Slavery during the antebellum period was both kind and cruel, depending on your master. Catherine Green says that her master, Perry McGinnis, was a man who only believed in punishing his slaves when they needed it. During her slavery, she only received one "woopin." The slaves on Mr. McGinnis plantation had plenty of food including, coffee, milk, meats, greens, cakes, and bread. Catherine's second husband Charlie was a slave, and she says that his owners, "was mighty good slave owners." Catherine had a kind master and was treated kindly. However, the next narrative is about a slave with an inhumane master. When James Green was young, his master was forced to set him free. Then when James was twelve his master took him for a walk and sold him at a slave market for $800 to John Pincback. According to James his new master was, "the biggest devil on earth." The first day he got there, he was put to work without food. The next day he was told to act as a runaway slave, s!
             o that the dogs could find him, they found him, and he never entertained the idea of running away again. Children were forced to work. Pincback would "breed de niggers as quick as he can, like cattle, cause dat means money for him." He would choose a wife for every man, and if the wife was not a good "breeder" she would do work with the men. James also talks about how the masters and the drivers would take any slave girl they wanted and rape them. Pincback would even nail slaves to a tree by their ears. Pincback was constantly showing the slaves who were boss and degrading their existence by treating them like animals.
             The two narratives are fascinating, however they must be carefully reviewed for accuracy. For example, the narrative of Catherine Green is contradictory. I get the impression that Catherine's master is not as kind as she cares to reveal. She was only eleven when she was f...