Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom | Page 7

from which we fled.

According to the law of Louisiana, "A slave is one who is in the power
of a master to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of
his person, his industry, and his labour; he can do nothing, possess
nothing, nor acquire anything but what must belong to his
master."--Civil Code, art. 35.
In South Carolina it is expressed in the following language:--"Slaves
shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and judged in law to be chattels
personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their
executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes whatsoever.-- 2 Brevard's Digest, 229.
The Constitution of Georgia has the following (Art. 4, sec. 12):--"Any
person who shall mali- ciously dismember or deprive a slave of life,
shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like
offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like
proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave, and unless SUCH
DEATH SHOULD HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT IN GIVING SUCH
SLAVE MODERATE CORRECTION."--Prince's Digest, 559.
I have known slaves to be beaten to death, but as they died under
"moderate correction," it was quite lawful; and of course the murderers
were not interfered with.
"If any slave, who shall be out of the house or plantation where such
slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white
person in company with such slave, shall REFUSE TO SUBMIT to
undergo the examination of ANY WHITE person, (let him be ever so
drunk or crazy), it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue,
apprehend, and moderately correct such slave; and if such slave shall
assault and strike such white person, such slave may be LAWFULLY
KILLED."--2 Brevard's Digest, 231.
"Provided always," says the law, "that such striking be not done by the
command and in the defence of the person or property of the owner, or
other person having the government of such slave; in which case the
slave shall be wholly excused."

According to this law, if a slave, by the direction of his overseer, strike
a white person who is beating said overseer's pig, "the slave shall be
wholly excused." But, should the bondman, of his own accord, fight to
defend his wife, or should his terrified daughter instinctively raise her
hand and strike the wretch who attempts to violate her chastity, he or
she shall, saith the model republican law, suffer death.
From having been myself a slave for nearly twenty-three years, I am
quite prepared to say, that the practical working of slavery is worse
than the odious laws by which it is governed.
At an early age we were taken by the persons who held us as property
to Macon, the largest town in the interior of the State of Georgia, at
which place we became acquainted with each other for several years
before our marriage; in fact, our marriage was postponed for some time
simply because one of the unjust and worse than Pagan laws under
which we lived compelled all children of slave mothers to follow their
condition. That is to say, the father of the slave may be the President of
the Republic; but if the mother should be a slave at the infant's birth,
the poor child is ever legally doomed to the same cruel fate.
It is a common practice for gentlemen (if I may call them such),
moving in the highest circles of society, to be the fathers of children by
their slaves, whom they can and do sell with the greatest im- punity;
and the more pious, beautiful, and virtuous the girls are, the greater the
price they bring, and that too for the most infamous purposes.
Any man with money (let him be ever such a rough brute), can buy a
beautiful and virtuous girl, and force her to live with him in a criminal
connexion; and as the law says a slave shall have no higher appeal than
the mere will of the master, she cannot escape, unless it be by flight or
death.
In endeavouring to reconcile a girl to her fate, the master sometimes
says that he would marry her if it was not unlawful.* However, he will
always consider her to be his wife, and will treat her as such; and she,
on the other hand, may regard him as her lawful husband; and if they
have any children, they will be free and well edu- cated.

I am in duty bound to add, that while a great majority of such men care
nothing for the happi- ness of the women with whom they live, nor for
the children of whom they are the fathers, there are those to be found,
even in that heterogeneous mass of