Five Thousand Years of Slavery by Marjorie Gann

Author:Marjorie Gann [Gann, Marjorie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-77049-151-9
Publisher: Tundra
Published: 2011-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

NEW HOME, NEW NAME

Owners considered it their right to name their slaves. The name might sound mighty, like “Hercules,” the Greek hero, or silly, like “Jumper.” Either way, it was humiliating. There was little point in objecting, but an occasional slave did.

Lazarus La Baron already owned three slaves, Pompey, Phyllis, and Prince, when he bought Quasho. La Baron tried naming him Julius Caesar, but no matter how often his owner whipped him, starved him, or tried to bribe him, his new slave would not answer to any name but Quasho. La Baron finally let him keep his name.

William Wells Brown did not get his name back until he ran away. When he was a slave his master’s nephew, also named William, arrived to live with the family. His master decided that a slave couldn’t have the same name as a member of his family, and ordered Brown’s mother to rename him. Brown later wrote, “This, at the time, I thought to be one of the most cruel acts that could be committed upon my rights; and I received several very severe whippings for telling people that my name was William, after orders were given to change it.” For years he was known as Sandford. When he escaped, he took back his name and added “Wells Brown” to honor a man who had helped him flee.

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