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Similarities Between Charlie Smith And Samuel Polite

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Former ex slaves Charlie Smith and Samuel polite had to deal with similar experiences in their time of being a slave. For example, both were bid off to different slave masters and had to work. However Smith had little more freedom than Polite did. Even though Smith had to work he was also treated like family to his slave owner. Polite on the other hand didn’t have that much of a relationship with his owner. He endured the same treatment as the slaves. Like Smith said “If the work didn’t get done I was going to be punished.”
Charlie Smith was said to be one of the oldest people in the United States. The African American race in the United States was inclined to live a long time. Smith was said to be born in 1838 in Liberia, Africa. At the age of 12 he was tricked to be put on a slave ship with family members to New Orleans. Smith said he remembers at a time on the ship another black telling the captain to “throw him overboard, let the whales swallow him like they did Jonah”. The captain refused …show more content…

Like Charlie Smith he was brought into being a slave. Polite had to endure working more into the fields. Polite recalls slaves being whipped for things such as stealing hawgs (hogs). In order to get through working in the fields they would sing songs to encourage themselves. As the slave songs came to be known they were more than simple hymns of endurance and belief in a better afterlife. Going to church was vet important to him as well. At the same time it was against the law to teach slaves how to read or write. Songs were a part of slaves daily lives and were a survival tactic as well as a means of coded communication. Once Polite was free of slavery he followed into his fathers footstep and bought 15 acres of land. Back then it was very rare to have blacks buying land to own. He also felt that slavery was good for him because if he didn't work in the fields he wouldn't know how to work after being a

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