John Andrew Jackson

"'John Andrew JacksonThe Experience of a Slave from South Carolina"'

Youth

John Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina. His grandfather was a stolen slave from Africa. John Andrew was born on the plantation to his mother Betty and father, known as Dr. Clavern due to his ability to cure snake bites. John Andrew had five brothers and five sisters, two brothers and two sisters were dead before he left the plantation. John, as many slaves, had a bad relationship with his owner and mistress but often mentioned that his mistress hated him more than all the other salves on the plantation. The reason for the mistress’s hatred toward John is as follows: When John was about ten, he was playing with one of the mistresses children in the dirt. The two boys found an old hickory root and started to play with it. The mistress’s son started hitting John Andrew with the stick. When John asked the boy to stop; the boy kept on beating John 'till he was bloody. John reached a bloody hand to the hickory root and got blood on the boy’s shirt. The little boy went to his mother and showed her the blood on his shirt. In return the mistress whipped John and held her hatred for him and his family for the rest of the time she knew him. John Andrew grew up around brutality all his life. If it was not him getting whipped, a friend or family member of his would be getting whipped. The plantation John lived on was violent and unforgiving. The slaves would wake up and work in the fields all day in the hot sun. The sun would burn lumps on their backs, and their bare feet would be torn and cracked at the end of the day. When the slaves did not obey their masters, they would be whipped 25-100 lashes. The brutal lumps obtained by the heat of the sun combined with the lashes from the whip were awful and painful. What little sleep the slaves did get was cherished however; rats would come in the middle of the night and chew on the slave’s feet. Since the slave’s feet were so torn up from working barefoot all day, they could not feel the rats eat through their feet, but in the morning their feet were in so much pain it was hard to work. John Andrew’s first job was being a scarecrow in the corn fields. He would stand out from dusk 'till dawn everyday posing as a scarecrow in the hot Carolina air. When he got older he was ordered to manage the plow, but due to his lack of strength, he was unable to manage the plow correctly. If John Andrew ever dropped the plow his master would beat him 'till his back was covered in blood. Even though he was experiencing so much hardship, around this time, John fell in love with a girl named Louisa.

Master and Mistress

John Andrew’s master was born in North Carolina and lived his young life as a Quaker. When the master was older, he moved to South Carolina and married a woman who had a few slaves. The master then set up a liquor store and had slaves steal cotton and bring it to him. In return, the slaves were rewarded with a quart of liquor, which was worth much less than the cotton the slaves stole for him. The method of stealing cotton in exchange for objects of less worth made many southern men rich. The master and his wife were then able to own more slaves and become even more rich. The mistress was born and raised in South Carolina. She was a mean lady to everyone except her family. The mistress would not allow slaves to eat bran, meat, or any other foods that were considered luxurious, and she would often watch the slaves be beaten as it was among one of her favorite pastimes.

Wife and Children

Louisa lived in the plantation about a mile away. John and Louisa were unofficially married and had two children. John was prohibited from visiting his wife and children, but John would often sneak out and be with his wife and kids. When the master would find out, John would be whipped, but John persisted and continued to see his wife and children till his wife’s master moved to Georgia. John never saw his wife or children again. Later after he escaped to boston, he remarried and had two more children with his second wife.

Escape

As time progressed, the idea of freedom became more and more real. There were stories of slave escapes all the time; which made John think about being a bird flying over his masters to a free land. One day, John Andrew bought a pony from one of the slaves on a neighboring plantation. When the mistress found out, she threatened to have the pony killed, and asked two of her son-in-laws to get rid of it. Hearing of the jeopardy of his pony, John hid the pony until Christmas. On Christmas day, John took his pony and rode off from his plantation never to see his mother or father again. As he rode off to Boston, he ran into many white people who asked where he was off, to where John would respond that he was on his way to his plantation. John made it to the Santé Fe River where he boarded a small ship that was being run by a black man. John and his pony were dropped near land, but had to struggle upstream in order to reach it. After almost drowning, John and his pony made it to shore. Then, John heard about a special badge that all African Americans had to produce in order to prove they were allowed to be free. John, not having a badge, sold his pony to buy a cloak to hide from patrolmen. The cloak worked to his advantage till he was able to find a ship to Boston. Through his travels, John was taken in by a special person very dear to him. This woman gave him a place to sleep and eat. She also gave him clothes and five dollars for his journey. This woman was Harriet Beecher Stowe. John continued on his journey and finally found a vessel heading to Boston. John tried to board but the crewmen were hesitant to let John on board due to the fact that he could be working for a white man trying to set them up. The crewmen did not let John on the vessel, but when John was out of their sight he hid in a five by three foot box. He then rode in the lower levels of the ship. Eventually the crewmen found him and threatened to unload him on the next ship. There never was another ship, and John made it to Boston safely.

Freedom

In Boston, John was free. John Andrew got a job working in the fields. Though he was still working in the fields he was no longer bound by the rules of slavery and could work under his own will. At night he went and slept in a bed where his feet were safe from the rats on a back that was not burned and whipped on a daily basis. John Andrew remarried legally and had more children. He never saw his mother, father, first wife, or children again, but his freedom was the beauty of his life, and he never regretted leaving his life of torture.

Sources

[http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html]