Realising the History of Slavery through Contemporary African American Literature

It is almost impossible to say that African American literature is not affected by the history of slavery. Beloved by Toni Morrison,[1] will be used to evaluate the extent to which African American texts reflect the importance of enslaved history. The novel was chosen because of its popularity as a neo-slave narrative, but also the research conducted by Morrison herself, including the account of Margret Garner’s infanticide.[2] Making the novel irrevocably linked to the history of slavery. By relating her book to the real experiences of Margret Garner, Morrison forces the reader to confront the real experiences of enslaved life and what life is like after the plantation.[3] The chapters that explain the events in Sethe’s life that reflect Garner’s illustrate how the criminalisation of black bodies has translated into contemporary society. This can be seen through the continued implementation of statutes such as the 4th amendment and the police force as ways of controlling and policing black communities. This translation can be applied not only in America but throughout the world. Life after the plantation is presented as far from free, as the reader is introduced to the traumatic consequences that life on the plantation has caused through Paul D. and Sethe. The character of Beloved, first introduced to us as the physical reminder of the trauma inflicted on Sethe and the others at Sweet Home, evolves into a representation of the collective African American transhistorical trauma with her recollections of the transatlantic trade. Repression also plays a part in When looking at identity in Beloved as well, it is easy to apply the transhistorical trauma that Beloved seems to have experienced to contemporary America through the term ‘Oreo’ and a sense of not being ‘black enough’.

The importance of the history of slavery in contemporary America is illustrated through the exploration of Morrison’s slave catchers and the enforcement of statutes put in place to control the enslaved population. In particular, the 4th amendment,[4][5] in the South, was used to regulate and control enslaved populations, abolitionists, and those who had bought their freedom and runaways. As Taslitz writes, there is a clear and still present ‘relationship between the nation's troubled racial history and the development of constitutional criminal procedure.’[6] This relationship can be traced in Morrison’s novel through the presentation and actions of slave catchers. For example, soon after settling into 124, Sethe and Baby Suggs, as well as the other runaways living there, are visited by Schoolteacher and his slave catchers. The presence of these men has an immediate effect on the atmosphere of 124, and tension is created as the men approach and circle the property; they are the people on the property. Suggs describes her innate feeling of ‘a dark and coming thing’ and seeing men’s shoes, she did not like ‘the look of at all. At all.’[7] Immediately tension is created as the men approach and circle the property, they walk towards the shed that Sethe and the other runaways are hiding in. They happen on a horrific scene inside the shed, as Sethe swings ‘the baby [Denver] toward the wall planks.’[8] Stamp Paid manages to save Denver before Sethe can hurl her into the wall again, but the damage is already done. Morrison highlights that to those who were enslaved, committing infanticide and taking your own life was preferable to be taken back to the plantation or farm you fled from. This is also reflected in the comments of Stamp Paid as he describes how he ‘decided to break’ his wife’s neck to save her from being raped repeatedly by their Masters.[9] Sethe and Stamp Paid’s actions illustrate how the abuse and pain, both mental and physical, inflicted on Morrison’s most ‘sympathetic and victimized characters and compel them to inflict frightful destruction on seemingly innocent people.’[10]

Furthermore, the Schoolteacher and the other men’s actions and thoughts represent a ‘legacy of slavery in which blacks are without agency except when the agency was criminalized.’[11] This a legacy that is continued today with disproportionate rates of incarceration across racial divides; black men and women makeup nearly half of the American prison population but only account for less than 15% of the national population.[12][13] This does not tell us that black people are inherently more criminal than their white counterparts; it tells us that the systems and institutions that control and shape our society are born from and reproduce racism.[14] Showing how the history of slavery is still affecting contemporary America today, in particular, the legacy of criminalisation of black bodies.[15]

This is again seen when looking at the lasting trauma and repression the characters in Beloved experience and demonstrate throughout the novel. Beloved’s character is a clear representation of the fractured identity caused by the traumatic memories of Sethe herself, but also the transhistorical trauma she has inherited from her ancestors.[16] This is seen on pages 248 to 249 in Beloved, where the narrative voice is passed to Beloved herself. Beloved recounts the transatlantic slave trade when she describes the,

…Men without skin bring us their morning water to drink we have none at night I cannot see the dead man on my face day-light comes through the cracks…[17]

The fractured sense of time being demonstrated through Beloved’s narrative speech illustrates the ideas put forward by Cathy Caruth and then further by Michelle Balaev. When applied to Beloved, it explains that traumatic experiences of the transatlantic slave trade and the experiences of being enslaved escape the realms of explanation through language as we know and understand it. [18] This trauma fractures the identity of the individual or collective (Beloved as the traumatised Sethe). This is further explained through transhistorical trauma [19][20][21] that can be applied to contemporary African American communities and culture. In terms of Beloved, Morrison’s literature itself seems to also act as a perfect example of the causality of transhistorical trauma.

Furthermore, trauma and repression manifest themselves in Paul D as his memories are described as belonging ‘in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where his heart used to be.’[22] This sentence is powerful as it illustrates precisely what is meant by the term repression and conveys a clear sense of the destructive coping mechanisms that not only the enslaved people used but also what American society uses to this day. One example of many is through the American educational tools. Only five years ago,[23] there was media outrage when a 15-year-old boy sent a text to his mother that showed a page being used to teach geography that referred to the millions of enslaved Africans who suffered and died in horrific conditions of the transatlantic slave trade ‘workers’.[24] This is a clear example of historical negationism and the repression of true American history, as illustrated by Paul D in the novel. Like the characters in Beloved, American society represses and attempts to forget the history that shaped and built the country. A prime example of this is seen through the fact that ‘the library in which James Madison conceives and conceptualizes the Bill of Rights rests on a foundation of bricks made by the children that he enslaved.’[25] Clearly illustrating that it is easy to see that the repression of painful memories displayed by all of the characters in Beloved, primarily through Beloved as an extension of Sethe and Paul D, respectively, reflect the continued importance of enslaved history in contemporary America.

All characters clearly illustrate the harmful effects of slavery. Particularly by Sethe as she exemplifies the roots of the damaging inferiority complexes and inability to formulate an identity that dominated the early African American identity. This sense of inferiority and Incomplete identity stemmed from experiences that came from being enslaved Seth describes how the ‘boys came in there and took my milk… Held me down and took it.’[26] This combined with her statement that she ‘was the cow, no, the goat… too nasty to stay with the horses.’[27] But, ‘wasn’t too nasty to cook their food or take care of Mrs. Garner.’[28] This treatment of Sethe as an animal and as a caregiver, essentially someone who is trusted, conflicts with their foundations. At Sweet Home, none of our enslaved characters can formulate any sense of true identity, as they were always subjected to conflicting states of being. Even after escaping, each character’s traumatic past has had a profound effect on them and has become part of their identity, a part of their identity that they have repressed.[29] It helps us understand the roots of the fractured identity that cause the Beloved formation of Sethe, the part that is her traumatic past; her inherited transhistorical trauma, the woman and the animal.

This fractured and incomplete identity can be seen in relation to contemporary America. However, when applying it to today’s African Americans, it has evolved into W.E.B Du Bois's theory of double consciousness (although transatlantic theory can also be applied).[30] In contemporary America, African American cultures seem to clash with white American cultural capital and values. As African American students struggle to reconcile an African heritage and culture with the cultural values and expectations forced upon them by ethnocentric educational systems.[31] This state of seemingly having to choose between your culture or your education is prevalent in today’s African American teenagers, seen through the use of the term ‘Oreo’. This experience of being described as an Oreo is shared by many,[32][33] in every industry and walk of life as described by Jamila Lyiscott and Nicole Johnson.[34][35] This is an example of how the American education system does not value predominantly black examples of communication, let alone accepting anything other than white culture as American. Showing how the fractured identity born during the slavery antebellum still affects African Americans today,[36] explained through Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness.[37]

The memories of abuse and suffering described by Sethe and all the characters above are not just works of fiction, as they shared by other novelists in autobiographies such as Olaudah Equiano and Fredrick Douglass. Novels such as Beloved testify to a shared history that cannot be ignored. Memories such as the abuse each character describes are communal, as the narrator describes how a black face would never be seen in a newspaper even if the

…the person had been killed, or maimed or caught or burned or jailed or whipped or evicted or stomped or raped or cheated, since that could hardly qualify as news in a newspaper. It would have to be something out of the ordinary — [38]

This, although unsurprising is a testament to how the black community was silenced even when they were suffering, in pain, or dying as it was normal. This is supported by accounts from firstly, Olaudah Equiano as he describes seeing ‘a negro beaten till some of his bones were broken, for even letting a pot boil over.’[39] Just one example of the experience of those who were enslaved illustrates that this, for Equiano and those who were enslaved with him, was normal. By using the words ‘for even’ when describing the act that led to punishment highlights that the punishment has wholly outweighed the ‘crime’.[40] Equiano is careful in the narration of his novel as he does not vulgar or vivid descriptions to avoid pushing away his readership but also knew the inclusion of these descriptions in his novel were important. These events were, as previously stated, testaments to the abuse and suffering of the enslaved populations. These experiences are also recorded in the writings of Frederick Douglass as he writes how his Master ‘…would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave.’[41] Not only is the suffering of an entire population being erased, but the suffering in question served the purpose of not only ‘punishment’ but pleasure for the Masters who were dealing with it. Showing us that the experiences described in Beloved as not just works of fiction, or imagination. Instead, they are testaments to the brutal and inhumane treatment of the enslaved populations, no matter what their supposed ‘crime’ was.

Works of literature and non-fiction such as those described above clearly illustrate how writing the history of slavery opens discussions surrounding ‘the complexities of the dialogue between whites and blacks in this country in the last two centuries, particularly for African Americans.’[42] These complexities challenge the white voice that has been dominant in western literature for as long as words have been read; the narratives contest the white voice and examples of historical negationism that were and in some cases still are rife. The legacy of these narratives is reflected in contemporary African American literature such as Beloved, as they continue to explore the origins of oppression and racism.[43] Showing through the continued writing of slave and neo-slave narratives that the history of slavery is important to understanding contemporary America.[44]

In conclusion, to fully understand African American fiction, an understanding of transhistorical trauma caused by slavery is essential. This then is translated to contemporary society through the criminalisation of black bodies, seen through the unequal incarceration rates of black communities. The continued importance of slavery is also seen through the ease to which the transhistorical trauma that the characters experience can be translated into today’s society. Seen through Du Bois theory of double consciousness and how this can be used to help understand why phrases such as ‘Oreo’ are used as insults. However, the continued popularity of neo-slave narratives such as Beloved — born from the slave narratives that have come before — attest to the truth and contest attempts of historical negationism.