"Men of Color, To Arms"

Frederick Douglass' speech, "Men to Color, To Arms" is an influential speech which in my opinion can be compared to the “Gettysburg Address.” Douglass dedicated his life to dissipate the “slave holding rebellion.” Douglass urged men to enlist in Massachusetts in Douglass’s Monthly. The impact Douglass had was unthinkable:
Two months later, on May 13, 1863, black volunteers mustered into service as the Fifty-fourth Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Robert Gould Shaw. Eventually about 180,000 African Americans served in the Union army during the Civil War (1366).
The persuasion Douglass used was life changing to the Volunteer Infantry. The Infantry marked a crucial period in history, it marked the acts which allowed the enlistment of African Americans. One of my favorite quotes of this speech is as follows:
I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the same wages, the same rations, the same equipments, the same protection, the same treatment, and the same bounty secured to white soldiers. You will be led by able and skilled officers—men who will take especial pride in your efficiency and success. They will be quick to accord to you all the honor you shall merit by your valor—and see that your rights and feelings are respected by other soldiers (1369).

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Comparing and Contrasting Rowlandsons' and Jacobs' Narratives

I took a particular interest this week in the components of slave narratives.  As stated in class, slave narratives have similar elements to captivity narratives.  I have noticed that in both narratives religion is an important aspect.  Perhaps it is used as a mental survival mechanism to keep their hopes high.  However, I observed while comparing Rowlandsons' narrative to Jacobs’ narrative, that in slave narratives they have been more Biblical and spiritual based.  For example, slave narratives were more likely to use psalms as a method of healing, especially while doing labor.  In captivity narratives, I found it interesting that their captor seems to be viewed as a unknown Christian, and savage-like.  However, in slave narratives, the captor seem to be white Christians.  The hypocrisy is, like Douglass states, that capturing slaves and making them do labor isn’t a very “Christian-like” thing to do.  

Slave narratives also had a huge emphasis on literacy since it was prohibited for slaves to learn how to read and write.  Jacobs emphasizes this in the beginning of her narrative to emphasize that writing a narrative was difficult.  Jacobs had to also deal with the strife of her children being born into slavery.  The pain of watching her children grow up through a peep-hole was very apparent and definitely proved that this story was a sentimental narrative.  Jacobs also faced the issue of female chastity by being impregnated by a white man, who then leaves her.  This is vastly different from what happens in Mary Rowlandsons' narrative; she describes more of a culture-shock to her captors. It astounded me that the “woe is me complaint” is much more apparent in Rowlandson’s narrative, while Jacobs’ comes across as a more poised, put-together woman regardless of what she’s been through.