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Although I enjoyed the content that Davis presented in Inhuman Bondage, I disagree with many of my classmates, in that I did not particularly enjoy his writing. While he frequently reaches thoughtful, provocative conclusions, following his thought process is often strenuous. Davis tends to jump between time periods and places frequently, and often introduces new subject matter with little to no explanation. Although perhaps his content is more protracted than Taylor, by and large I find Taylor easier to read.
Despite his writing style, much of what Davis relayed in chapters four and five was incredibly shocking. The suggestion that the atrocities committed during the slave trade were too horrible to describe with words was incredibly powerful. Additionally, although Davis never explicitly makes such a claim, the implied comparison between slaves and cattle was also enlightening. Upon further study, I found the linked artist’s rendition to be incredibly revealing and eye-opening. We often have a tendency to whitewash our own history, perhaps to protect our own consciousnesses from guilt, or perhaps to absolve past figures of their indecencies; however, Davis does an excellent job of presenting the unfiltered truths of the slave trade. In approaching this task, Davis writes like a journalist – he, to a certain degree, is free of bias and presents facts at face value. As such, he allows the reader to pass judgement.
I was also interested to learn about slavery in different parts of the “New World.” Traditionally, mostly in high school environments, we focus on plantation farming in the English colonies. However, I was intrigued to learn about the larger use of enslaved peoples in the Caribbean and Brazil. Up until that point, my understanding of the brutality of slave labor was somewhat limited, as I was really only familiar with slavery as it’s portrayed in media. As such, Davis’ accounts have made me interested to learn more about the brutality of that “peculiar institution” in those regions.
