Analysing a Slave Narritive - Annie Huff

Annie Huff's Story - http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mesn&fileName=042/mesn042.db&recNum=235&itemLink=D?mesnbib:8:./temp/~ammem_j0VI:

Annie's account tells the story of her time of being a slave for a Georgian family called the Huff's. She had daughters that were also slaves for the family, suggesting that the children were born into slavery rather than being brought over from Africa from an early age. The girls were taught only to do minor jobs while they were young, like 'sweep the yard and do minor jobs in the field'. This could imply that the children of the slaves may of been treated with some empathy by the slave owner, until they were twelve, and that most of the burden for the jobs were passed mainly onto the adults. Annie also talked about the jobs for the adult females being 'heavy work' in the fields during the day and to 'spin and knit' in the evenings. This shows that the work in the field was not exclusively given to male slaves and that the women may have been expected to do women's as well as men's work.

The slave owner, Mr Huff, is described as having 'outbursts of temper' when 'occasionally one was unmercifully beaten'. The rarity of the beatings may suggest that Annie's time on the plantation was not as horrific as others have described their time as being a slave, implying that that Mr Huff could of had some respect for his slaves and beat them when they stepped out of line. It may be interesting to note that Annie doesn't describe exactly how the slaves were beaten, implying that she either doesn't want to remember such a horrific event, or she chose not to describe it in such detail. Annie also talks about Mr Huff having 'children tattlers' who kept him informed 'regarding the happenings in the quarters'. This story was of interest as it would of been thought that the slave families would of stuck together and would try to keep each other out of trouble and from inevitable beatings, but the prize of 'hush money' and the fact that 'Mr Huff would keep them (children) in the big house for the night to escape the wrath of the offender' may of been a way for the children to deal with their time on the plantation.

The time during the civil war for the slaves on the Huff plantation is also described by Annie; she talked of the slaves rejoicing 'at every bit of news which they heard regarding the probability of their being freed by the Yankees'. She also speaks about the time after the war and that Mr Huff would not free his slaves as he 'hated the thought of a Negro being able to wear a shirt', which implies that the Southern attitude towards black slaves didn't change even when the war was won by the north and Emancipation Proclamation was made public. This southern attitude is also shown my Mr Huff when after the Proclamation was made public he told the slave children that 'even though they were free, they would have to remain with her until they were twenty-one'.