Puttin' On Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup

by Gilbert Osofsky (Editor)

409p., first edition, dust jacket in protective mylar, gift inscription on endpaper, else in very good condition

Genres: History

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I Studied black history while in college, and I have read other books on slavery, but personal stories from the black slaves is an entire other ballgame. Nothing prepared me for this. I asked myself how the slaves managed to stay alive, why weren't there more suicides?

Henry, one of the characters in this book, tried using magic to prevent himself and his family from being harmed, and when it didn’t work, he realized that it was just superstitious and so gave it up. Then he began praying to God, but God never helped him, and yet he continued to believe in this God. I ask why he didn't place God along side that of magic?

I have often wondered why the blacks and the American Indians had both accepted the God of their enslavers? Perhaps it is because of a need for a savior or maybe it was the Stockholm Syndrome, a syndrome that causes one to trust the person who enslaved or kidnapped you. And yet some slaves did not believe in Christianity, and many of those who did were taught that God taught slaves to obey their masters. Their masters taught them these things through a form of a catechism with questions and answers such as this one:

"Q: Are not servants bound to obey their masters?
A: Yes. The Bible exhorts servants to be obedient to their masters, and to please them well in all things."

And then there were slaves who didn't believe that the Bible taught this cruelty, believing slavery to be "a perversion of the holy scriptures."

Some people say that slavery is over with, so forget it, but it isn’t. People are enslaved every day, not that they they are literally being sold into slavery, although some are, but their wages are so low that it is hard for them to even support a family, to obtain affordable health care, or even to provide proper food and clothing or a proper roof over teir heads.

I don’t have much faith in human kind and haven’t in a long time. Yes, there are those who are working for the good of mankind, who fight for human rights, for social justice, but there are never enough people fighting for these causes to make much of a difference. We no longer have a Martin Luther King, Jr. or the other Freedom Fighters. We have Michael Moore, we HAD Occupy Wallstreet, but is all this making a difference?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three narratives of enslaved men that comprise this book are outstanding. I had previously read excerpts from the first two, by Henry Bibb and William Wells, in other collections. The third, by Solomon Northrup, is the basis for the movie Twelve Years a Slave. All three stories show in detail the horrible conditions of slavery in the American South. It's painful to read about, even so many years afterward. And yet it's necessary. The wholesale acceptance of slavery as an institution, the embrace of the everyday cruelties as a way of life, still echoes as pervasive racism in our culture.

The title of the book seems too flippant for the serious nature of all three narratives. But the introduction was nicely done.

[Sasha]

Henry Bibb has a hell of a story.