The Story of Jennie Small

Jenny Small is the name of an ex-slave. 

The name Jennie Small is very interesting as despite originating in Africa it is very clearly not an African name. Although this is not a huge surprise that slave owners would rename their slaves with names that are perhaps more memorable to their English mind it’s the second name ‘Small’ that interests me, the slave owners making their slaves seem as insignificant and as ‘Small’ as possible. This isn't dissimilar to Malcom X’s original name of Malcom Little; 'Little' being a common slave name and Malcom X wanted, as I imagine many ex-slaves and their dependents would also want to, distance themselves from their slave histories.  

Jennie herself was born in Pocahontas county, Virginia, where she was born into ‘the drab and awful surroundings of slavery'.  She opens with talking about the whipping post and its violent impression that has stuck in her mind ever since. She talks about the wrong sized clothes she and her siblings as they worked in the boiling sun under the cruel watch of the whip. The first paragraph generally describes the awful atmosphere she was brought up in and its unwelcoming nature. The second paragraph, however, begins with the words Pappy McNeal  in reference to her master. This man was cruel and wasn’t afraid to throw sharp, hard and heavy things at any random slave under his control, and all slaves, including Jennie feared him very much; yet they still called him Pappy. This shows how the slave owners would try to appease their own conscience with forcing these terms of endearment onto themselves. It is likely that failure of the slaves to call their master ‘Pappy’ would have resulted in some form of punishment, so in reality these terms of endearment are born of nothing but fear.

Later we find that Jennie has ‘a tender spot’ in her heart for the masters son, and the only reason she gives for this is because the son once said ‘Do not call Mr. McNeal the master, no one is your master but god, call Mr. McNeal, mister.’. This act is not one of particular kindness, one could even view it as forcing Christianity on the slaves (although this is unlikely because by that time most if not all slave families would have already adopted the Christian faith, this statement would be simply reaffirming their beliefs). This shows however how well slaves took to simple acts of humanity; More to the point how little the slave owners must have given them for a simple phrase such as that to be comparably lovely.

On the second page of her story she talks of how she was her masters favourite. She claims to have had better sleeping quarters than her brothers, other favourites were allowed footwear; this is obviously a luxury for slaves.

The slave owner’s weapon of choice was the whip and post, he would rub salt and soap into the wounds he left because he didn’t want scarring, as this would lower the value of the slave should they be sold on (despite Jennie claiming to have never seen it).

When the slaves were emancipated she says her master was very apologetic. Jennie thinks this was because the slaves had always worked hard and deserved it and while this is true in reason, I feel that the slave owners thoughts were more centered on fear of revenge. this is a fact that Jennie remained ignorant to for the rest of her life.

Jennies words as written by Rev. Edward Knox