lizzie mae – American History to 1877

April 14, 2014

The Role of Resistance in the Slave Narrative

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In her blog post, “Lizzie Mae” Emma addresses the level of ignorance in today’s society regarding slavery and some of the prevalent misconceptions. Given how much we have learned about slavery this semester in HIS 141, I wish I were surprised by how uninformed some of the questions were. Its sad and disappointing, yes, but I’m not really surprised. Prior to my junior year of high school, most of what I knew about slavery in the United States and Canada came from books, TV and talking with my parents. I understood what the definition of slavery was and the general conditions of slavery, but I would consider it a “common sense” level of understanding. No, I wouldn’t have asked the question “So why don’t you take the underground railroad,” but this was the basis of my formal education on slavery. The only time I remember learning about slavery in school before junior year was in primary school, when we talked about the Underground Railroad and individuals like Harriet Tubman. I am glad that I learned about resistance strategies, but if you don’t have the background to understand the conditions of slavery, then you cannot understand the extent to which resistance was necessary and in fact integral to the slave experience.

Resistance and combating ignorance were two of the key themes of the first season of “Ask a slave”. The attitude and sarcasm with which Lizzie Mae answers the various questions would likely mirror the attitude with which a slave might have interacted with white society. Clearly a slave would not have had the same opportunities (if any opportunities) to directly address society and slaveholders on the injustices they were subject to, however the manor in which Lizzie Mae takes the opportunities to assert her identity and agency would have translated between the contexts. In this way, Lizzie Mae’s sarcasm can be seen as a passive form of resistance. It also reveals just how brutal the conditions of slavery were. In the first episode we learn that Lizzie Mae is 28 years old or, as she tells us cheerfully, 116 in slave years. The phrasing of this simple statement mirrors the idea of “dog years”, critiquing through sarcasm the dehumanization of slaves and the extent to which their life expectancies were reduced.

Lizzie Mae also addresses more active forms of resistance in episode four, when she gets a question from Emma the Runaway. At the end of the interaction, Emma asks that Lizzie Mae, to “Put a little hemlock in her tea for me will ya? Just enough to make her sick,” and Lizzie adds, “But not enough to kill her.” With this Lizzie Mae reminds us that even if slaves had few other options than to serve the wishes of their masters, they were not content in this position and took every opportunity to assert their independence and their humanity.

Works Cited:
Black, Jordan. “Ask A Slave Ep.1: Meet Lizzie Mae.” YouTube video, 4:05. Posted by “Ask A Slave: The Web Series,” Sept 1, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1IYH_MbJqA#t=106.

Black, Jordan. “Ask A Slave Ep.4: New Leaf, Same Page.” YouTube video, 4:08. Posted by “Ask A Slave: The Web Series,” Sept 15, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik-fXNjxw58.

April 7, 2014

Misconceptions About Slavery

In the web series Ask A Slave, Azie Dungey draws upon her experience as a living history character at Mount Vernon to expose some surprising misconceptions about slavery. As Thomas explained in his post, Dungey’s sarcastic wit distinguishes this series as particularly memorable, and she takes a lighthearted approach to the often taboo—or at least somber—subject of slavery and racism in American history.

One of my favorite videos was that featuring the abolitionist, a man morally opposed to racialized slavery yet clearly uncomfortable interacting with a black person. While many of the issues Dungey exposed were rooted in modern ignorance, the abolitionist showed an important contradiction at the time of slavery. The abolitionist, although good-natured, came from a town with little to no black population. As the conversation continued, he grew more uncomfortable and felt compelled to defend “good” slaveholders like Jefferson, and he seemed shocked to hear that slaves had no desire to relocate to Africa or Jamaica. As Thomas mentioned, the conversation ended with the abolitionist conceding that Lizzie Mae raised some intelligent points…for a woman.

A shocking modern misconception that Dungey brought to light was that Lizzie Mae’s position was an honorable occupation. Obviously since this is a humorous show, she used the most ridiculous examples at her disposal, but clearly a horrifying number of people do not grasp the concept of slavery. One person asked if she found her position in a newspaper advertisement, while another man actually had the gall to ask if her job was an internship with a human resources department. People asked where she went for vacation and what she did for fun, and a few even expected her to be proud of Washington for being president. When someone commented that she must be excited to meet so many famous people, she flatly remarked, “If you’ve seen one rich white man, you’ve seen them all” (season 2, episode 1).

Even some people who had a firmer grasp on the hardships of slavery acted as if slaves had normal choices and opportunities. People asked Lizzie Mae why she didn’t go to school in Massachusetts and where her children went to school. Someone asked why she couldn’t merely escape through the Underground Railroad. Clearly, some people failed to understand exactly how oppressive slavery was, as if Lizzie Mae could easily escape her situation with a little bit of effort and self-education.

I really enjoyed the web series for its humor and shock value, both of which I’m sure were intentional. I sincerely hope the majority of Americans know better than the views portrayed in these videos, since Dungey probably selected the worst questions she could remember. She did, however, effectively expose some embarrassing ignorance, regardless of how far that ignorance extends. Even though I didn’t suffer from illusions that Washington’s slaves held honored and happy positions, these videos still changed the way I think about slavery. I think anyone could benefit from seeing Dungey’s videos, especially given her talent and charisma as an actress.

April 6, 2014

Ask A Slave

The Ask A Slave video series features Jordan Black answering questions she experienced as a living history character at the historical Mount Vernon residence of George Washington. To set the context, she wears clothes that female slaves would usually wear, plays 19^th century flute music, and sits in a simply furnished living room with a framed drawing of George Washington in the back. The trademark of the series is the humor that Lizzie Mae, her character, uses to answer the questions, invoking satire especially through sarcasm. Despite the lighthearted nature, the videos expose that ignorance and underlying racism are still very present in our society.

Jordan Black’s message comes across more clearly thanks to her decision to use questions from only white people. Of course, this reinforces the slave-time separation between whites and blacks, which further help contextualize her video. The choice also underscores that many white people are either completely ignorant or simply uneducated about slavery. No example highlights this more clearly then in one of the women’s relentless questioning of how Mrs. Washington gets her tea in the middle of the night since the slaves are sleeping. This not only shows a deep misunderstanding of a slave’s role, but also exposes the woman’s misunderstanding of slave treatment. A further, more direct commentary on present day racism occurs when a different girl asks, “do you have any white friends,” exposing the fact that our society is still inflicted with deep lying color awareness. In the context of the video, this reality is a poignant reminder that while slavery is conquered, racism is not.

Olivia’s excellent post about Wilentz’ discussion of abolition drew my attention to Jordan Black’s method of commenting on the abolition movement. Thanks to Lizzie Mae, we get a unique perspective that, at least in some ways, that brings history into the present tense, meaning that, unlike any historical book, the commentary is not marred by the influence of time. Thus, Black chooses ignores any exploration of the difficult odds that abolitionists faced, instead choosing to undermine the abolitionists’ supposed moral enlightenment. To do this, she shows the abolitionists discussing the sheer amount of black people in Virginia and how uncomfortable it makes him. The abolitionists also compliments Lizzie Mae on her good point, “even though she is a woman.” Lizzie Mae responds by saying, “one thing at a time,” alluding to the fact that she freedom was first on the agenda, equality second. Olivia discussed a similar attitude when she talked about the decision many leading women’s rights activists made “to put the anti-slavery movement to the forefront” during the Civil War.