Through this text Aleckson attempts to suggest that African Americans are neither objects of pity for the north, nor tools to be used in labor by southern slaveholders, but something more. He places the black community in a hopeful and triumphant light, informing the reader that "you may disfranchise the Negro, you may oppress him, you may deport him, but unless you destroy the disposition to laugh in his nature you can do him no permanent injury. All unconscious to himself, perhaps. It is not solely the meaningless expression of 'vacant mind, ' nor is it simply a ray-It is the beaming light of hope-of faith. God has blessed him thus. He sees light where others see only the blackness of night" (p. 51). African Americans, Aleckson suggests, have been uniquely blessed by God to be able to persevere and overcome in the face of trials and adversity that implicitly would have destroyed others. Aleckson demonstrates in his narrative the spirit he points to. While undoubtedly exposed to great evil as a young slave and in his military service during the Civil War, Aleckson overcomes and perseveres, finding love and happiness in life despite his participation in a trying time in American history. The conclusion of the narrative reflects this optimistic spirit. Aleckson closes with a passionate post-racial appeal for all people to move past slavery and for both whites and African Americans to reconcile their differences and unite as a single people. His only fears, he explains, "are for the American nation, for, I feel as an American, and cannot feel otherwise" (p. 171). Hyrum Palmer
About the Author: Details regarding the life of Sam Aleckson (1852-1914) are not corroborated by any known historical records, but the author's own account states that he was born to enslaved parents in Charleston, South Carolina. Aleckson points to his great grandfather as his first ancestor to arrive in North America from Africa; this victim of the slave trade took or was given the name of Clement and for his surname adopted the name of Aleckson, presumably the name of the man who bought him. While Sam Aleckson's parents were owned by different masters, they were permitted to live together on the estate of his father's master, where Aleckson lived as a boy. His record indicates that his owner was relatively humane. He was taught to read, was allowed to have leisure time and play with local children, and was eventually sent to work in the city, a condition that allowed for far more independence and freedom of movement than that afforded to a typical field hand. Aleckson spent time serving in the Confederate Army in Charleston during the Civil War, after which he married and resettled in the North. He died in Vermont in 1914, fifteen years before his memoir was published.