Perspective Project
By Allison Roland
Age: 19
Ethnicity: African American
Occupation: House slave on the Belle Meade Plantation
Residing State: Tennessee
Event: Passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Family Life: Marjorie was sold and taken away from her mother in Louisiana along with her older brother at the age of 8 years old. She has been working on the Belle Meade plantation every since. When she first arrived, her master sought her fit to be a servant in the house.
Perspective:
My name is Marjorie Johnson and I was born a slave. I was sold away with my brother David to a plantation owner in Tennessee at the age of eight. I spent my younger years working as a servant in the Big House. Working inside the home of my master has been greatly beneficial to my upbringing as I was forced away from my mother at a young age. I listened in on the conversations of my master and his associates and I learned a lot from doing so. Now that I am nineteen I have used the knowledge I have obtained to form my own opinions. By doing so I am lucky considering that many of the other slaves that I have grown up with have been beaten thin of their decency and independence. Knowing what I do, I am often urged to escape the little life I have here on the Belle Meade Plantation in Tennessee.