Custom «Jamestown» Essay Paper

In the 1620, 13 years after the founding of Jamestown, I was an African slave. Well, the events as they unfolded the welfare of the slaves were on the hands of their masters and the colonies. I was among the blacks who were traded for service more particularly in supplies. In such a position, the wishes and desires of the slaves were paralyzed. It was not possible to be autonomous in any aspect. The wishes of our masters and the colonial administration were our commands. The lives of the African slaves were not held differently from those who arrived earlier. There were surviving deeds, inventories, wills as well as other documentaries that in some cases were taken as a customary practice. This was more specifically to regard Negroes like me in life servitude. The perception held on the slaves from the founding of Jamestown had not faded away. There was already a formed a opinion of the slaves as the people to provide supplies to Jamestown under their masters and the colonial administration.

            As a slave, there was no source of inspiration and the thought of freeing ourselves was far out of reach. All the same there was a desire and an aspiration to free myself. My main task was majorly to organize and be in charge of supplies as appointed by the colonial administration. I would keep track of the manner in which supplies were being made. Examining the documentaries, inventories showed that the African Americans were in a position to hold on their indentured servants’ status. This was mainly a position held on from time in memorial to gain freedom. While the predecessors did not succeed in their time, there was foundation of freedom laid up for people like us who came to Jamestown in 1620; thirteen years after it was founded. I became part of this revolution change. This is what kept me going. It was a very humiliating affair for the blacks because they were deprived off many rights that the majority of Jamestown settlers had.

            A slave like me was not expected to possess arms or even ammunition. However, the rest in Jamestown could own arms. The fact that slavery was recognized and allowed in the statutory colony law, the life of the slaves became harder and harder. I was by no means able to exercise authority and autonomy even in my position as leader appointed to be in charge of supplies. My roles included dispensing the duties given to me by the colonial administration. There was no way in which I could help my fellow slaves. At some point, I felt like I was turning my back against my own people. However, that is how the system was; a system in which the mighty ruled in the land. The mighty had the biggest say and their word was final. My opinion as a leader at that position was of no importance. Infringement after infringement of our rights as slaves was what characterized the actions of our “enemies” towards us.

            Living in Jamestown was a nightmare but I had to learn how to live as per the laws and the provisions of the land. More worse was the mulatto children status. Apparently, children in most cases were inclined to the mother’s status based on origin and background. I could only develop some mechanism of dealing with such discomfort. However, I had to relinquish my past and focus on dealing with the future. Indeed, a person should not waste time in complaining about the past or the occurrences such as of this time; neither would it help in complaining about this change that caused me the discomfort on arrival to Jamestown. I slowly came to realize that change is the essence of life and mechanisms needed to be developed in dealing with them. For instance, if a child was born to our lineage as slaves, the child automatically became a slave. This is the much burden that was bestowed upon us as slaves. The weight was too much on us as slaves and my position even made it worse for me. It affected me psychologically because I was in a position that I was forced to do things out of my wish; executing roles which apparently worked against my own people.

            No amount of ceremony or occasion would bring freedom to the slaves, not even baptism. Matters of baptism to gain freedom for the slaves were very much anticipated but only came later. Some of those who advocated for it did not even have a taste of the freedom that came a long with it. It was for the general Assembly of the land to dictate on what was permitted and that which was illegal (Hening 34-78). What seemed to be making a positive progress was the enslaving of a Christian by his/her fellow. Therefore, we lived in such a situation with much anticipation and bated breath, not knowing what would actually become of us. So I was bound to serve like any other slave in Jamestown. The future was dull for me and my efforts to free myself and my family were faced with an impregnable wall. We were very much disadvantage because we could not own any white indentured servant and neither could our Indian counterparts do. This was our fate, same like that of the Indians.

            Insurrections existed among the slaves and that even made my job worse. Being a leader of some sort, I was expected to exercise control over my subjects. Therefore, any insurgency amongst the slaves would face stern counterinsurgency were those in such positions like me would face the colonial administration for questioning. Therefore, whatever it was, I was in a very dangerous position which in a modern set up would be a fairly good position compared to other people in the society. Again, we were not allowed to congregate in huge numbers for supposed feasts or funerals.  To leave a particular plantation any time required a written authorization. This mainly happened to us, the slaves.  All the same, we could not remain in that other plantation for more than four hours. 1620 was actually the year in which Pilgrims settled in Massachusetts; the same year in which we carried on the burden of our predecessors in the land of Jamestown where we were not allowed to intermarry. All our cases were handled in different courts but I was confident that one day I would see justice being done on our people.