Brayan Barreto 

FIQWS 10115 JPOE

12/4/19 

Essay #5 Research Critical Analysis 

            Freedom Still On Search

Slavery was a time period where supremacy occurred between the white people and african people. Based on the reading of  The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead expose the idea of freedom being restricted since there were slave catchers, laws passed down which limits choices for black people, and physical violation. This novel highlights that African Americans were  psychologically impacted because these individuals had the feeling of insecurity within an environment, trauma from beat down, taking accountable of showing respected, brainwashing their griot and culture tradition, and a lack of education. The psychological trauma is a critical issue because this could impact a person’s health and ability to work independently. Colson whitehead explores through Cora and Caesar’s runaway experience and their lives as slaves. These two characters  are important because readers can visualize what happened to people of color during that time period. If african american community don’t take action from their ancestors suffering then the next generation would held certain psychological disorder that their parents had which is why there’s a gap between people of color and white individual in society standard.

    What would freedom be like? Freedom allows individuals to have the power to make their own decisions in their lives. Freedom in terms of enslaved people is not having to bow down as a way of saying “ hi ‘’ in order to show respect when a white person is walking through, able  to vote, travel anywhere without worrying about the consequences for leaving their homeland, and have the ability to economically sustain themselves. These slaves were not granted the right to be treated equally to white people because colonists wanted someone to do labor for minimal costs. Political events and laws passed down affected african people’s decision.  Also, psychological impact means the outcomes caused by the area where african people grow up or by a living organism on a person’s life which can cause mental disorder. Enslave human beings feared the physical violation of their master, and the lack of doing activities on their own. 

How did slavery impacted black children lives? How did gender play a role during slavery? Those who had power over someone else tend to belittle others that aren’t at their standards. Slavery was a time period where african people was control and put to labor since colonist found these individual useful for their econmic growth. In the book  Driven Toward Madness : The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio Taylor, Nikki Mari, described the experiences of females runaway slaves and why the majority of runaway are men instead of females. For Instance, “ It is not that these women did not want to escape, but because they were the primary caregivers for their children . . . fear of losing their children through sale, and those took the children with them. “ ( 8) In this quote the author demonstrate that gender responsibility had a huge impact toward children which made women to have a struggle of choosing to either runaway or stay at the plantation for their kids safety.  This connects back to Cora’s experience as a slave person since her mother ran away from the brutality suffered on the Randall plantation which illustrate that horrific circumstances and how this trauma could generated children life to be miserable and harsh in order to obtain freedom. ( 297-300 )Whereas Caesar had no worries from running away. Also, in the article, Waren state, “ South female slaves were highly prized due to their low cost and their breeding abilities . . . man must be strong, resilient and unemotional and that they are superior to women because of this combined with their intelligence.” Gender roles were important to white american because these individuals were a contribution toward an increase in production and a rise of economic growth. This situation connect to the experience Cora’s mother, since her mother had five children and only one survive from repercussion of the master. Kakutani state, “ Which was true-back then Randall rarely sold the little ones. You knew where and how your children would die.The child that lived past the age ten was Cora’s mother, Mabel. (8) ” 

 Being commanded by someone else in your entire life and now having to be self taught or have full autonomy throughout challenges. How did enslaved survivors deal with the trauma experiences of once being a slave? Why was education a big deal to slave people and how did this created a turning point in the society norms? Katy Robjant explicit highlights the mentally disorder that slavery had affected today’s black people in their lives.In an article, Robjant convey, “ Some of the people that I have worked with have been enslaved for years. They have had no control over their basic need . . .  having difficulties trusting others, and yet have significant problems keeping themselves safe, often becoming involved in other exploitative relationships ( 2). ‘’ This demonstrates that free enslave individuals that possess their own decision are struggling on maintaining themselves since these slave people had always been dependent on someone else. Going back to the concept of lack of independent these survivors related to Cora and Caesar runaway experience because these individuals had to share a dormitory with 79 people which was unpleasant and work a job under a white family company. This connects back to my idea of insecurity because african american cannot depend on themselves so these individuals depends on someone who is reliable and manage their life choices once they had granted the freedom or runaway from their masters since their entire lives was upheld by a master. Moreover, in an article Why was education important to former slaves,  the author communicated, “Ability to learn as well as an understanding of the opportunities opened up by education . . . Knowing the benefits of education, emancipated blacks worked vigorously to establish schools and colleges. ” To be someone important in  the society you have to be at a certain level in order to convey that their existence are more than what they thought. 

Overall, the lack of education, limited power, consequences, and respect given to the white individual play a role toward people of color because these factors are the causes of why the search of freedom is difficult to obtain and the effect that leave to people of color. In today world, we could still see a trend of health issue being affected by the trauma of slavery from religion and the status economic standard between people of color and white americans. Going back to the idea of insecurity created by the conditions of slavery that freedom may never be obtained in a racist society because there’s always going to be someone above that would control others human choices and resources. In the modern day, there have been tragic and news about cops killing black people for little things. This could relate to the Window theory were people focus majority in poor conditions area that trigger the cops suspicious of the community being criminals since they live there. 

Works Cited

Ware, Laura, “ Traditional Gender Roles and slavery. ‘’

Taylor. Nikki Mari, “ Driven Toward Madness : The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio.’’

 Katy Robjant, “ Statement of Katy Robjant, Vivo International, Germany – DR Congo. “

Article doesn’t have an author name. “ Why was educational important to former slaves?. ” Publish 2016

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