July 25, 2025 • 9 mins
Delve into the captivating life of an American Bondman, as lovingly presented by his daughter, Josephine Brown. This biography not only revisits the significant experiences documented in her fathers own narratives, but also introduces fresh anecdotes and her unique perspective on his life. While the book draws heavily from previously published autobiographical accounts, it is enriched by a narrative style brimming with humor and wit. As observed by Andrews, the biographys exceptional contribution to the legacy of William Wells Brown is the insights it provides into the rhetorical strategies employed by both father and daughter in their united stand against slavery.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapters five and six of Biography of an American Bondman
by his Daughter by Josephine Brown. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. Chapter five for now the ripened
cane was ready for the knife, and not a slave
could be spared to aid his mother or his wife.
(00:24):
In the cotton districts, the picking season is always the
most severe for the bondman, for when they gather in
the cotton, the slaves are worked from fifteen to twenty
hours out of the twenty four. The sugar making season
commences about the middle or last of October and continues
from four to ten weeks, according to the season and
(00:47):
other circumstances, but more especially the number of hands on
the plantation and the amount of sugar to be made.
As soon as the cane is ready for harvesting, the
grinding mill is got in order, wood hauled, the boiling
house cleaned out, the kettles scoured, the coolers calked, and
the casks arranged to receive the sugar. Before the cane
(01:10):
is gathered in, plants or sprouts as they are sometimes called,
are secured for the next season. This is done by
cutting cane and putting it in matelas or mattressing it,
as it is commonly denominated. The cane is cut and
thrown into different parcels in the field in quantities sufficient
to plant several acres in so placed that the tops
(01:33):
of one layer may completely cover and protect the stalks
of another. When the required amount is thus obtained, the
whole gang of slaves is employed in cutting cane and
taking it to the mill. The top is first cut
from the cane, and then the stalks cut as close
to the ground as possible, thrown into carts or taken
(01:53):
on the backs of mules to the grinding house. As
soon as it reaches the mill, it is twice passed
between iron wood rollers so that not a particle of
juice is left in the stock, the former passing into
vats or receivers, while the trash is thrown into carts
and conveyed from the mill and burned. After the juice
is pressed from the cane, it is put into boilers
(02:16):
and transferred from one to another until it reaches the
last kettle or teach as it is termed. The sugar
has then attained the granulating point and is thus conveyed
into the coolers, which hold between two and three hogsheads.
It is then removed to the draining house after remaining
twenty four hours in the coolers, and soon after is
(02:38):
put into the hogsheads. Here it undergoes the process of
draining for five or six days, and is then ready
for the market. A second rate sugar is always made
after the first class is manufactured. During the whole of
this process, the driver is never seen without a short
handled whip in his hand. The lash of the new
(03:00):
grow whip is from four to six feet in length,
made of cowhide and sometimes wire platted in with the leather.
The handle of the whip or the butt is not
unfrequently loaded or filled with lead. Such is the process
through which the sugar has to pass before it finds
its way upon the tables of the people of the
(03:20):
Free States. William shrank back at the thought of his
brothers dragging out their lives upon a cotton or sugar plantation.
End of chapter five, Chapter six, A bitter smile was
on her cheek and a dark flash in her eye.
(03:42):
After remaining on the farm for a few weeks under
the iron rule of the overseer, William was again hired
out to the proprietors of the steamer Enterprise. On the
second trip of the boat's returned from Galena, she took
on board at Hannibal a noted slave train named Walker,
who had with him between fifty and sixty slaves, consisting
(04:06):
chiefly of men and women adapted to field service. In
this gang of slaves, however, was a young woman, apparently
about twenty years of age, with blue eyes, straight brown hair,
prominent features, and perfectly white, with no indication whatever that
a drop of African blood coursed through her veins. In
(04:28):
describing this girl in the published narrative of his life,
mister Brown says, the woman attracted universal attention, but it
was not so much the fairness of her complexion that
created such a sensation among those who gazed upon her
finely chiseled features. It was her almost unequaled beauty. She
(04:49):
had been on board but a short time before both
ladies and gentlemen left their easy chairs to view the
white slave. Throughout the day, the topic of conversation was
the beautiful slave girl. This young woman was the daughter
of a slaveholder by one of his mulatto servants. Much
anxiety was felt among the passengers to learn the history
(05:12):
of this beautiful and innocent creature. The trader kept near
her all the time. On the arrival of the boat
at Saint Louis, the gang, including the white slave, was
removed to another steamer bound for New Orleans, and the speculator,
no doubt, on reaching the place of his destination, sold
this American daughter for a high price on account of
(05:33):
her personal charms the steamer. Soon after being laid up
for the remainder of the season, William was once more
taken home and employed as a house servant and carriage driver.
It was while acting in this capacity that a deed
of cruelty was committed, which is graphically described by mister
(05:54):
Brown in his published narrative. While driving his master's carriage
to church one Sabbath morning, he saw mister D. D. Page,
with whom he was well acquainted, chasing one of his
slaves round the yard, cutting him at every jump with
a long Negro whip. Mister Page, seeing the truthful charges
of mister Brown published, employed the Reverend Doctor A. Bullard,
(06:19):
a pro slavery Nigro hating clergyman formerly of the North
but now of Saint Louis, to refute the charge, which
the doctor attempted to do in a series of articles
published in the columns of Northern pro slavery papers of
his own denomination. But the Presbyterian d d instead of
mending the matter for his patron, made it worse and
(06:42):
caused the public to regard himself as a miserable tool.
Mister Page has since failed in his banking business and
swindled his creditors out of large sums, and has no
doubt lost the misplaced confidence of his renegade theological friend Haskell.
The Overseer experienced religion about this time and joined the Dunkards,
(07:06):
a religious sect located at the Southwest, who baptized by immersion,
dipping their converts three times. The Overseer, being an unprincipled
scamp noted for his drinking propensities and for cheating all
with whom he dealt. A large number of persons assembled
to witness the baptismal ceremony performed on the Negro driver.
(07:30):
Some of the Blacks are very superstitious and are of
opinion that the Lord will answer their prayers in any
case when they ask for the extermination of bad men.
So the day that the over Seer was led to
the pond to have his sins washed out. Not less
than nine of the oldest slaves went on their knees
and prayed that the cruel negro driver might not come
(07:53):
out of the water alive. Among the crowd that had
come together was old Peter Swite, who who kept a
dram shop, and who complained that Haskell owed him several
dollars for drink, but which the overseer denied as John Mason.
The Minister pulled the negroat Driver up after dipping him
the third time. Old Peter took his pipe from his
(08:16):
mouth and cried out at the top of his voice,
doubs him again, John, He's a dirty dog. I know
him well. He never pays his debts. So the Minister,
either forgetting himself or really thinking his new convert needed
the fourth dip, put the sinner once more under the water.
This last plunge came near drowning him, for the Man
(08:40):
of God was much exhausted and was scarcely able to
lift the negroat Driver out of the water, and the
latter had taken two or three hearty drinks before he
was drawn to the surface. Although the prayers of the
slaves were not answered, They nevertheless took great credit to
themselves for the misstep of the minister. That night, the
(09:00):
slaves on the whole plantation were in the highest glee.
The opossums that had been lying in the frost were
taken down and baked with sweet potatoes, and every voice
ascended to God, either in prayer or in song. For
the half success of their prayers. At the baptism end
of chapter six,
Chapters five and six of Biography of an American Bondman
by his Daughter by Josephine Brown. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain. Chapter five for now the ripened
cane was ready for the knife, and not a slave
could be spared to aid his mother or his wife.
(00:24):
In the cotton districts, the picking season is always the
most severe for the bondman, for when they gather in
the cotton, the slaves are worked from fifteen to twenty
hours out of the twenty four. The sugar making season
commences about the middle or last of October and continues
from four to ten weeks, according to the season and
(00:47):
other circumstances, but more especially the number of hands on
the plantation and the amount of sugar to be made.
As soon as the cane is ready for harvesting, the
grinding mill is got in order, wood hauled, the boiling
house cleaned out, the kettles scoured, the coolers calked, and
the casks arranged to receive the sugar. Before the cane
(01:10):
is gathered in, plants or sprouts as they are sometimes called,
are secured for the next season. This is done by
cutting cane and putting it in matelas or mattressing it,
as it is commonly denominated. The cane is cut and
thrown into different parcels in the field in quantities sufficient
to plant several acres in so placed that the tops
(01:33):
of one layer may completely cover and protect the stalks
of another. When the required amount is thus obtained, the
whole gang of slaves is employed in cutting cane and
taking it to the mill. The top is first cut
from the cane, and then the stalks cut as close
to the ground as possible, thrown into carts or taken
(01:53):
on the backs of mules to the grinding house. As
soon as it reaches the mill, it is twice passed
between iron wood rollers so that not a particle of
juice is left in the stock, the former passing into
vats or receivers, while the trash is thrown into carts
and conveyed from the mill and burned. After the juice
is pressed from the cane, it is put into boilers
(02:16):
and transferred from one to another until it reaches the
last kettle or teach as it is termed. The sugar
has then attained the granulating point and is thus conveyed
into the coolers, which hold between two and three hogsheads.
It is then removed to the draining house after remaining
twenty four hours in the coolers, and soon after is
(02:38):
put into the hogsheads. Here it undergoes the process of
draining for five or six days, and is then ready
for the market. A second rate sugar is always made
after the first class is manufactured. During the whole of
this process, the driver is never seen without a short
handled whip in his hand. The lash of the new
(03:00):
grow whip is from four to six feet in length,
made of cowhide and sometimes wire platted in with the leather.
The handle of the whip or the butt is not
unfrequently loaded or filled with lead. Such is the process
through which the sugar has to pass before it finds
its way upon the tables of the people of the
(03:20):
Free States. William shrank back at the thought of his
brothers dragging out their lives upon a cotton or sugar plantation.
End of chapter five, Chapter six, A bitter smile was
on her cheek and a dark flash in her eye.
(03:42):
After remaining on the farm for a few weeks under
the iron rule of the overseer, William was again hired
out to the proprietors of the steamer Enterprise. On the
second trip of the boat's returned from Galena, she took
on board at Hannibal a noted slave train named Walker,
who had with him between fifty and sixty slaves, consisting
(04:06):
chiefly of men and women adapted to field service. In
this gang of slaves, however, was a young woman, apparently
about twenty years of age, with blue eyes, straight brown hair,
prominent features, and perfectly white, with no indication whatever that
a drop of African blood coursed through her veins. In
(04:28):
describing this girl in the published narrative of his life,
mister Brown says, the woman attracted universal attention, but it
was not so much the fairness of her complexion that
created such a sensation among those who gazed upon her
finely chiseled features. It was her almost unequaled beauty. She
(04:49):
had been on board but a short time before both
ladies and gentlemen left their easy chairs to view the
white slave. Throughout the day, the topic of conversation was
the beautiful slave girl. This young woman was the daughter
of a slaveholder by one of his mulatto servants. Much
anxiety was felt among the passengers to learn the history
(05:12):
of this beautiful and innocent creature. The trader kept near
her all the time. On the arrival of the boat
at Saint Louis, the gang, including the white slave, was
removed to another steamer bound for New Orleans, and the speculator,
no doubt, on reaching the place of his destination, sold
this American daughter for a high price on account of
(05:33):
her personal charms the steamer. Soon after being laid up
for the remainder of the season, William was once more
taken home and employed as a house servant and carriage driver.
It was while acting in this capacity that a deed
of cruelty was committed, which is graphically described by mister
(05:54):
Brown in his published narrative. While driving his master's carriage
to church one Sabbath morning, he saw mister D. D. Page,
with whom he was well acquainted, chasing one of his
slaves round the yard, cutting him at every jump with
a long Negro whip. Mister Page, seeing the truthful charges
of mister Brown published, employed the Reverend Doctor A. Bullard,
(06:19):
a pro slavery Nigro hating clergyman formerly of the North
but now of Saint Louis, to refute the charge, which
the doctor attempted to do in a series of articles
published in the columns of Northern pro slavery papers of
his own denomination. But the Presbyterian d d instead of
mending the matter for his patron, made it worse and
(06:42):
caused the public to regard himself as a miserable tool.
Mister Page has since failed in his banking business and
swindled his creditors out of large sums, and has no
doubt lost the misplaced confidence of his renegade theological friend Haskell.
The Overseer experienced religion about this time and joined the Dunkards,
(07:06):
a religious sect located at the Southwest, who baptized by immersion,
dipping their converts three times. The Overseer, being an unprincipled
scamp noted for his drinking propensities and for cheating all
with whom he dealt. A large number of persons assembled
to witness the baptismal ceremony performed on the Negro driver.
(07:30):
Some of the Blacks are very superstitious and are of
opinion that the Lord will answer their prayers in any
case when they ask for the extermination of bad men.
So the day that the over Seer was led to
the pond to have his sins washed out. Not less
than nine of the oldest slaves went on their knees
and prayed that the cruel negro driver might not come
(07:53):
out of the water alive. Among the crowd that had
come together was old Peter Swite, who who kept a
dram shop, and who complained that Haskell owed him several
dollars for drink, but which the overseer denied as John Mason.
The Minister pulled the negroat Driver up after dipping him
the third time. Old Peter took his pipe from his
(08:16):
mouth and cried out at the top of his voice,
doubs him again, John, He's a dirty dog. I know
him well. He never pays his debts. So the Minister,
either forgetting himself or really thinking his new convert needed
the fourth dip, put the sinner once more under the water.
This last plunge came near drowning him, for the Man
(08:40):
of God was much exhausted and was scarcely able to
lift the negroat Driver out of the water, and the
latter had taken two or three hearty drinks before he
was drawn to the surface. Although the prayers of the
slaves were not answered, They nevertheless took great credit to
themselves for the misstep of the minister. That night, the
(09:00):
slaves on the whole plantation were in the highest glee.
The opossums that had been lying in the frost were
taken down and baked with sweet potatoes, and every voice
ascended to God, either in prayer or in song. For
the half success of their prayers. At the baptism end
of chapter six,
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