Immorality’s Role in the Enslaved’s Misery

Slavery is undeniably one of the most gruesome systems that make up the United States’ history, portraying the negligance of equality and morality when it came to the treatment of African Americans. During the 18th and 19th centuries, White Americans managed to conceal their iniquity towards African Americans in the idea that they don’t deserve moral, respectful treatment because of their skin color. This ideology led to society’s acceptance of the idea of there not being a problem with African Americans constant misery and being treated horrendously simply because they are of dark skin. Agreed on societal ethics and morals, such as no killing or no violence against any other person, were definitely neglected when it came to the treatment of the enslaved, which led to the continuation of slavery in itself, whether it was institutional or obvious, asserting to African Americans that their idea of happiness not being attainable is true and that their suffering is infinite. In Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, the constant misery Cora is forced to live through because of the immorality of White Americans shows how slavery is one of the most horrific institutions mankind has ever faced.

Trying to achieve equality and just simple happiness was not something all African Americans, whether enslaved or not, thought was attainable. There was no escape from slavery, “sometimes a slave will be lost in a brief eddy of liberation . . .Then it comes . . . the reminder that she is only a human being for a tiny moment across the eternity of her servitude” (Whitehead 29). This shows how Cora, the protagonist in Whitehead’s novel who was enslaved since her birth, lost all hope in ever maintaining that momentary happiness, knowing that it was inevitable that she would wake up the next day back to the torturous cycle she is forced to live through. The American law “said little or nothing about how long a slave could be worked or whether he or she had the right to food and clothing” (Wallenfeldt 113), showing that there was nothing to protect slaves’ simple rights. Aside from that, “few slave owners were actually punished for maltreating their slaves” (Wallenfeldt 113) and that is portrayed in the novel where many slaves were brutally beaten and murdered for very trivial things. For example, when Chester, a slave on the Randall’s plantation, accidentally dropped wine on Terrance, the plantation owner’s shirt, “the cane crashed across his shoulder and head, again and again” (Whitehead 34) and when Cora tried to defend Chester, she was met with the same hits from Terrance’s cane. Brutality was a given when it came to the lives of African Americans in the South, and suffering was the feeling they felt the most throughout their lives on plantations. 

Some may argue that slavery played a huge role in the financial benefits it brought to the United States, making it slightly morally acceptable. However, when it comes to morals and ethics, it should be a given that people should be treated equally, respectfully and not tortured and forced to do immense amounts of labor. Financial prosperity shouldn’t be a justification as to why slavery was condoned and left to eat up the African American’s lives. “Charles Carroll, who was a member of a society to end slavery, wrote to Robert Goodloe, April 23, 1820: ‘Why keep alive the question of slavery? It is admitted by all to be a great evil.’”(Newstex). Slavery definitely assisted in the United States economy, with “slavery [becoming] deeply entrenched in those parts of the Western hemisphere where profit possibilities were sufficiently large as to justify the time, cost, and trouble of recruiting, retaining, and defending—whether in a constabulatory or an ideological sense—a bound labor force”(Coclanis). This shows how slavery was an easy way to have an abundance of workers that won’t dare to demand a huge income or ask for their rights because of the bondage and torture they are forced to experience. Aside from wanting to assure White dominance in society, slavery was an immoral approach to gaining wealth for the nation. Even though slavery was a source of economic prosperity in the United States, it still is a brutal, unacceptable act because of the immorality of it’s practices and the exploitation and torture of a huge group of people.

The idea of ethics and morals play a huge role in Whitehead’s novel. For example, Dr. Stevens, a doctor in South Carolina who had examined Cora once and tried to sterilize her and many African American women, shows multiple occasions of him showing sympathy towards the enslaved, such as his disapproval of the usage of the word “nigger”. “Stevens never used the word. He disapproved of racial prejudice” (Whitehead 141), being one of the first White Americans in the novel to portray any type of morality, showing that he harbors no prejudice towards African Americans. On the contrary, his ambition as a physician made him disregard these morals and prove that he is no different from every other White person we’ve seen throughout the novel. He attempted to justify his actions by thinking that he “gave these people a second chance to contribute” (Whitehead 142), claiming that African Americans played no role in society and “in death the negro became a human being. Only then he was the white man’s equal”(Whitehead 142). He also stated that African Americans don’t “post sentries over their dead…do not pound on the door of the sheriff , they did not haunt the offices of the newspapermen” (Whitehead 141), making stealing their bodies and experimenting on them simply not a big deal because no one would do anything if their bodies went missing. This shows that Black bodies had no value during that time, nobody caring if they had gone missing or if anything had happened to them. It shows how Black bodies were deemed to experience constant, infinite torture, whether they were alive or dead. 

Another example of how morality plays a role in the continuation of slavery is represented in Ethel because she shows the conflict between wanting to be moral, following the words of God, and being affected by societal views and the way you were raised. Wanting “to spread the Christian word to African primitives” (Whitehead 197), Ethel presented a very confusing case to myself when reading the book because I didn’t know whether she wanted to help with the spiritual enlightenment of Africans or if she wanted to teach them about the Bible that was tailored by White Americans to condone their actions concerning slavery. “The voluntaristic and scriptural means that evangelicals had employed to create the national culture faltered before the unbridgeable chasm of opinion about what the Bible actually taught concerning slavery” (Noll 65). An example of how the Bible supposedly condoned slavery was in the Old Testimony where it was said that slavery was a familiar act with Israelites. Another example was “some ministers promoted the idea that Africans were the descendants of Ham, cursed in the book of Genesis, and thus their enslavement was fitting” (Zauzmer).This asserts that the Bible was clearly altered to justify slavery and prove that God created those of dark skin to be enslaved. Ethel embodies this idea when she helps Cora and lets her stay at her house to protect her from White Americans who murder anyone of color in North Carolina. She is also putting herself and her husband Martin in danger because anyone who helps anyone of the color is also murdered. On the other hand, Ethel would say things to Cora such as “It wouldn’t be very Christian of me to let a heathen into my house, and not share His word” (Whitehead 186), referring to Cora as a pagan, Ethel believes that Cora is barbaric for not following Christianity. This makes us question whether or not Ethel actually followed the teachings of the Bible, believing in equality, when she didn’t accept Cora because she was Black and didn’t believe in Christianity. This questions whether she truly follows the teachings of Christianity, which assert that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly regardless of any of their features, or just claims that she does while still being racist and discriminatory.

The relationship between morality, ethics, and the constant misery African Americans saw that they would suffer eternally is a cause and effect relationship because White Americans chose to neglect their morals and societal ethics when it came to African Americans. Therefore there was no sympathy when it came to the treatment of African Americans, whether they were enslaved or not. Slavery is still seen in our modern day society now although it supposedly ended. Institutional slavery was and is still evident in our society through the mistreatment of African Americans in public areas, the injustice in pay between White Americans and anyone of color, and the financial status of many African Americans. Yes, slavery isn’t occurring in the exact form that it used to in the 1600’s, but the oppression of African American culture and the constant attemots made to undermine the African American community are a form of slavery that isn’t blatant, but still has a great effect. 

Morality and slavery are both very controversial topics seperately, so making the connection between both creates an interesting topic that really shows how societal ideology influences the actions of people in that society. Society is built on specific ethics that everyone is expected to follow,such as respecting each other, not causing harm to others, accepting everyone else’s beliefs, and not discriminating others based on physical features or beliefs and ideology. Therefore, when a group is tortured and is not treated by those societal criteria, then there is no balance in this society and harmony will be nonexistent. If White Americans had decided to not be hypocrites and actually live by the morals they claim they follow, maybe there wouldn’t be this continuous civil tension that has been haunting our nation for hundreds of years. If we manage to achieve societal harmony and understanding, our lives would be more peaceful and functional. 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Britannica, Educational Publishing Staff. Africa to America : From the Middle Passage Through 

The 1930S, edited by Jeff Wallenfeldt, Rosen Publishing Group, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ccny-ebooks/detail.action?docID=547739.

SMF. (November 5, 2019 Tuesday). ‘Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time’ — American Minute. Newstex Blogs Self-Educated American. Retrieved from https://advance-lexis-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5XF5-0YM1-JCMN-Y22Y-00000-00&context=1516831.

Noll, Mark A.. God and Race in American Politics : A Short History, Princeton University Press, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ccny-ebooks/detail.action?docID=457868.

Coclanis, Peter. “The Economics of Slavery.” The Oxford Handbook of Slavery in the Americas, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. The Oxford Handbook of Slavery in the Americas, Chapter 23.

Zauzmer, Julie. “The Bible Was Used to Justify Slavery. Then Africans Made It Their Path to Freedom.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 May 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-then-africans-made-it-their-path-to-freedom/2019/04/29/34699e8e-6512-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html.