Read A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America

A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America

Michael A. Smith

4.9/5 (14646 ratings)

Description:This three-act play takes place on a Virginia plantation, circa 1850. An intellectually gifted slave/inventor, Zeke, experiences hope, cruelty, love, despair, and — eventually — freedom. The circumstances of his life recreate the individual, social, economic and political issues that lead to the American Civil War. During his boyhood, Zeke was a houseboy in the mansion at Tabitha, and Master Jacob Vessey’s favorite slave — more like his experimental project. The liberal-minded Vessey treated all his black slaves with kindness and compassion. He cultivated Zeke’s exceptional intelligence and encouraged his insatiable appetite for learning, partly to demonstrate to his fellow plantation owners that African-Americans were humans capable of any achievement, and that antebellum slavery was a moral abomination. Zeke developed a close childhood relationship with the master’s daughter, Kate. Educated together as children, they fell in love as teenagers and young adults, prompting Kate to dedicate her life to achieving Zeke’s freedom. However, Master Vessey was killed in an accident, leaving Tabitha to be run by his sullen, hateful son, Cal, who viewed slaves solely as property, just like the pigs he owned. A neighboring plantation owner, Foster Allen, courted and married the widow Vessey. Allen, a staunch supporter of the South’s “peculiar institution” joined with Cal in an effort to restore “order” to Tabitha. The new order included longer work days, beatings, rape, and prohibitions on reading, which had actually been outlawed decades earlier by the Virginia General Assembly. Zeke enjoyed more freedom than most slaves because of his many labor-saving ideas, including the invention of a mechanical corn thresher. Tensions escalated when the wife and daughters of Zeke’s friend, Gabriel, were sold as punishment for Gabriel’s “sermons” to his fellow slaves. The itinerant slave preacher explored the moral content of the Christian Gospels and railed against the evil of perpetual enslavement of an entire race of people. In the aftermath of a vicious slave “prize fight,” four of Tabitha’s slaves attempted to escape to the north. After they were recaptured, the retribution was vicious. It set the stage for a bloody slave insurrection, which began at Tabitha and spread across part of the state. The rebellion was savagely suppressed and the rebels hanged. Kate sells Tabitha, and she and Zeke begin a journey north with a plan designed to move mountains.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America. To get started finding A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

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ISBN: 0986173509

Description: This three-act play takes place on a Virginia plantation, circa 1850. An intellectually gifted slave/inventor, Zeke, experiences hope, cruelty, love, despair, and — eventually — freedom. The circumstances of his life recreate the individual, social, economic and political issues that lead to the American Civil War. During his boyhood, Zeke was a houseboy in the mansion at Tabitha, and Master Jacob Vessey’s favorite slave — more like his experimental project. The liberal-minded Vessey treated all his black slaves with kindness and compassion. He cultivated Zeke’s exceptional intelligence and encouraged his insatiable appetite for learning, partly to demonstrate to his fellow plantation owners that African-Americans were humans capable of any achievement, and that antebellum slavery was a moral abomination. Zeke developed a close childhood relationship with the master’s daughter, Kate. Educated together as children, they fell in love as teenagers and young adults, prompting Kate to dedicate her life to achieving Zeke’s freedom. However, Master Vessey was killed in an accident, leaving Tabitha to be run by his sullen, hateful son, Cal, who viewed slaves solely as property, just like the pigs he owned. A neighboring plantation owner, Foster Allen, courted and married the widow Vessey. Allen, a staunch supporter of the South’s “peculiar institution” joined with Cal in an effort to restore “order” to Tabitha. The new order included longer work days, beatings, rape, and prohibitions on reading, which had actually been outlawed decades earlier by the Virginia General Assembly. Zeke enjoyed more freedom than most slaves because of his many labor-saving ideas, including the invention of a mechanical corn thresher. Tensions escalated when the wife and daughters of Zeke’s friend, Gabriel, were sold as punishment for Gabriel’s “sermons” to his fellow slaves. The itinerant slave preacher explored the moral content of the Christian Gospels and railed against the evil of perpetual enslavement of an entire race of people. In the aftermath of a vicious slave “prize fight,” four of Tabitha’s slaves attempted to escape to the north. After they were recaptured, the retribution was vicious. It set the stage for a bloody slave insurrection, which began at Tabitha and spread across part of the state. The rebellion was savagely suppressed and the rebels hanged. Kate sells Tabitha, and she and Zeke begin a journey north with a plan designed to move mountains.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America. To get started finding A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America

A Mustard Seed: The struggle for dignity and freedom in antebellum America

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