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While watching the web series “Ask a Slave,” I was pleasantly surprised by Lizzie Mae’s witty comebacks and the humor she used to educate others. The short videos are based on an actress’s experience posing as a slave at Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington. In the series, Lizzie Mae answers questions people ask her. Often time these questions are offensive and almost, if not all, are based on ignorance. I was particularly struck by a homosexual couple who compared their own marriage to the marriage Lizzie Mae faced as a slave.
While there may have been some similarities, like the illegality of their marriage, there are also vast differences. For instance, slave families lived with the constant fear of being permanently separated because of their master’s desires and had to obey their masters or risk death. They were controlled by another human being who thought of them as nothing more than property. The lack of thought or knowledge behind the questions asked to Lizzie Mae, although not entirely surprising, shocked me all the same.
As others have mentioned in their posts, the humor Lizzie Mae used to answer the questions asked of her was enjoyable but should not hide the message behind her videos. These videos point out the general lack of knowledge others possess about history and present a need to show others what helped create the land they now live in. A knowledge about dates is not necessary, rather people need to know of the lifestyle others had and consider the emotions behind the predicaments they faced. Thinking about how others may have felt can greatly change one’s perspectives on an issue.