Growing up, we learned a great many things about slavery. Slaves worked horrible hours, lived in unfathomable poverty, and often were sustained to a point just above starvation. Punishment on the plantation was often extremely severe; if a slave did not do what his master liked, as property, the owner could do as he wished. He had the right to abuse his property to the point of extreme bodily damage, and in some cases, death.
However, many schools, including my own elementary and high school, seem to have sanitized certain less savory aspects of the slave trade (as if there were any savory aspects of the trade at all). I do not remember, until I took American Masterpieces in college, a teacher ever mentioning the sexual exploitation of female slaves. My teachers did not tell us about how the prettiest mulattoes and quadroons would be taken to the auction block clothed in their best dresses, their hair flowing and their bodies perfumed. They did not tell us about the monsters who would bid thousands of dollars to purchase these young women to become their sex slaves.
No, no, we were given a sanitized version of the slave trade. Sure, what we were told was horrid, yet in this one topic we seem to have been left in the dark. Did our teachers not believe that man could exploit fellow man in such a way? Or did they not believe we could handle the truth?
Stowe was far ahead of her time. As a woman, she was not afraid to stand up for the rights of fellow equals. Perhaps during her time, much as today, this aspect of slavery was glazed over. Perhaps the people of Stowe's time did not believe such atrocities could occur.
This woman did what few had done; she tackled the hard issues. By the time Stowe's book had been published, there were few who doubted the depravity of some slave owners in the South.
Are citizens today any less naive than the people of Stowe's time? I tend to think not.
WC:345
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