Celia A Slave
Melton McLaurin's book Celia, A Slave is the account of the trial, conviction, and execution of a female slave for the murder of her master in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through studying documents from Callaway County, Missouri and the surrounding area during the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Although much of what we can determine about this event is merely speculation, we are able to guess the motives that contribute to the way in which many of the events unfold. Because of the details of the trial, many of the people involved probably faced several difficult decisions that led to the outcome of the trial. During the 1850s the United States was involved in a heated debate over the issue of slavery. Many of the residents of Missouri and nearby Kansas were fighting for or against the institution of slavery. The outcome of this trial was important because it could have a tremendous affect upon the way the legal system in Missouri viewed the rights of slaves, and the ways in which they would be forced to interpret the laws of the State in regard to how they where to apply to slaves.
Unfortunately he chooses self-preservation over the woman he loves. The one chance that the defense had to save Celia's life was to convince the jury that she was fearing for her life when she killed Newsom. George denies any knowledge of the fate of Newsom at first, but eventually hints that Celia may have killed Newsom. The last people in a position give justice to Celia was those involved in the prosecution of Celia for the murder of Robert Newsom. So he makes his decision between protecting Celia for committed a crime which he helped to provoke, or to protect himself. From the time that Newsom first acquires Celia, he begins to rape her on a regular basis. During the 1800s women really had very little power in regards to the men who headed their households. Unfortunately the prosecution in this case was to strong, led by Robert Prewitt, they virtually prevented Jameson from making any sort of case for the defense of Celia. Once again, someone in a position to help protect Celia chose to do nothing to protect her, even though it wasn't the morally proper thing to do. Another motive for them to not get involved in protecting Celia was to avoid the embarrassment that would be caused if the details of Robert and Celia's relationship was ever made public. No matter what, sometimes it is impossible to separate politics from out personal lives. Due to her young age, there is a very good possibility that her first sexual experience was with Newsom. The prosecution refused to allow this to happen, by objecting to the accusations that Robert ever raped Celia. So rather than allowing Celia to plead her case for justice, they hid behind objections, sustained by the judge, William Hall.
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Acceptance Essays
