happened to be rich by the standards of the time could afford to have five slaves. Robert Newsom, who bought Celia, started sexually abusing her on the day she was purchased

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1418 Words | 6 Pages

That was the typical lifestyle of Southerners, most lived on plantations and owned several slaves. Women slaves were bought mostly working in the house, taking care of the kids and men were for hard labor and tending the farm. Celia was a slave girl who was sold and bought at the age of fourteen by a farmer named Robert Newsome, who lived in Callaway County, Missouri in 1850. Little to no information is known about Celia before she was purchased by Newsome, there are no records. On their travel, back to the plantation Newson, raped Celia and in that was how he established his relationship with her.

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1592 Words | 7 Pages

Melton McLaurin’s book Celia, A Slave, addresses the moral dilemma in the United States during the 1850’s about the heated debate over slavery. Celia, a Slave is a true story about the trial, conviction and hanging execution of a young female slave for the murder of her master. Celia, a slave, faced daily sexual exploitations at the hands of her master which started at the tender age of fourteen, and ultimately ended when she murdered him. The conditions surrounding Celia’s life exemplify the certainties of slave life in the South and moral choices the institution of slavery forced upon slaves and slaveholders. The course and result of Celia's trial were affected by people and a court framework that were attempting to accommodate the individual

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142 Words | 1 Pages

Celia, A Slave, Melton McLaurin, Harper-Collins: New York, 2002. Celia, A Slave, is an informative book written by Melton A. McLaurin. He wrote about the pro-slavery and abolitionist movement during 1855, Celia's court case and the events that lead to her trial. McLaurin also provided the impacted the movement had on the court's final decision.

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In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson” and “Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass”, Rowlandson and Douglass tell the story of their captivity and slavery; with their patience, faith and determination they each fought for their freedom. Although the stories take place at least 100 years apart, they both exemplify the harsh reality of being captive. Mary Rowlandson and Fredrick Douglass are two writers who had entirely different experiences but in both of their narratives it becomes clear that they each went through a long journey to obtain freedom. Some of the hardship that they both had to overcome included not only being whipped, restrained and beaten, but also being overworked and undernourished, lacking

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One of the most difficult situations to face in life is a moral dilemma. This is exactly what was encountered by slaveholders and plain folk alike concerning the trial of Celia, a slave during the 1850s. The moral ambiguity of slavery is addressed in Celia, A Slave, especially as the sexual aspect of Celia’s case called people to contemplate whether it was moral to mistreat slaves. When Celia had been sexually abused and mistreated by her master, she lashed out and killed him. From the perspective of the 1850s, her master, Robert Newsom, had not committed a crime, whereas Celia had perpetrated a crime deserving of the death penalty.

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1753 Words | 8 Pages

Whether they wished to assist Celia or not, Newsom’s husbandless daughters were utterly dependent upon their father (McLaurin, 32), a fact that made confronting him dangerous. The importance of this master-slave structure in Southern life, as well as the value of slavery itself, may explain the actions of the Judge presiding over Celia’s trial. By choosing to sustain the objections of the prosecution, Judge William Hall sealed the fate of Celia the slave. Had he acted against the established institution, Celia might have been spared. He chose instead to protect it, probably guided by the

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Celia’s story derives from the nature of the specific issues and reveals her case by showing her relationship of race, gender and power in the antebellum South. Sixty-years old, widow, slaveholding farmer from Missouri, came to purchase a slave. One the way back to his form, the sixty-year old, owner raped the girl named Celia who is fourteen years old slave. Her sexual relationship continued by her owner and another slave. Then one day, Celia killed her master accidentally in the process of attempting resist from his sexual demands.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

Analogous in form to the spiritual autobiography, the slave narrative emphasizes the difficulty of upholding moral goodness under the weight of slavery. By revealing herself as a “fallen woman” Jacobs creates a hazardous problem, capable of eliminating the sympathies of a primarily white audience. Moreover, Jacobs risks portraying herself as an impure woman, whose virtuousness departs from the piousness and gracefulness typically exemplified by the ideal woman or “angel in the house,” according to the “Cult of True Womanhood.” Therefore, in an effort to preserve the ethos of her argument, Jacobs attributes her unchaste condition to the systemic effects of American slavery. Hoping to destroy the ideology of benign paternalism, Jacobs reveals her consequential ethical dilemma through a faint description of her master’s, Dr. Flint’s, licentious behavior.

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Throughout the history of slavery in America, there was always the false promises, and broken deals when it came to slaves being able to be emancipated by purchase, or manumission, and Leckler exposes his intentions, similar to most slave-owners, of never letting Josh become free (2). Alternatively, Josh exhibits all of the exemplary characteristics of a person, although being subjected to the imprisonment of slavery, uses his intelligence, ingenuity, and courage to survive and achieve. Hardworking, honest and a loyal servant, Josh outwardly personified all the positive attributes that slaveholders would expect and have pride in their slaves’ acquiescence to their conditions (2-3). Spurred by the innate urge to become a full human being while

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As many events occur throughout the novel, the reader is able to understand a first-hand understanding of a historical period of time, while also gaining the emotions and logistics of consequential personal experiences. Therefore, from these experiences the reader may achieve a greater understanding of history itself which would not have been possible without the rhetorical devices found inside literature and the truth of Cora’s struggles which were analogous to other slaves of the time, may never have received the general comprehension that it

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