Mrs. Melissa Balden’s story
The practice of slavery has been in existence majorly in the ancient times during the 17 th to 18 th centuries throughout American colonies. However, slavery abolishment occurred in the 19 th century. The slaves have been of African origin. They were used in the ancient time to build the nation making it an economic powerhouse through labor force they provided. Unfortunately, slavery still exists today, and it harms people in several ways. This paper seeks to explore the experiences, and impacts slavery had on Mrs. Melissa Balden.
Mrs. Melissa Balden was a former slave who was born and brought up on David Lowe’s plantation where her mother used to work as a slave. The master was dear to Melissa thereby making her assume his name ‘Lowe.’ Being slaves, they had little to do upon being sold to other masters to work for them. Melissa’s sister and mother suffered the same fate; her mother was sold making her remain with her sister. David Lowe later gave Melissa’s sister alongside other slaves to his newly married daughter as a present for her wedding. Her sister was later sold and re-sold making her hard to trace ending up to only Melissa reclaimed. Eventually, they moved to Newton County where her mother died after that Melissa married Mr. Barden.
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In conclusion, slavery brings about detrimental effects on lives of individuals and strict policy and measures ought to be taken to halt this. From Melissa’s story, I am baffled to learn that she has good health except for the eye disease that has caused her to be blind and the fact that the master liked her making her branded his name. It seems weird because of what learned in lessons about the ill-treatment and severe punishments slaves received to in the time of rampant slavery.
Reference
Taylor, Y. (Ed.). (1999). I was born a slave: an anthology of classic slave narratives (Vol. 1). Chicago Review Press.
Rushdy, A. H. (2004). The neo-slave narrative. The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel , 87-106.
Yetman, N. R. (1967). The background of the slave narrative collection. American Quarterly , 19 (3), 534-553.
