I need help starting essay

Question

In 1808, the (legal) international slave trade ended. Over the next fifty years, the American South developed a complex slave society. Choose one element of that society (plantation owner, white yeoman, free African American, plantation slave, or city slave) and, writing from that perspective, describe how you fit into the slave society. What is your role in the economy? Who do you interact with on a daily basis? What laws and rules govern your life? How do you feel about slavery?

I was thinking about writing from either the perspective of a plantation owner or a plantation slave, which one would i be able to write more about?

Also, I need help writing the first sentence for my intro to get me started.. (sorry I am bad at starting essays)

Answer 1

From a practical standpoint, it would probably be more difficult to write from the perspective of an enslaved person. There are infinitely more primary sources centered around the perspective of plantation slavers because it was illegal for the enslaved to learn or be taught to read and write.

However, sources do exist that would provide evidence and insight into the perspective of the enslaved. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an excellent source on the matter and also autobiographical. The Quest of the Silver Fleece A Novel by W. E. B. Du Bois is also fascinating and informative, however, it is fictional and written by a Black man born after the legal end of slavery. While it is not a firsthand account of an enslaved person's perspective, it is nevertheless an outstanding work heavily informed by the lived experience of an extremely eloquent and highly educated man born and raised Black in America. This makes it, in my opinion, a very valuable secondary source about the experience of people enslaved in America. I have not read Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave, but I believe that is also autobiographical and would provide the perspective of an active and influential freedwoman who championed both abolitionism and women's rights.

I hope this helps.