Slavery and Abolition

August Wilson wrote the book Gem of the Ocean, which is about the life of African-Americans in the twentieth century. The job is a holding showiness, with incidents that drive into the spot like confound bits and dialects that are a furious scream from the psyche and heart, illuminating and further expanding our understanding of African-American subjections. Slavery in the United States of America began in the early 1800s. During the invasion of America, there was an increase in demand for more sugar and cotton, which promoted slavery (Oldfield, John, p. 309). The African American slaves replaced the indentured servants, with the use of slaves provided cheap labor and quick production of crops, this became widely used means of producing sugar and cotton in most parts America, particularly southern part. However, during the civil war, the rebellion of the confederates leads to the issuing of Emancipation Proclamation, which allowed all slaves in the rebellion areas to be free (Wilson, Prince E., and John Hope Franklin, p. 204). In addition, labor system and the Gettysburg Address by the president lead to the ratification of the United States Constitution as well as the Nevada constitutions by abolishing the establishment of slavery in America. This manuscript will address slavery and abolition based on August Wilson’s book “Gem of the Ocean”

Gem of the Ocean

The main them in the book Gem of the Ocean is the opportunity of acquiring freedom. The book was written in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, a place where the African American people are ostensibly free, but experiences an ongoing and systematic oppression in form of slavery (Wilson, August, p. 4). Wilson creates the characters that are arresting. Besides Aunt Ester, a former slave and soul cleanser who live in Pittsburgh, where a greater part of the events in the book takes place, there is a character known as Solly who was a slave and run away to Canada, only to return back to his hazard to enable African American slaves to escape through the underground railroad. It is believed that he helped 62 slaves to escape. Other characters like Barlow, the most recent slavery escapee who did commit murder and it was stuck on an honest man, he suffocates himself instead of facing the arraignment in the courts dominated by the white prosecutors (Wilson, August, p. 23).

The nature of the slavery in the play is represented by a tin mill of white individuals that employ the blacks but also keeps them in debts as well as holds them down as their slaves, just like the southern states practice the act of slavery in the seventeenth century, when they concentrated on the blacks as the source of cheap and plentiful labor force than servants under contact. This situation of slavery is strange and disturbing, as some of the people decide to die innocent rather than live guilty. This is evident when the discontent arose among the black mill workers which in turn lead to the burning of the mill factory by Solly and Barlow, who runs away from a police constable called Caesar looking for the culprits of the turmoil (Wilson, August, p. 50). As in all the action of the book, Gem of the Ocean radiates an incongruity that exhibits how it is practically incomprehensible for the African-American to have moral existences in a general public that is unwilling to give them measure up to circumstances. In the event that the African American carries out violation far, overabundances of those submitted by the white partners, at that points are expensive on the grounds that their backs are against the dividers in an unjustified society (Wilson, August, p. 42).

The slavery and the Middle Passage

Aunt Ester’s recognition of the general population who did not endure the period of slavery is a reference of those individuals suffered most and did not service the time of the middle passage, considered as the most ruinous part of the human slavery period (Wilson, August, p. 61). Middle passage was a development from the European nations to the continent of Africa and involved the dispatch of Africans as slaves to American and European nations. This involves stripping the Africans bare or naked, African slaves were fastened and chained together and they were firmly pressed in an exceptionally bound compartment. The slaves were in thus compelled to rests on the layers of the rack with no place of sitting up straight. The slaves were forced and subjected to the most dramatic condition for the next weeks or even months, while they were being transported to America and European nations. As noted by Equiano, Olaudah (p. 24), the congestion as well as the climatic heat made it worst for the ship which comprised of crowded slaves as there was no room for them to turn around and made most of the slaves to suffocate.

Most of the African slaves preferred death to the misery of slavery. This was evident as told by Equiano that two individuals from his country made a decision of jumping into the sea instead of undergoing slavery under the hands of the whites. There was another form of indignities that faced the slaves on arriving at the shores of America; the slaves were moved to a house where they were allowed to clean up, eat and rest (Equiano, Olaudah, p. 22). However, they were about to be subjected and embark on a more crucial journey in the new world as slaves for the whites. The entire book of Wilson is incorporated into the spirituality of the music it uses it as a form of folk literature for the blacks. There is a norm of calling and responding to the sang songs that originated from the slaves and the only instruments they used was the drum and their voices. However, the singing in native language by the slaves was burned by the native whites as they feared that this activity could lead to rebellion from the slaves. Due to this, the use of rhythm and tones of the old dialect was initiated by the slaves (Wilson, August, p. 40). the spiritual background of the slaves was guided by the characters as well as the stories from the Quran and the Bible; the way in which they were exhibited showered that the slaves had a strong imagination and religious background.

Emancipation and Migration

Based on the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth amendment of the America’s Constitution, and the enactment of the civil right, the process of slavery abolition was initiated, with the majority of the slaves being set free as well as attaining the American citizenship. However, the while continued to assume the responsibilities of governance, particularly in South with the greatest concern of controlling the former slaves (Earle, Jonathan, p. 65). This was manifested by enacting regulations and laws which focus on racism to limit the movement of African Americans. These laws included black codes and Jim Crow laws, showed the way the whites weren’t ready to abolish slavery. These laws were a form of slavery practiced in a codified and formal system. The laws were damage to the life aspects of the African American citizens as they were subjected to more segregation and isolation from the society, with the whites enjoying all the elements of the enforced regulation (Tischauser, Leslie Vincent, p. 43). Focusing the laws in a legal perspective, African American were subjected to separated rights and treatments compared to the whites; in actuality, African American were forced to work as slaves with low wages; and those who did not work were arrested for vagrancy and penalized heavily. In addition, they were restricted to particular areas or regions could live (Strong, Robert A, p. 210). This was evident in the book, Gem of the Ocean when the blacks were forced to work for the mill.

A touching characteristic of the slavery period was exhibited when the ex-slaves started looking for their loved one separated by the slavery. The urge of reunion showed the desires of resiliency among the African American and they intensified their effort to make their own families after years of staying together as slaves without any form of contracts to justify their marriages, and have children of their won. The essentiality of possessing a family is well depicted by Selig, considered as the finder of the people and Solly who spend the better part of his time to bring his own blood sister to the northern part of the country, with the believe and trust that the northern part of the nation was well better off in terms of freedom than the southern states. However, the expectation of the majority of the migrants from the South was shattered by the whites in the northern states who feared the rising number of the blacks and took it as a treat. This prompted murdering and lynching of the blacks by the southerners, while the white northerners used race riots to control the migration of the blacks. The White entered into the homes of the African-American communities and damaged or destroyed their properties, injury, as well as kill them, which lead to many African American to flee their homes, as they feared for their lives (Oldfield, John, p. 310).

African American found it difficult to secure employments or jobs and those who were lucky to be employed were barred from joining labor force association and union. In addition, the young black men were restricted from joining any craftsmen course by the union (Wilson, August, p. 73). With the majority of them being employed as builders, repairers, and ditch diggers, whereas, the women worked as cleaners and cookers. However, following the thirteenth amendment of the constitution and slavery ratification, the process of slavery abolition was initiated and it ensured that any form of slavery was prohibited in the jurisdiction of the United States of America (Earle, Jonathan, p. 71).

Conclusion

The history of slavery in United States of American can be traced back to 18th century. The slavery of African American people was encouraged by an increased in the demand to produce more cotton, tobacco, and sugar by the southern white farmers. The black slaves replaced the indentured surfaces with the application of the slaves as means of cheap labor as well as the quick production of cash crops. The process of abolishing slavery in America was bitter and took long to bear fruits. Abolition of slavery was boosted by more than hundred antislavery association and unions. This resulted in the reduction of slavery in northern states, but southern parts continued to oppose the process of emancipation by creating of their own regulation known as Black Codes and adherence to Jim Crow laws. This resulted in the migration of many slaves to the north and Canada via the Underground Railroad. In addition, slavery leads to the civil war of 1861 to1865, the Gettysburg address by the president, ratification of the 13th amendment as well as emancipation proclamation lead to the abolition of slavery in America.



Works Cited

Earle, Jonathan. "The Making Of The North's ‘Stark Mad Abolitionists’: Anti-Slavery Conversion In The United States, 1824–54". Slavery & Abolition, vol 25, no. 3, 2004, pp. 59-75. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/0144039042000302242.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano, Etc. 1st ed., Penryn, Printed By And For W. Cock, 1816,

Oldfield, John. "Abolition: A History Of Slavery And Antislavery". Slavery & Abolition, vol 32, no. 2, 2011, pp. 309-310. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/0144039x.2011.568235.

Strong, Robert A. "Alexis De Tocqueville And The Abolition Of Slavery". Slavery & Abolition, vol 8, no. 2, 1987, pp. 204-215. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/01440398708574934.

Tischauser, Leslie Vincent. Jim Crow Laws. 1st ed., Santa Barbara, Calif., Greenwood, 2012,

Wilson, August. Gem Of The Ocean. 1st ed., New York, Theatre Communications Group, 2008,

Wilson, Prince E., and John Hope Franklin. "The Emancipation Proclamation". Phylon (1960-), vol 24, no. 2, 1963, p. 204. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/274328.