The Escape or A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown

 

The Escape (drama by William Wells Brown)

Characters

Dr. Gaines, Proprietor of the farm at Muddy Creek.

Rev. John Pinchen, Clergyman.

Dick Walker, Slave speculator.

Mr. Wildmarsh, Neighbor to Dr. Gaines.

Major Moore, Friend of Dr. Gaines.

Mr. White, Citizen of Massachusetts.

Bill Jennings, Slave speculator.

Jacob Scragg, Overseer to Dr. Gaines.

Mrs. Gaines, Wife of Dr. Gaines.

Mr. and Mrs. Neal and their Daughter, Quakers in Ohio.

Thomas, Mr. Neal's hired man.

Glen, Slave of Mr. Hamilton, brother-in-law of Dr. Gaines.

Melinda, Slave of Dr. Gaines, Mixed Raced.

Sampey, Slave and Son of Dr. Gaines.

Cato, Slave and Assistant of Dr. Gaines.

Sam, Dolly, Susan, and Big Sally, Slaves of Dr. Gaines.

Pete, Ned, and Bill, Slaves.

Officers, Loungers, Barkeeper, etc

 

The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom is a play written by African American abolitionist William Wells Brown. It was one of the earliest extant pieces of African American dramatic literature. Williams Wells Brown would tour and give readings of his play at Anti-Slavery rallies and political events. The play Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom explores the subject of slavery in the history of the United States and the kind of treatment the society accorded slaves. It unravels a complex religious and racial conflict among the Southerners. The play also substantially focuses on sexual and emotional exploitation of slaves by slave masters in a manner that is not only inhuman, but also antisocial. In so doing, slave masters meticulously planned separation of families of their slaves in a bid to manipulate them. William Wells Brown, having suffered a similar fate, understands too well what it implied to lead slaves’ social lives. The play also dwells on what he terms a leap for freedom when the Northern states took a bold stand against slavery. It was an irony of sorts given that the Northerners were less religious and were expected to be less human as compared to highly religious Southerners. In the play, William Wells Brown describes the use of whips, chains, and beating sticks as the hallmark of suffering in slavery. Any slave who dared to escape from slavery received the most ruthless treatment ever witnessed in the society. In order to get the attention of his audience, William Wells Brown intelligently laced his message with themes that resonated well with the general white population. This did not just make him stand out as a prominent African American antislavery crusader, but also gave his message a lot of impetus.

 

The play follows the story of two slaves from different owners who marry in secrecy. Melinda, who is owned by Dr. Gaines, is a biracial slave who marries Glen, who is owned by Mr. Hamilton. Mrs. Gaines fears that her husband Dr. Gaines has taken a liking to Melinda and orders Dr. Gaines to sell her. Dr. Gaines then hides Melinda in a Cabin on the Property of the Poplar Farm. Dr. Gaines makes a move on Melinda which causes her to tell about her secret marriage with Glen. Dr. Gaines becomes furious and promises Melinda he will kill Glen. Melinda becomes mad and heartbroken when hearing this. Dr. Gaines lies to his wife about selling Melinda. However, Mrs. Gaines does not believe him and one night follows him to the cottage. After Dr. Gaines leaves the cottage, Mrs. Gaines breaks in and tries to force Melinda into drinking poison to kill herself. Melinda escapes and runs into the forest. Meanwhile, across on the Gains Estate, Glen is being tortured by Jacob Scragg. Sampey, another mixed race character who is a slave to his father, informs Glen of what happened to Melinda. Glen manages to escape the dungeon and meets Melinda in the forest. The couple follow the North Star to Canada to escape for freedom. Meanwhile, Dr. Gaines gets a group of men together to hunt down the runaway slaves. There is a last confrontation on the docks of a ferry that is heading to Canada. Mr. White a northern gentleman saves the day by holding up the slave hunters while the ferry takes off.

 

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

William Wells Brown was born of a slave mother, Elizabeth, who was at the time working for Dr. John Young. His father, supposedly a relative of Dr. Young, was a white man. It goes without mentioning that his birth was a result of sexual exploitation of slaves by slave masters. Slave masters sexually exploited their slaves, but never turned up to claim their children. It shows the degree of moral decadence in the society at the time. According to the religion that Southerners claimed to respect so much, sexual relationships were supposed to be practiced primarily by married couples. The subject also questions the stability of racial lines in as far as sexual relationships are concerned. At one point, race was used to limit their rights and several other activities in America and at other points it seemed meaningless. The subject of sexual exploitation of female slaves appears particularly attractive for William Wells Brown. William’s birth was a result of sexual exploitation of slaves by their masters. Unfortunately, his mixed heritage did not give him any social advantages. The society treated him like any other African American, i.e. a slave without dignity.

In the play, Melinda has to avoid the temptation of falling into her master’s trap for sexual exploitation. Dr. Gaines, her master, offered to find her a separate cottage to keep her as his mistress several times. It is important to note that these sexual advances started when Melinda was only a little girl. Thus, it was not only an affront to her status as a slave, but also an affront to her gender. William Wels Brown mainly intended to rope in the idea of gender in order to give his play more attention from the society. Melinda only represented several ladies who lost their innocence to their slave masters. More importantly, her curse would be her God-given beauty in this case. The author also includes marriage in the story to show how vulnerable female slaves were in the society. Unknown to Dr. Gaines, Melinda and Glen are secretly married. Thus, when Dr. Glen insists on seeking to exploit her sexually, she confronts him with the reality of her marriage. Marriages were to be respected and Melinda expected this revelation to keep Dr. Gaines away from her. It was her last point of defense after several years of exploitation.

Sexual exploitation was one of the severe forms of emotional torture that slave masters exposed their female slaves to. It was planned and executed without their consent and women slaves were expected to keep silent about it. It goes without mentioning that sexual exploitation of female slaves showed a great deal of moral decadence in the American society. The whites did not just lack respect for their slaves, but also for their families. It is the reason why William Wells Brown mocks whites of their deeds that resulted in his birth in his later lectures. Slaves who refused these sexual advances were treated with untold cruelty. According to the play, the Southerners did not match their religious beliefs with concrete actions. While their religious beliefs forbade them from having extra-marital sexual affairs, they willingly seduced female slaves. Besides, these acts of sexual violence were meted against female slaves due to the account of their God-given beauty. Brown sought to portray sexual exploitation of slaves as an outright act of hypocrisy among the Southerners, who were mostly of the Christian faith.

NORTHERNERS AGAINST SLAVERY

In the play, William Wells Brown uses Mr. White to depict the antislavery mood in the North. Unlike in the Southern states, the Northerners mainly condemned slavery and occasionally slammed Southerners for insisting on it. Mr. White had traveled to the South where he talked about slavery in public. As a result, Southerners attacked him and he had to hide and escape back to the North for his safety. This incident showed the heightened tension between the South and the North. This tension threatened to explode into a civil war by every passing day. While the Northerners opposed slavery, they also denied Blacks their fundamental rights and freedoms. It was arguable that they had no moral authority to lecture the Southerners on slavery. In fact, the Southerners interpreted their opposition to slavery as an act of economic sabotage. The Southerners were mainly agriculturalists who depended on manual labor for their farms. Slavery seemed to provide the cheapest source of labor. In turn, Northern states were industrialized and did not entirely rely on manual labor. As a result, Blacks were dangerously caught up in the political tension between the Northerners and the Southerners. The Northern anti-slave crusaders came to the aid of Southern slaves. However, most of it was lip service because they also participated in violation of the rights f Blacks, albeit in a different way.

CONFLICT OF RELIGION AND RACE

Slavery is closely intertwined with the history of the United States right from the American Revolution to the Civil War. The American founding fathers fronted the Revolution to bring liberty to the American soil only to form a nation founded on slavery. Indeed, antislavery crusaders often cited this as a proper justification for cessation of slavery. In their argument, they maintained that Blacks had also contributed immensely in the Revolution in pursuit of liberty. Thus, they needed to be granted freedom by totally abolishing slavery in the United States of America., When drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson gave slavery a prominent coverage. He listed slavery as one of the social evils that had been forced upon the United States by the British. The American founding father, renowned for his immense contribution to the liberation struggle, was deeply concerned about the moral consequence of America’s reliance on slavery. According to him, the liberation struggle was anchored in the conviction that liberty was a precious gift from God and that those who violated it were bound to face the wrath of God Himself. Again, Brown brought in the “American Dream” as well as America’s religious inclination to condemn the atrocities meted against blacks in slavery.

As slavery became commonplace in the Southern states, it increasingly became a subject of confrontation in the Congress as well as periodicals and articles. It is instructive to note that while most Northerners and indeed Southerners understood Jefferson’s moral argument against slavery, they still supported it either economically or politically. It was characteristic of a nation torn between total human liberty and the system of slavery. Essentially, the Northerners used the fate of Southern slaves to define labor relations in the North. By making sensational claims regarding white slavery, the Northern labor movement made successful arguments in relation to labor relations. In fact, labor movements were born around this time as most whites took up jobs in industries. It was a complex conflict of religion and race between the North and the Southern states. Although Blacks in the antislavery movement used the confusion to advance their agenda, most scholars contend it was a tricky balance. For instance, William Wells Brown was intelligent enough to hide the fact that he was speaking for black slaves in his public lectures across America after his escape. In most cases, he would add gender and religious issues to deflect attention from race and slavery. He understood that gender and religious issues resonated well with the entire American society. At the time, women in America did not have voting rights and finding meaningful employment was a tall order.

SEPARATION OF FAMILIES

Separation of families is another manner in which slave masters intimidated and inflicted emotional torture on slaves. William Wells Brown faced this fate when he attempted to escape with his entire family. As a result, they were chained, severely whipped, and separated as a family. They were individually sold to different slave masters, never to see one another again. According to William Wells Brown, this was the ultimate punishment for daring to escape from slavery. However, William found opportunity to escape and fled to the North where he adopted a more meaningful career of lecturing. The same fate befalls Melinda and Glen in their new-found love. Although the two are in love, their slave master would not allow them to marry. Instead, all barriers are erected on their way of being together in order intentionally to discourage them. After all, their being together is a major hindrance to Dr. Gaines’ lusty relationship with Melinda. Essentially, separation of families was used intentionally to manipulate slaves and prevent them from fronting a joint action plan against slavery. Slave marriages survived on the whims of their slave masters. A slave master could decide to end them any time through the sale one from a slave couple. It is a tool that slave masters used quite ruthlessly to manipulate and humiliate their slaves. Instructively, Christianity advocates for sanctity of the family and emphasizes on non-interference with what God has put together. Thus, Brown sought to make a religious appeal to make his point.