Note 192 — Front matter
Reading edition
Tower: Slavery Unmasked, p. 53. Note.—"The following story was told me by one conversant with the facts as they occurred on Mr. J.'s plantation, containing about 100 slaves. One day the owner ordered all the women into the barn; he followed them whip in hand, and told them he meant to flog them all to death; they, as a matter of course, began to cry out, 'What have I done, Massa?' 'What have I done, Massa?' He replied: 'Damn you, I will let you know what you have done; you don't breed. I have not had a young one from you for several months.' They promptly told him they could not breed while they had to work in the rice ditches."
Slavery Unmasked was published in 1856. Exactly the same story as above, almost verbatim, is found in "Interesting Memoirs and Documents Relating to American Slavery." published in 1846. The fact that this story is told in different books published ten years apart indicates that such instances were very rare. It seemed strange that each writer should claim to have received the story from a friend, or "one conversant with the facts," for one seems to have copied directly from the other. It was no doubt mere hearsay with both writers.
Others on slave breeding are: Buckingham: Slave States of America, Vol. I., p. 182; Miss Martineau: Society in America, Vol. II., p. 41. Jay; Miscellaneous Writings, p. 457. Abdy: Journal of a Residence in the United States, Vol. II., p. 90. Rankin: Letters on American Slavery, p. 35. Candler: A Summary View of America, p. 277. Kemble: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, pp. 60, 122.