Extended Paragraph On Textbooks Vs. Primary Documents

Amanda Labrado 10/22/09 Slavery project Textbook vs. Primary documents In a typical U.S. History classroom setting, a student will read thousands of words worth of facts concerning different historical eras in an attempt to gain some kind of understanding of what took place. Through the use of primary documents such as pictures, narratives, interviews, and authentic papers available on the internet, the generation of the new millennium can effortlessly grasp historical events without having to read bland facts from history textbooks habitually. Furthermore, the majority of teenagers agree that the web is more trustable than their peers because of how many sources are available to back up information obtained there. Therefore, learning about an era of history through primary documents is better because students are able to see a historical era through the eyes of a native to the time, which allows students to “witness” the rawness of history such as events in Harriet Jacob’s narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,“After a [slave suffered a]severe whipping, to save himself from further infliction of the lash, with which he was threatened, he took to the woods[…]---cut by the cowskin, half naked, half starved, and without the means of procuring a crust of bread. Some weeks after his escape, he was captured, tied, and carried back to his master's plantation. This [master] considered punishment in his jail […] after receiving hundreds of lashes, too mild for the poor slave's offence. Therefore [the master] decided, after the overseer should have whipped [the slave] to his satisfaction, to have him placed between the screws of the cotton gin, to stay as long as he had been in the woods. This wretched creature was cut with the whip from his head to his feet, then washed with strong brine, to prevent the flesh from mortifying, and make it heal sooner than it otherwise would. He was then put into the cotton gin, which was screwed down, only allowing him room to turn on his side when he could not lie on his back. Every morning a slave was sent with a piece of bread and bowl of water, which were placed within reach of the poor fellow. The

slave was charged, under penalty of severe punishment, not to speak to him. Four days passed, and the slave continued to carry the bread and water. On the second morning, he found the bread gone, but the water untouched. When he had been in the press four days and five nights, the slave informed his master that the water had not been used for four mornings, and that a horrible stench came from the gin house. The overseer was sent to examine into it. When the press was unscrewed, the dead body was found partly eaten by rats and vermin. Perhaps the rats that devoured his bread had gnawed him before life was extinct.”, compared to “Slave owners whipped and beat those they thought were disobedient or disrespectful. In Virginia, the courts did not consider slave owners guilty of murder for killing their slaves during punishment.” The superiority primary documents over history textbooks for learning can be illustrated further by how facts are better illustrated by primary documents than textbooks, “The field slave’s day during cotton harvest began with a bell an hour before dawn, a quick breakfast, and then a march to the fields. Men, women and children spent the entire day picking cotton […] then they made their own suppers and ate quickly before falling asleep on hard wooden planks.[…] for most field slaves, the master’s whip was a constant threat”. The previous quote is from the history textbook The Americans, the following quote is from an interview with Ms. Mary Reynolds, “The conch shell blowed afore daylight and all hands better git out for roll call or Solomon bust the door down and get them out. It was work hard, git beatin's and half fed. They brung the victuals and water to the fields on a slide pulled by a old mule. Plenty times they was only a half barrel water and it stale and hot, for all us niggers on the hottes' days. Mostly we ate pickled pork and corn bread and peas and beans and taters. They never was as much as we needed.” Ms. Reynolds statement is perspicuous just as the fact in the quote from The Americans is, however it is quite obvious that Ms. Reynolds account is more authentic and its puts you in that era by being more personal.