Louis Hughes was born into slavery on a plantation in the Virginia
Piedmont in 1832. Not very far away, Paul
Jennings, the slave and "body-servant"
of James Madison, was attending his master in the final years
of his retirement. There are some similarities between the two
men. Both had white fathers, who apparently took no responsibility,
and both became body-servants.
There the similarities stop. Hughes is sold away from his mother
when he is about twelve years old, never to see her again. While
still a child, he is sold so often it is hard to keep track.
Jennings is allowed to buy his freedom; Hughes makes four unsuccessful
breaks for freedom before the fifth is successful. Jennings
recalls a kind and gentle master; Hughes is exposed to the brutality
of a combined slave auction and slave whipping "business"
while he is still a child.
Hughes was clearly a favorite of his last owner,
but after his second escape attempt, he reports:
"I was taken to the barn where stocks
had been prepared, beside which were a cowhide and a pail of
salt water, all prepared for me. It was terrible, but there
was no escape. I was fastened in the stocks, my clothing removed,
and the whipping began. Boss whipped me a while, then he sat
down and read his paper, after which the whipping was resumed.
This continued for two hours. Fastened as I was in the stocks,
I could only stand and take lash after lash, as long as he desired,
the terrible rawhide cutting into my flesh at every stroke.
Then he used peach tree switches, which cracked the flesh so
the blood oozed out. After this came the paddle, two and half
feet long and three inches wide. Salt and water was at once
applied to wash the wounds, and the smarting was maddening."
Hughes' story gives us the better insight into
the institution of slavery: an institution that ultimately rested
upon violence and not upon the consent of the governed. In addition,
Hughes is a keen observer and provides a first-hand account of
the workings of a plantation, and the daily lives of the slaves.
Preface
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