In the video, "Slavery and the Making of America", we were presented with a young African-American girl, named Harriet Jacobs, who was born as a slave. Harriet desperately wanted freedom from her lustful owner, James Norcom. She risked everything to gain liberty. In the process, she married a white man, named Sawyer, in the age of 15. However, marrying Sawyer did not grant her any freedom then. Soon, she gave birth to two children, whom Norton claimed as his properties. The greedy man even turned down the children's father, when he tried to purchase his own kids. The journey to freedom was difficult for the family, and eventually, Harriet decided to make an escape. Not to be blunt, but this was a reckless decision in my opinion. Things could have turned out worse for her children. First, Norcom was a merciless and avaricious man. Who knows what he could have done to them? With the snap of his fingers, he could torture them or even sell them, in order to bring his slave back to where she really belongs. Second, we saw in the video of the treatment of black people. When the group led a rebellion, the white men gathered to suppress the uprising. When the slave owners had a desire to harass their slaves, the church claimed that it was legal and that it was not a wrong thing to do. The “superior” thought that African-Americans deserved those actions - anything could have happened to Harriet, who made an escape as a slave. A great consequence could have faced her later on, and Sawyer would not have able to do a single thing for her. So, my question is, What would you have done if you were in Harriet’s shoes?
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