So attentive was the young man to the quadroon during the evening that it was noticed by all, and became a matter of general conversation; while Currer appeared delighted beyond measure at her daughter's conquest. Currer was first ordered to ascend the auction stand, which she did with a trembling step.
With the help of his namesake, he makes his way first to Cleveland, Ohio, where he waits for Lake Erie to thaw before crossing over into Canada.
Would that we could say, that the moral and religious teaching in the slave states were better than the laws; but, alas! WITH the growing population of slaves in the Southern States of America, there is a fearful increase of half whites, most of whose fathers are slaveowners, and their mothers slaves.
He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master. The young man had just returned from college, and was in his twenty–second year. The auctioneer commenced by saying, that "Miss Clotel had been reserved for the last, because she was the most valuable. "Fourteen." While working as a waiter, Brown pursues a path of self-education, purchasing and reading books as well as subscribing to an anti-slavery newspaper. How much gentlemen? The work focuses on the fictional slave mistress of Thomas Jefferson named Currer(modeled closely on the historical Sally Hemmings) and her two daughters, Althesa and Clotel. As Mrs. Price encourages Brown to take a wife—first promoting his romantic attachment to Maria and later fixing upon the actual object of his affections, Eliza—Brown disingenuously promises to marry Eliza in the very near future; in truth, he has no such intention, knowing that he never could abandon a wife to slavery. On more than one occasion, the narrator—while recounting details of this abuse—comments on the particular unparalleled cruelty of northern slave owners. And at negro balls and parties, this class of women usually cut the greatest figure. Clotel; or, The President's Daughter study guide contains a biography of William Wells Brown, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.Clotel; or, The President's Daughter essays are academic essays for citation. As she stands at the auction, Clotel is described as having “a complexion as white as most of those who were waiting with a wish to become her purchasers” (49). Also several mulatto girls of rare personal qualities: two of them very superior. Brown would draw directly from the text in many of his later works, among them Brown's earliest memories are of serving as a house servant, first near Lexington, Kentucky, and then in Missouri. With a Sketch of the Author's Life Born on a plantation near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1814, William Wells Brown was the son of a white man and an enslaved woman. 74-page comprehensive study guide; Features 29 chapter summaries and 5 sections of expert analysis; Written by a literary scholar with a Master's degree in English ; Access Full Summary . Laughing, joking, swearing, smoking, spitting, and talking kept up a continual hum and noise amongst the crowd; while the slave–girl stood with tears in her eyes, at one time looking towards her mother and sister, and at another towards the young man whom she hoped would become her purchaser. At the time of the decease of her master, Currer's daughters, Clotel and Althesa, were aged respectively sixteen and fourteen years, and both, like most of their own sex in America, were well grown. She had hired her time for more than twenty years, during which time she had lived in Richmond. "Ah, gentlemen, that is something like. Accompanying Walker from St. Louis to New Orleans on several trips aboard a steamboat, Brown's primary responsibility involves readying the slaves for market.
It was a beautiful moonlight night in August, when all who reside in tropical climes are eagerly gasping for a breath of fresh air, that Horatio Green was seated in the small garden behind Currer's cottage, with the object of his affections by his side.
By William Wells Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Author of "Three Years in Europe." The slave, to remain a slave, must be sensible that there is no appeal from his master." As the autobiography closes, Brown notes his subscription to William Lloyd Garrison's Born on a plantation near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1814, William Wells Brown was the son of a white man and an enslaved woman. "Thirteen." "Only five hundred for such a girl as this? Brown's narrative includes a veritable catalogue of slaves' violent mistreatment at the hands of brutally vicious masters and overseers.
In all the slave states, the law says:—"Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever." "Eight hundred."
Thus closed a negro sale, at which two daughters of Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of American Independence, and one of the presidents of the great republic, were disposed of to the highest bidder! And this, too, in a city thronged with churches, whose tall spires look like so many signals pointing to heaven, and whose ministers preach that slavery is a God–ordained institution! Nearly all the negro parties in the cities and towns of the Southern States are made up of quadroon and mulatto girls, and white men. So attentive was the young man to the quadroon during the evening that it was noticed by all, and became a matter of general conversation; while Currer appeared delighted beyond measure at her daughter's conquest. Brown, William Wells. Although the term "negro ball" is applied to most of these gatherings, yet a majority of the attendants are often whites.
Here, gentlemen, I hold in my hand a paper certifying that she has a good moral character." Such was the answer from a committee of the "Shiloh Baptist Association;" and instead of receiving light, those who asked the question were plunged into deeper darkness! The query was referred to a committee, who made the following report; which, after discussion, was adopted: — Clotel, in full Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, novel by William Wells Brown, first published in England in 1853.