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Josiah Henson,
Uncle Tom’s Story of
His Life: An Autobiography
of The Rev. Josiah Henson
(London, 1877).

Throughout many different slave narratives and autobiographies we can see the intensely damaging psychological effects of slavery. Many slaves express that they were seen as property, they were torn away from their families, and many time sexually abused. Often in these writings we see the slaves loose their ability to hold back the supressed anger and frustration, such as when a loved one was seen being harmed. Through the many forms of writing we see that these slaves are very emotionally distraught from the harsh mistreatments they received.

The autobiography of Josiah Henson, Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson, graphically exemplifies the continual emotional abuse upon slaves. Henson tells how his parents were both owned by the same master, Mr. Newman. Then just a young boy he recalls one specific day when his mother was attacked and attempted to be molested by the overseer. His father was working in the field and he heard his mother’s screams for help. Upon arrival to the scene, his father was described as being mingled with rage and suffering. “In a moment the overseer was down, and mastered by rage, my father would have killed him but for the entreaties of my mother, and the overseer’s own promise that nothing should ever be said of the matter.” (Henson, p1). His father later awaited a trial that would punish him severally for striking a white man. He was sentenced to one hundred lashes on the bare back, and to have the right ear nailed to the whipping-post, and then severed from the body.

Henson describes his father before the incident happened as being “good-humored and light-hearted man, the ringleader in all fun at cornhuskings and Christmas buffoonery” (Henson, p2). But the emotional effects of not only watching his own wife being violated, but also the suffering he paid for defending her, took a toll on him. “But from this hour he became utterly changed. Sullen, morose, and dogged, nothing could be done with him. He brooded over his wrongs. No fear or threats of being sold to the far south...would render him tractable. So off he was sent to Alabama. What was his fate neither my mother nor I have ever learned...” (Henson, p2). As the narrative ends Henson describes vividly the agony his mother went through when he and his siblings were sold to the another owner. His mother weeps at the loss of her children, a pain so horrible that only the person whose sees and feels these emotions can fully understand them. Each of the issues between his parents shows the inner destruction of every part of slavery.

In the narrative Henson is simply expressing the true stories that he recalls as a young boy. He points out how even though he was a child at the time of the some occurrences, he remembers the effect slavery had on him, his parents, and his family as a whole. He points out how the horrible treatment robbed a person of their self worth. Henson reflects on the events that stick out in his mind, events that lead to the ruin of his parents emotional well-being. For example, when he tells of how he and his siblings were sold to a different owner than that of his, he chooses to have the focus on his mother’s feelings toward the issue. “She fell at his feet and clung to his knees, entreating him in tones that a mother only could command, to buy her baby as well as herself...Can it be believed that this man as to reduce her to the necessity of creeping out of his reach, and mingling the groan of bodily suffering with the sob of a breaking heart?” (Henson p3). By recapping the complete emotional break down of his mother, Henson forces the reader to imagine such a scene. This then plays on the emotions of the audience and creates a deeper sincerity toward the story.

Henson story teaches the everyday hardships of a slave. He uses language of which everyone can understand and speaks in the first person to make the experiences easier to relate to. He gives the audience the perspective of a firsthand slave and not that of a history book which makes the events more imaginable. He also tells how other slaves have experienced his hardships, directing the reader toward other sources to support his case.

Henson’s autobiography is similar to that of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, read earlier in class. Although each having their own unique qualities, they both exemplify how the hardships of slavery effected every aspect of their lives. For example, after Douglas vividly presents the images of when he first saw his aunt being beat by her master, he describes his feelings of remembrance. “I was quite a child but I quite remember it...It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass...I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it” (Douglas, p51). As in Henson’s autobiography, the severe psychological distortions are shown through the recalling of the stories. Both show how the lives of slavery damages an individual beyond description.

Through both of these examples we are able to how severely mistreated these two men were and how they were emotionally effected by the distorted acts of slavery. They both express that even as young children they can still vividly remember the pictures in their minds. Through these dehumanizing acts it is easily concluded that individuals are lost in the act of slavery and it can never be forgotten.