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In the book Celia A Slave Melton McLaurin describes in great detail the true story of a female slave who murdered her master and then disposed of him by burning his body on June 23, 1855. This shocking event took place in Calloway County, Missouri during a tumultuous period in antebellum America in which the neighboring territory of Kansas was in the midst of the debate over if it would become a slave state or a free state. Coupling this turbulent political climate with a crime of this magnitude committed by a slave against a master provides the reader with a microcosm of race relations of the period. McLaurin takes great pains to describe the trial process, the impact of the political climate of the time on the trial, and the lessons Celia’s experience teaches about slavery and the antebellum period in general. Owning slaves defined a person’s level of wealth in antebellum America, and Robert Newsom was no exception, and at the time he purchased Celia, he owned five other slaves. “While it is possible that Newsom harbored some moral ambiguity about slave ownership, it is far more likely that he regarded it as a fitting reward for his years of labor, an indication of the social status he achieved through his own efforts” (McLaurin 8). Celia’s entrance to the Newsom farm occurred in1850 when at age fourteen she is purchased by Robert Newsom. The reader learns that on the trip home, she is raped by her new master, and it is speculated by McLaurin that Celia is purchased as a substitute for Newsom’s wife who had passed away. “A healthy sixty years of age, Newsom needed more than a hostess…he required a sexual partner.”(McLaurin 18). It would have been a scandal to strictly have Celia as a sexual slave, and so Newsom makes her the household cook. Celia is working in the house under the instruction of Robert Newsom’s daughters, Virginia and Mary, and proceeds to have two children believed to be fathered by
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Newsom. Due to her role as Robert Newsom’s sexual partner, she is granted certain entitlements, including her own cabin on the property very close to the family home. Typically, slaves lived in small quarters, and had little privacy, so Celia’s unusual living situation highlights the unique circumstance of her place on the Newsom farm, as well as the need for Newsom to keep her separate from other slaves for his nighttime visits. “Life for Celia would entail continual sexual exploitation by her master.” (McLaurin 22) This is Celia’s life for five years, and then an amorous relationship develops between Celia and a male slave named George who also belongs to Robert Newsom. Celia turns up pregnant with her third child in 1855, and the father of the child could be either man. George, also a slave, cannot control his own life’s destiny and in frustration over the situation he is in with Celia, he issues an ultimatum to Celia that she must somehow stop the physical relationship she is embroiled in with their master. This cannot be done easily due to the fact that Celia has as little control over her life as George does over his. “Testimony given at Celia’s trial suggests that Celia’s pregnancy had placed an emotional strain upon George that he could not accept. Celia was his lover…yet he could not protect her from the sexual advances of the man who owned them both.” (McLaurin 25) Although George issues his decree out of frustration in having been forced to share Celia, he sets into motion a series of events that ultimately end with the murder of Robert Newsom and Celia’s execution. On June 23, 1855 Celia, a slave, committed the crime that would bring to light the plight of all slaves, but in particular young females, and force the white populace of a small Missouri town to grapple with the boundaries of slavery. Celia is powerless to comply with George’s request to stop engaging in a sexual relationship with her master,
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doesn’t know where his master is, but he knows Celia is involved. Celia breaks after many hours of interrogation, and confesses how and why she killed her master. Celia maintained throughout all interviews that her intent was to stop the sexual violations, but not to kill her master. At her indictment Celia reported, “she did not intend to kill him when she struck him but only wanted to hurt him.” (McLaurin 43) On June 25, 1855 the case of The State of Missouri vs. Celia A Slave began, and it was held during particularly tumultuous political times in Missouri due to the troubles in the neighboring state of Kansas. Around the time of Celia’s crime and trial, the neighboring state of Kansas was enmeshed in a battle over whether it would be admitted to the union as a free or slave state, and the eyes of the nation were on Kansas. Both abolitionists as well as slave supporters were helping to sway the vote in Kansas via illegal voting methods. Abolitionists in New England funding an expedition of free soil party members sought to sway the vote in Kansas to a Free State government, while pro slave Missourians snuck over state lines to vote their conscience. Neither group had any business voting in Kansas at all, but it did not stop them and the result was a division in Kansas into two governments. Free State supporters recognized the free government, and pro slave forces recognized the pro slave government. Missouri was greatly affected by the turnout in Kansas. “Thus on the eve of Celia’s trial, the reverberations of an increasingly violent struggle over slavery in Kansas had disrupted the public tranquility in Missouri and threatened with discord, the state’s basic political, legal, and social institutions” (McLaurin 67).
Goode 5 Celia’s trial began on October 9, 1855, and had the potential to be a powder keg, but the justice in charge, Judge Hall, made every effort to insure that all procedures were followed appropriately. He knew how precarious the situation was because of the situation in Kansas, and the overall mood of the country with regards to the topic of slavery, and he wanted to stay as far away from controversy as was possible. He assigned a competent legal defense team for Celia comprised of three men. The senior attorney had held political office, and it had been well documented that he did not hold strong opinions on anything, but particularly not on slavery, and two junior associates fresh out of law school with excellent research skills. Celia’s defense team approached the trial not to prove Celia was innocent of the crime, but instead to prove her motive for committing the crime. It was felt by the defense that if they could introduce the forced sexual relationship between Celia and Newsome to the jury, they would also gain compassion for their client, and perhaps some leniency. The prosecution for the state designed their strategy around the goal of keeping the motive out of the jury’s thoughts, and as a result, they objected to every question regarding the sexual nature of Celia’s relationship with Robert Newsome. The Judge favored the prosecution, and made the job of the defense difficult. In describing Celia’s attorney Jameson, McLaurin points out “Whatever his motives, his performance revealed that, in this case at least, Jameson believed even a slave accused of her master’s murder deserved the best possible defense” (87). Each side presented their argument, and when both had rested, the jury was given their instructions, and not surprising they returned a guilty verdict, and Celia was sentenced to death by execution on November 16, 1855. Jameson and the rest of Celia’s legal team felt the judge had not acted impartially as he was required to do by law and so they applied for an
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planned on December 21, 1855, Celia, a slave was hanged in Calloway County, Missouri. As was common of the time, people went to see the execution, and one witness aptly described the scene as he perceived it. “Thus closed one of the most horrible tragedies ever enacted in our county” (McLaurin 114). McLaurin ends his book with a description of what Celia’s experience can teach. He describes that this tale not only exposes the relationship between master and slave, slave and slave, but also mistress and slave. Celia had dealings with Robert Newsom, George, and Virginia and Mary Newsom, and each relationship was a careful balance at all times for this young girl. “The events in the last year of Celia’s life, although extraordinarily dramatic, demonstrate the nature of the moral choices individuals faced and indicate that some individuals had great difficulty making them” (McLaurin 121). Overall McLaurin does a thorough job of telling Celia’s story, and although much can be learned from his portrayal of her experience, there is also a lot left unknown. The book was easy to read, and for an advanced placement student wanting to research the influence of slavery on politics, to what extent regular people were following the slave debate raging in the country, or what life was like for female slaves on small farms, this book would be helpful. Even for students who are not advanced placement, parts of the book are very readable, and much can be derived with regards to antebellum society. The story is a great hook and wrap up of a unit dealing with the topic of slavery, and a high school teacher can use this personal story to create the big picture for students when dealing with slavery. It gives a face and personal identity to a slave, and that is essential in helping a teacher garner empathy for slaves with modern high school students who are desensitized to issues like slavery. Teachers are up against the lack of compassion that
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exists, and the lack of the ability to shock modern students with different historical scenarios such as slavery because they are so far removed from it, particularly on the south shore of Massachusetts where there is so little diversity. It has become commonplace to here students say, “Why do we have to learn about slavery again?” This phrase never ceases to amaze, but it also tells me that I must up my game when painting this brutal picture for these students and Celia’s life is an excellent tool to use. The cons of McLaurin’s book exist in the lack of factual information, and the amount of speculation inserted. The conclusions are logical and within realistic parameters, but at times they are without factual support. This is especially true when McLaurin is discussing how different white people involved felt about slavery, or when he is interjecting what he perceives the motive for an action or even inaction may be. Since there are no facts in documents, transcripts, or court filings, one must concede some of his points are simply educated guesses, and may not be true at all. Also, because he is using this one experience, he tends to get very detailed in his description of local politics, and it would be more helpful at the high school level to stick with the more famous names involved with the political scene of the times. Overall, the book was readable, and could teach broad lessons about antebellum America through a very specific example. The overall point of Melton McLaurin in telling the story of Celia is to use the experience of one family and slave to draw larger conclusions about slavery in society as a whole. He also points out the underlying political climate of the times and just how occupied everyone was with slavery on the eve of Civil war America. He uses this desperate situation of one slave to highlight the life of many slaves, and he exposes all to the level of justice afforded slaves in antebellum America.
Teaching American History
Book Review September 20, Submitted by: Peter Goode
The book I chose to read for our third assignment was "Hellhound on his Trail" by Hampton Sides, an historic novel about Martin Luther King and his assassin, James Earl Ray who relentlessly stalked and eventually shot Dr. King. Hampton Sides gives the reader a thrill a minute ride as he details two men's lives; one who is the leader of the civil rights struggles in America, and the other who lived a miserable and lonely life, consumed with hatred and bigotry and committed to the assassination of one of the most influential men in America's history. The author masterfully allows the reader a true look into who Martin Luther King was through historical documents, speeches, as well as the many FBI files kept on Dr. King, while captivating the reader with a true suspense/ thriller of a novel, even though we all know how it will end. The story of King in this novel begins in 1967, with his new vision- a return to the Washington Mall in the Spring of 1968- the site of his triumphant "I Have a Dream Speech", but this time with an army of poor people marching, sitting in, and generally occupying our nation's capital until demands are met. The Poor People's March will be King's finest glory as he believed America was becoming a country in need of a moral surgery, from the War in Vietnam, to the Cold War, to the love of material things, Dr. King believed that a " Reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values is in order. My own government has become the greatest purveyor of violence in the world
today" (p.21). With this philosophy, MLK's critics labeled him a communist, which was not accurate. He was, however, leaning towards a form of democratic socialism, or in his definition, a socially conscious democracy. The Poor People's March will demand the government attack poverty in the U.S. by creating jobs, a health care system for all, and better education for all. This Poor People's March certainly got the attention of the FBI, and J Edgar Hoover. Hoover greatly disliked King and often plotted how he could neutralize, in his own words, this "burrhead." Hoover continually leaked, through his subordinates, intelligence about King that was anything but flattering. The FBI discovered MLK's weakness- women. In addition, they had tapes of King using very lewd language during sex, as well as drinking and partying. Although all of this was leaked to the press, the press never really took the bait. On February 12, 1968, 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike after two workers died on the job. The strike's aims were to get better pay, better hours, safety precautions, as well as the right to organize. This event grabbed the attention of Martin Luther King, and he, along with the striker's slogan, "I am a Man," really united the workers. Mainly because this strike fit perfectly into his "Poor People's Campaign," in March of 1968, MLK visited the striking workers for the purpose of a march, and the crowd was wildly enthused. "I will lead you through the city of Memphis," King said. However, the march could hardly be considered a success. MLK, Ralph Abernathy, and other SCLC leaders headed the march, but chaos ensued behind them, from vandalism, to rock throwing, to fights. King and the SCLC leadership abandoned the march before the danger reached them. King and his leadership were embarrassed greatly with the events.
even named King as the most "dangerous racist in America." This type of rhetoric appealed to James Earl Ray, who often could be heard referring to Dr. King as "Martin Luther Coon." By March of 1968, Ray decided to leave Los Angeles and head due east, off on his deadly quest where his path and King's path would come to a deadly meeting in Memphis. Martin Luther King's existence included death threats on a deadly basis. His response to these threats was a typical, "If someone wants to kill me, there's nothing I can do about it." (p 113) MLK traveled without security on this day of April 4, 1968. King was standing outside on the balcony outside his Lorraine Motel room, the usual hotel he stayed in while in Memphis. Ray had booked his room right behind the Lorraine and the bathroom gave him a perfect view of King's room and as soon as King came in sight of the rifle's scope, Martin Luther King was shot dead by James Earl Ray. Hellhound on his Trail, by Hampton Sides, was a thriller to read. This book alternated between King and Ray in each coming chapter. This, I believe, added to the drama and the build-up to the assassination as the reader followed each of their lives from April of 1967 to their fateful meeting in Memphis in April of 1968, then onto the capture of Ray in London in June. Not only was this an enjoyable book to read, in addition it was filled with the characters and events of the tumultuous years of 1967 and 1968. It brought back to me in great clarity the great struggles of the civil rights movement during the 1960's. In addition, many other historical events intersected with Kings life, from the Vietnam War and LBJ's decision not to seek re-election, to Wallace's run for the presidency, to Bobby Kennedy's assassination, all documented and connected to the life and death of Martin Luther King.
As a high school teacher, I will be able to incorporate some of this book into my curriculum, especially the strong desire of King to lead this "Poor People's March" as well as the garbage strike in Memphis. I have already highlighted some pages to copy for the class to read describing the life and struggles of these sanitation workers. In addition, I will have my Honors/AP students tread one or two of his speeches; "Where do we go from here " speech in 1967, and/or his "Beyond Vietnam" address in 1967. After reading, the students will answer the following questions:
- What did you learn from this speech of King's views and ideas that you already knew?
- Find a particular passage- one or two sentences, note it, and tell why this passage either appealed to you or moved you.
- The media, and schools, for the most part, highlight his "I have a Dream" speech. After reading these speeches what else have you learned about Martin Luther King's ideals?
