African American History
Cecelia the slave was not exactly the book I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a biography of a women slave named Cecilia, but in fact it was much more. There were many surrounding issues that dealt with the political, social, and economic aspects of the south, in the nineteenth century. Although some of the occurrences in this book are not historically documented, due to the fact that this book was written from a second hand source. None of the facts were drawn from Cecilia herself. Robert Newsom was a well established slave owner in Callaway Country, Missouri. He owned five male slaves, and a young female slave named Cecilia, who he acquired later on in years. She was not brought to the farm for slave labor, but for the sole purpose of giving sexual favors to her master. It was thought to say that she took the place of his late wife of one year. This did not please his two daughters at all, but being women themselves, it was not there place to say anything. After many years of this ongoing sexual abuse Cecilia's mind was psychologically destroyed. She had bared two illegitimate child by the young age of nineteen. Cecilia also found the love of her life George, but he refused to be with her if she cont
Cecilia had two major strikes against her before standing trial. She was a black slave, and female. These two strikes wade heavy during her trial, and posed major problems in a white mans world. Because of the circumstances of the crime, race and gender went hand in hand in determining her conviction. No matter what the details are, when it came down to it Cecilia was a slave, which meant she was property, not a person in 1855. Robert Newsom had the right to do whatever he pleased with his property no matter how immoral it may seem. Cecilia was put to trial, with a team of lawyers and everything. Her trial was unfair, and she was convicted in the eyes of the jury before the trial even began. It was nearly impossible in the 1850's to find a black slave women in the south innocent for murdering her master, even if it was self defense. The court fund no reason for her to defend herself. As a result of this ruling Cecilia was hung to death for the murder of Robert Newsom
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 994
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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