MINI ARCHIVE

Notice of Garner's 
escape and death of her children- 
Cincinnati Gazette-Jab 29,1856

Cincinnati Enquirer-Stampede of Slaves: 

A Tale of Horror- January 29,1856

Margaret Garner

•  Who is Margaret Garner? Click here to find out. 
• Now that you know Margaret Garner's story, does it help you understand Beloved better? In what ways has this historical context helped your understanding of  Beloved? 

A short flash movie about photos of real lynchings.

The video above is titled “Without Sanctuary” it shows a compilation of lynching photographs in America. In it you will find a mother strung up with her son, her name is Laura Nelson 

(minute 4:16-4:28)                                                                                                             

• How does this video help you imagine Sethe's rape and the stealing of her milk while school teacher watches and records the assault with casualness? 

• What does that tell you of slavery and meticulous keeping of records? 

An excerpt

An excerpt

The two documents above, are scanned copies of an excerpt from "Anthony Burns a History" on Leonard A. Grimes, 1856. It is about the whipping of a slave mother and how she was helped to escape. You can click  here for a clearer view. 

• How does this picture help you understand brutality against pregnant women and mothers on slave plantations? 

Let us take a 3D 😘 journey together on a slave ship called vessel L'Aurore. Click here to participate.  

• How has this 3D slave ship shaped your view of slave ships and the condition of slaves during transatlantic slave trade? 

• Does this 3D view help you put into perspective the connection between the "belly of the ship" and "maternal shackling", which is a major theme in Beloved? 

Slave advert

Slave advert

• Take a good look at the slave adverts above, what can you say about motherhood, slavery and fugitive? 

• How real is Morrison's Sethe in history? When you think of Margaret Garner, do you think she has sisters, daughters and proteges everywhere in history?  

• What are the similarities in Louisiana's advert and Judy's advert, what meanings are you able to draw from your comparison? 

Freemen searching for their family.
Southwestern Christian Advocate, May 6, 1880.
Historic New Orleans Collection/Hill Memorial Library,
Louisiana State University Libraries. 

Freemen searching for their family
Southwestern Christian Advocate, May 27, 1880.
Historic New Orleans Collection/Hill Memorial Library,
Louisiana State University Libraries. 

• What can you make of this advert? 

• How is it different from other adverts that you have been provided with on this Scholarly Reader's Guide?

• Link the truth of history with Sethe's reunion with her family in Cincinnati. 

• In the advert above, lost mares and humans are advertised on the same page. What comes to mind? 

Lost but found

• Julia like Sethe in Beloved  has been found, do you think slave adverts helped in finding escaped slave? 

• Considering this advert, how dangerous is running away for a slave?