How can one person treat another as both indispensable and an object to be purchased? Frances Cameron writes to Duncan Cameron, “A man servant who formerly belonged to my mother is about to be sold, and has applied me to buy him [...] I am particularly desirous of purchasing him [...] But a good male servant in my establishment, is indispensable ...” (series: 1.3.3, box: 43, folder: 1023, date:...
In 1847 inhabitants of the Mississippi River basin had to deal with an outbreak of Yellow Fever. Transmitted by mosquitoes, Yellow Fever caused symptoms including fevers, chills, headaches and nausea. In the later months of 1847 the letters that overseer Charles Lewellyn sent to Paul Cameron about the condition of his plantation were fraught with the names of slave that were ill, recovering or...
The good health of a slave was essential to a plantation owner. Without healthy slaves, there would be no successful plantation, and in turn no successful owner. This idea was only further confirmed after continued research into the Cameron family letters. From the information gathered it seems that the Cameron family genuinely wished for their slaves to remain healthy. The jury is out on whether this...
The second stage of the transatlantic slave trade was also called the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage was a horrifying experience for slaves headed to the Americas. Slaves were quartered on ships for up to two months and treated as cargo. They were often chained in shackles and kept below deck where they had to lay down because there was less than three feet of height. There was never enough food...
In the film The Shawshank Redemption, a convict named Brooks was paroled after 50 years in prison. He was distraught at the thought of having to leave the dehumanizing Shawshank penitentiary that had been his home for so long. Brooks was released and, after a few months of trying to readjust, he gave up and hung himself. Letters written 150 years earlier from the Cameron Plantations reveal a similar...