Black Dispatches

[mithen]

One of the best parts of writing "The House of the Earth" (if by "best" one means "most agonizing") has been doing research on slavery in America and in general.  I was reminded of that when I came across this news story about Jefferson Davis' slave, who was a spy for the Union, and other slave spies.  There's a whole book out called Black Dispatches on the topic that I'd love to get my hands on.  It's amazing--people didn't see slaves as anything but furniture, so they talked freely about strategic secrets right in front of them.  That seems so... karmically fair, somehow, that their own ignorance and inhumanity could be turned against them.  And I'm always awed and humbled and amazed by stories of what people under such impossible conditions will do to fight for their freedom.  No fictional story could do them justice.

Comments

[terrayndian.livejournal.com]

It's beyond my imagination to consider another person, who is just like me except for skin color, to be nothing more than a piece of property. It's even more sickening to consider how some people in the US long for those 'good old days'.

I still remember having dinner with my parents and my grandmother (she was 88-ish at the time) at a nice steak house restaurant. Partway through dinner, she motions me close and asks, "How can they afford to eat here?" I glanced over to where she was looking and there was a table of five or so black women ordering dinner. Dumbfounded at my grandmother's question, I could only answer, "Because they have jobs?" She just give me a disgusted look, as if I didn't know what I was talking about.

Altogether, it's wonderful to hear that slaves got their revenge back in the day by using their owners' arrogance against them. As you say, it humbles me to think of how strong they had to be to survive that situation and rise above it.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Maine and saw very little racism growing up--not because it wasn't there, of course, but because there was rarely much reason to voice it. It was just an accepted part of, well, everything. Your grandmother sounds a lot like mine. :/

Altogether, it's wonderful to hear that slaves got their revenge back in the day by using their owners' arrogance against them. As you say, it humbles me to think of how strong they had to be to survive that situation and rise above it.

I really love stories of how people managed to fight back. I mean, in a lot of cases just surviving was fighting back in a way. My brain simply can't comprehend how it must have been...