Annie L Burton through my daughters BioPoetry Project
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROJECT
BIO POEM
1858-UNKNOWN
Freedom in Slavery
BY: RAYHANNAH MUHAMMAD
February 15, 2015
Ms.
Harrington Class
Freedom in Slavery
A
Poem of Ms. Annie L. Burton
Freedom in slavery’s child of both a white
man owner and black house slave
who was a master…
…and
a slave child and
Woman,
who was always on the
outside
of her birth place of Clayton Alabama
Since
she was a product of a white man some
part of her should naturally be free to master herself…
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROJECT
BIO POEM
1858-UNKNOWN
ANNIE L. BURTON :
Freedom in Slavery
BY: RAYHANNAH MUHAMMAD
February 15, 2015
Ms.
Harrington Class
Freedom in Slavery
A
Poem of Ms. Annie L. Burton
Freedom in slavery’s child of both a white
man owner and black house slave
who was a master…
…and
a slave child and
Woman,
who was always on the
outside
of her birth place of Clayton Alabama
Since
she was a product of a white man some
part of her should naturally be free to master herself…
…certainly!
So, to then be further used as a tool of his shameful reminder
by
her mistress…was one of her uses
…a
tool of torment…
Played
to annoy him though he never looked at,
Said
a claimed, tried to declared or even acknowledge her; as his…
Property
or Daughter?
She
only saw him a few times…
but
never as a man or a father
Even
at four years olds she knew she was
Safe
even enslaved and left alone by her parents
that
brought her into a life divinely unique...Inspired to be kind by her very
enslavers.
They
seemed to have loved her in their strange way…
.though
they believed they could own her…who she was.
And
she was!
so free in her smile, her love and her
mind freed
eventually to be lettered was a freedom
of its own…
to
the pages of the written word…
the
books freed her
when
her mother saved her
when
her love had been lost,
when
she was left to raise and care for her nephew on her own…
as
each one passed in and out of her life they were on the pages of it…
FREE
in slavery!
As
a child and as she grew…she was unusually care free
but
was still aware…
…of
her position on the plantation.
How
she annoyed her father…
to
realize that she was an
a
slave, a child, an offspring of that!
Yes,
she was , black beauty, loved, yet not physically but free…
In
and after slavery.
When
she was left to raise her siblings by herself when she was
still
in her single digits
her
mother ran away from the plantation after being
whipped
and refused to work ever again
The
cause of her getting whipped is because she got into a
argument
with her mistress the mistress told the master
then
the master told the overseer
the
overseer told with the whip
and
sense the master didn’t not whip slaves
he’d
just well leave that job to the overseer
her
mother was whipped then, for
the first time of her life
so
shocking and humiliating that she felt the need to run away
Her
mother was gone for three years and during those
three
years Burton and her three sibling went on with
there every day lives but never lost the
felling that
their mother would come back for them
She
did
but
was not successful in being able to take them with her
When
she got back to the plantation she demanded
to
have her children back but the mistress demanded her to leave
or
she would get the dogs on her
so she left the plantation but still kept
a close eye on her children
Since she had no were else to she
stayed with
her mistress for a few more years until she
heard her mother died
When she heard that news she designed
to live free,
Expand her life to other places
she became a homemaker
and publisher
during her time she traveled…
Her time in Boston lead her
to meet her husband
He was a African American man
who worked as a valet.
She married him around the same time
that she published her book called
“Memories of Childhood Slavery Days”
in 1909 and she made another book
called
“Women Slave Narrative” …
yet it was a long time until that book was made available…
After her first book she self
published
she opened up a sheltering home for
people that did not have…
So it is weirdly unbelievable that no
one knows when she died
since she cared for so many…
How do none know where she died?
As all I know is this,
her memory will stand up for her,
through her literature in the freedom of
timeless letters.
Of the Child so free to live through
poetry.
Thank Ms. Annie for the gift
This written legacy…
-Rayhannah Muhammad
Thank
you for a memory of the childhood of slavery, and the legacy of black like me.
Note:
Thanks to all the heroes known and unsung. This really brought them to life.
by
her mistress…was one of her uses
…a
tool of torment…
Played
to annoy him though he never looked at,
Said
a claimed, tried to declared or even acknowledge her; as his…
Property
or Daughter?
She
only saw him a few times…
but
never as a man or a father
Even
at four years olds she knew she was
Safe
even enslaved and left alone by her parents
that
brought her into a life divinely unique...Inspired to be kind by her very
enslavers.
.though
they believed they could own her…who she was.
And
she was!
so free in her smile, her love and her
mind freed
eventually to be lettered was a freedom
of its own…
to
the pages of the written word…
the
books freed her
when
her mother saved her
when
her love had been lost,
when
she was left to raise and care for her nephew on her own…
as
each one passed in and out of her life they were on the pages of it…
FREE
in slavery!
As
a child and as she grew…she was unusually care free
but
was still aware…
…of
her position on the plantation.
How
she annoyed her father…
to
realize that she was an
a
slave, a child, an offspring of that!
Yes,
she was , black beauty, loved, yet not physically but free…
In
and after slavery.
When
she was left to raise her siblings by herself when she was
still
in her single digits
her
mother ran away from the plantation after being
whipped
and refused to work ever again
The
cause of her getting whipped is because she got into a
argument
with her mistress the mistress told the master
then
the master told the overseer
the
overseer told with the whip
and
sense the master didn’t not whip slaves
he’d
just well leave that job to the overseer
her
mother was whipped then, for
the first time of her life
so
shocking and humiliating that she felt the need to run away
Her
mother was gone for three years and during those
three
years Burton and her three sibling went on with
there every day lives but never lost the
felling that
their mother would come back for them
She
did
but
was not successful in being able to take them with her
When
she got back to the plantation she demanded
to
have her children back but the mistress demanded her to leave
or
she would get the dogs on her
so she left the plantation but still kept
a close eye on her children
Since she had no were else to she
stayed with
her mistress for a few more years until she
heard her mother died
When she heard that news she designed
to live free,
Expand her life to other places
she became a homemaker
and publisher
during her time she traveled…
Her time in Boston lead her
to meet her husband
He was a African American man
who worked as a valet.
She married him around the same time
that she published her book called
“Memories of Childhood Slavery Days”
in 1909 and she made another book
called
“Women Slave Narrative” …
yet it was a long time until that book was made available…
After her first book she self
published
she opened up a sheltering home for
people that did not have…
So it is weirdly unbelievable that no
one knows when she died
since she cared for so many…
How do none know where she died?
As all I know is this,
her memory will stand up for her,
through her literature in the freedom of
timeless letters.
Of the Child so free to live through
poetry.
Thank Ms. Annie for the gift
This written legacy…
-Rayhannah Muhammad
Thank
you for a memory of the childhood of slavery, and the legacy of black like me.
Note:
Thanks to all the heroes known and unsung. This really brought them to life.
Comments
Post a Comment