Working with the documents - Infering and corroborating evidence about life for slaves (Activity III)

[John Lee]

This is the third of three activities that use the SCIM-C method to explore resources on the Plantation Letters website.

Activity III

Your task in this part of the exploration is to identify a topic using an interactive interface built into the Plantation Letters website for selecting letters on specific topics. To access this interface, click on "Search Letters" on the left and then "Document Viewer." You should chose one topic and read as many letters as time permits. As you read, use the SCIM-C strategy. The SCIM-C questions are included below. In addition to using the SCIM-C strategy, try to develop a brief interpretation about a question that you see as related to the topic. For example, if a topic said automobile (of course this topic is not listed), you might ask how common was it for slaves on the Cameron plantations to ride in automobiles?

As you develop your responses, you should attempt to find multiple sources that support your interpretation. This process is corroboration. Again, refer to the questions below as you complete this task.


{from David Hicks and Peter Doolittle - http://www.historicalinquiry.com/scim/index.cfm}


Summarizing
Summarizing is the first phase of the SCIM-C strategy and begins with having students quickly examine the documentary aspects of the text, in order to find any information or evidence that is explicitly available from the source. Within this phase students should attempt to identify the source's subject, author, purpose, and audience, as well as the type of historical source (e.g., letter, photograph, cartoon). In addition, the student should look for key facts, dates, ideas, opinions, and perspectives that appear to be immediately apparent within the source. The four analyzing questions associated with the summarizing phase include:
1. What type of historical document is the source?
2. What specific information, details and/or perspectives does the source provide?
3. What is the subject and/or purpose of the source?
4. Who was the author and/or audience of the source?

Contextualizing
Contextualizing begins the process of having students spend more time with the source in order to explore the authentic aspects of the source in terms of locating the source within time and space. The teacher needs to emphasize that it is important to recognize and understand that archaic words and/or images from the period may be in a source. These words and/or images may no longer be used today or they may be used differently, and these differences should be noted and defined. In addition, the meanings, values, habits, and/or customs of the period may be very different from those today. Ultimately, students and teachers must be careful to avoid treating the source as a product of today as they pursue their guiding historical question. The four analyzing questions associated with the contextualizing phase include:
1. When and where was the source produced?
2. Why was the source produced?
3. What was happening within the immediate and broader context at the time the source was produced?
4. What summarizing information can place the source in time and place?

Inferring
Inferring is designed to provide students with the opportunity to revisit initial facts gleaned from the source and to begin to read subtexts and make inferences based upon a developing understanding of the context and continued examination of the source. In answering an historical question and working with the primary source, sometimes the evidence is not explicitly stated or obvious in the source, but rather, the evidence is hinted at within the source and needs to be drawn out. The inferring stage provides room for students to explore the source and examine the source's perspective in the light of the historical questions being asked. The four analyzing questions associated with the inferring phase include:
1. What is suggested by the source?
2. What interpretations may be drawn from the source?
3. What perspectives or points of view are indicated in the source?
4. What inferences may be drawn from absences or omissions in the source?

Monitoring
Monitoring is the capstone stage in examining individual sources. Here students are expected to question and reflect upon their initial assumptions in terms of the overall focus on the historical questions being studied. This reflective monitoring is essential in making sure that students have asked the key questions from each of the previous phases. Such a process requires students to examine the credibility and usefulness or significance of the source in answering the historical questions at hand.
Ultimately, monitoring is about reflection, reflection upon the use of the SCIM-C strategy and reflection upon the source itself. The SCIM-C strategy is recursive in nature and thus revisiting phases and questions is essential as one begins to create an historical interpretation of a source in light of one's historical questions. The four analyzing questions associated with the monitoring phase include:
1. What additional evidence beyond the source is necessary to answer the historical question?
2. What ideas, images, or terms need further defining from the source?
3. How useful or significant is the source for its intended purpose in answering the historical question?
4. What questions from the previous stages need to be revisited in order to analyze the source satisfactorily?

Corroborating
Corroborating only starts when students have analyzed a series of sources, and are ready to extend and deepen their analysis through comparing the evidence gleaned from each source in light of the guiding historical questions. What similarities and differences in ideas, information, and perspectives exist between the analyzed sources? Students should also look for gaps in their evidence that may hinder their interpretations and the answering of their guiding historical questions. When they find contradictions between sources, they must investigate further, including the checking of the credibility of the source. Once the sources have been compared the student then begins to draw conclusions based upon the synthesis of the evidence, and can begin to develop their own conclusions and historical interpretation. The four analyzing questions associated with the corroborating phase include:
1. What similarities and differences between the sources exist?
2. What factors could account for these similarities and differences?
3. What conclusions can be drawn from the accumulated interpretations?
4. What additional information or sources are necessary to answer more fully the guiding historical question?

[Lauren Bass]

Summarizing
1. What type of historical document is the source?
-Each of the documents is a letter written by Charles Lewellyn.
2. What specific information, details and/or perspectives does the source provide? -Due to the fact that I read 4 letters about slaves, I will only provide a short synopsis of each.
Letter 1
-This letter was written by Lewellyn on 11/05/1845 and talks about life in general on the plantation. It talks about
crops, slave health, and specifically, two of the slaves who gave birth. It also mentions an accident involving a horse while plowing.
Letter 2
-This letter was also written by Lewellyn but on 07/26/1847. It was a short one, talking quickly about how his cotton is growing on his "black land." He is worried that he will not have a crop this season and mentions a sick slave and a son born to Diley.
Letter 3
-Lewellyn is again writing to Mr. Cameron, this time on 08/07/1846. This letter is longer in length and talks about how there is enough "fodder and oats" for his team to eat and to see, again talks about cotton, slaves, and Polly having a child.
Letter 4
-In this very short letter, Lewellyn is writing to Mr. Cameron on 08/18/1846 about a few things. He specifically mentions stacking oats and fodder, as well as one of his slaves being sick. He talks about him having the chills that last for days at a time.
3. What is the subject and/or purpose of the source?
-All of these letters are under the heading of slavery on the Plantation Website, but I would also consider them under a category such as "general plantation life" or "plantation happenings."
4. Who was the author and/or audience of the source?
-In the letters, Lewellyn was writing to Paul Cameron. Seeing that he was the original intended source, he was the intended audience. Now that the letters have been made available online, anyone interested in this family or slavery in general has the option of reading them!

Contextualizing
1. When and where was the source produced?
-Each of these letters was written between the dates of 05/11/1845 and 08/18/1846. They come from Greene County, AL, and are addressed to Mr. Cameron in Stagville.
2. Why was the source produced?
-This was produced as a form of correspondence between these two men.
3. What was happening within the immediate and broader context at the time the source was produced?
-Lewellyn is not only telling Cameron what is happening in his life, I think he is using these letters to 'blow off some steam' and to have guy talk with one of his distant friends.
4. What summarizing information can place the source in time and place?
-You can look at a variety of things to place this source in this time and place. Looking at the dates on the letters, the handwriting, the issues talked about within them; there is plenty of contextual information that can be assessed to prove each man's place in time.

Inferring
1. What is suggested by the source?
-It is suggest by the source that there is a friendship between Lewellyn and Cameron. You can also tell that plantations are of interest to both men, seeing that Lewellyn discusses them constantly in his correspondence with Cameron.
2. What interpretations may be drawn from the source?
-Some interpretations that may be drawn from the source include the fact that both men deal/work/live on plantations. They also know how to properly take care of crops and slaves.
3. What perspectives or points of view are indicated in the source?
-The perspective is obviously that of a well-educated, (I'm assuming) white man, who has experience with all of the aspects of plantation life.
4. What inferences may be drawn from absences or omissions in the source?
-I think that these two have either worked together before, or are both the equivalents of one another in their different towns. I'd like to also know more about how they met.

[Lauren Bass]

Question: From this reading I have formed a question about slaves. If a slave has a child while working on a plantation, will that slave be born "free" or will he or she become a slave on the plantation in which they were born?

Monitoring
1. What additional evidence beyond the source is necessary to answer the historical question?
-I would need to research the usual chain of events relating to the birth of a slave on a plantation. I could also research other historical documents to try find another account detailing the birth of a slave child.
2. What ideas, images, or terms need further defining from the source?
-All of the language presented is very easy to read and understand. I just need to find the correct historical resource to document exactly how the family system works within the slave families.
3. How useful or significant is the source for its intended purpose in answering the historical question?
-This source (the plantation letters) is not specifically wonderful at detailing what happens to slave children. I did though, find a document about slave children. This link sent me to the Library of Congress, where I was able to access information about slaves born on plantation property. It says, and I quote, "Before the Civil War, slaves and indentured servants were considered personal property, and they or their descendants could be sold or inherited like any other personalty. Like other property, human chattel was governed largely by laws of individual states. Generally, these laws concerning indentured servants and slaves did not differentiate between the sexes." It continues from here, telling more about the individual states and their laws.
4. What questions from the previous stages need to be revisited in order to analyze the source satisfactorily?
-I would need to look at the entire site to judge its credibility and usefulness for this specific topic. I would take time to compare what I found from this source to other Plantation Letters, expanding my initial reading of the first four letters to finishing the rest. Then, I would do my best to come up with a proper resolution of how accurate and relevant I thought that the new source was in collaboration with the old.

Corroborating
1. What similarities and differences between the sources exist?
-One of the major differences is the dating (age) between the two documents. One source (the Plantation Letters) is much older than the Library of Congress website. They both though, discuss the topic of slaves, and slavery in general. The letters are also very location specific (talking only about plantations) while the Library of Congress site references the US in general, as well as specific states such as Virginia.
2. What factors could account for these similarities and differences?
-Age is the definite factor contributing to the similarities and differences of the two. Also, location specific (Plantation letters) versus location general (Library of Congress Site) can account for a lot.
3. What conclusions can be drawn from the accumulated interpretations?
-From these two sources I can conclude that Mr. Lewellyn's slave number continued to increase as more and more children were born on his property. Seeing that slaves were treated as property, as more children were birth, his property and its value increased.
4. What additional information or sources are necessary to answer more fully the guiding historical question?
-I would look at additional, respectable, sites to learn more about slavery laws in context. As stated previously, I would re-read and explore other parts of the Plantation Letter's website and would compare these findings with my new ones. I would like to cite at least two other sources to verify that my information is correct.

[Lauren Bass]

Other Resources About Slave Children Include:

-Digital History:http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/black_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=22"/
-Life in Black & White: http://books.google.com/books?id=XkJ6HtoxzywC&pg=PA249&lpg=...

[Joy King]

This is a letter written in 1847 in Greene County, Alabama, from Charles Lewellyn to Mr. P.C. Cameron. Charles Lewellyn is informing Mr. Cameron of his recent troubles. Lately, his shipment of cotton has not be received yet, he was not successful in buying a mule for $80. Also, two slaves, Tony ad Milton were fighting because they were stealing each others clothes to sell, so they were both handcuffed, but Milton got free and ran away and he has not heard from him since. He also tells Mr. Cameron that Major Read was shot and killed by a house servant.

This letter suggests that the crime that going on could be solely blamed on the slaves and servants. The letter does not provide any points of view from the slave’s perspective, only form the perspective on someone who was working for Mr. P. C. Cameron. Since these perspectives are omitted, it could be inferred that a slave’s opinion was not valued, that the could not read or write and were not asked questions be their owners.

Were slaves accountable for the crime? To answer this question we would need more evidence and more perspectives. To obtain this information we could use information from slaves and their point of view on what was happening at the time. We should be able to see the other side of the story, instead of only seeing one side that is blaming the other. This source, the letter from Charles Lewellyn to Mr. P.C. Cameron only answers one side of the story and would not be helpful without the other side of the story also being present.


The other source is also a letter, written in 1847 in Greene County, Alabama, from Charles Lewellyn to Mr. P.C. Cameron. In this letter, Charles Lewellyn is assuring Mr. P.C. Cameron that his cotton is safe and that Col. Tindal keeps watch over night. From this letter, and in addition to reading the previous letter, there must be a problem with cotton getting stolen. Both parties are concerned with the cotton being shipped and with someone keeping watch on it over night. Again, in this letter the perspective of the slaves is left out, even though they are the ones who have been suspected at stealing the cotton. With this source, as with the other, we are only getting one side of the story.

To answer the question of whether slaves were accountable for the crime, we would need additional information from the point of view of a slave or slaves. Here, we are only seeing the slave-owner side. Of course they don’t want to accuse anyone else of stealing it, so they must blame the slaves. However, Charles Lewellyn does point out that several of his slaves are sick and unable to work, therefore, they would be unable to commit the crime.

These sources are both letters from Charles Lewellyn to Mr. P.C. Cameron and are all one-sided, yet blameful of the slaves. We would suspect that these letters be similar since they are between the same parties and since both are slave owners or that Charles Lewellyn works for Mr. P.C. Cameron. From these interpretations we can infer that the slave’s opinion did not matter, they could not read or write to give their opinion in a letter form and that no one cared to try to get their opinion.

[Laura Smith]

Topic: Women

Summary:
1. Historical document in form of letter.
2. Provides information about costs of a male servant, reasons for acquiring the servant, and the current living conditions/life of the writer.
3. Subject of letter is purchasing a male servant for $550. The writer of the letter is asking its recipient to lend her money to buy this servant.
4. Author of letter was Frances T. Cameron.

Question Related to topic:
Did women need a lot of help in order to keep up their house and assist their families’ needs?

Contextualizing:
1. Source was produced December 18, 1847
2. Source was produced so that the writer can borrow money from a relative in order to buy a male servant.
3. Broader context: Gain sympathy and show how hard it was to be a woman raising a family.
4. The dates and locations on the letter can place the source in time and place.

Corroborating:
-Women’s main duty in life was to keep a good house and provide for their families. It may not have been acceptable to ask to borrow money, but women did whatever it took to keep their families happy and healthy. Women had many household duties (weaving, spinning, cleaning, cooking, etc) and any extra help would make life easier. There was especially a lot for Frances T. Cameron to do because she ran a boarding house. Not only was she caring for her family, but also paying guests.
-Additional sources that help with interpretation:
http://www.connerprairie.org/historyonline/1880wom.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/rd/uc_bkr_household.htm

[Sarah Hoyle]

Summarizing:
1. What type of historical document is the source?
Each document is a letter written by Charles Lewellyn or Paul Cameron

2. What specific information, details and/or perspectives does the source provide?
Each letter discusses the workload assigned to slaves. As overseers, Lewellyn and Cameron describe the harvesting conditions and their crop yields. Lewellyn and Cameron list the names of their slaves and the pounds or bales of cotton picked by each per day.

3. What is the subject and/or purpose of the source?
The subject of all four letters that I read is the workload of slaves. It seems that the purpose of the letters was for Lewellyn and Cameron to detail the amount of cotton per day.

4. Who was the author and/or audience of the source?
Three of the letters I read were written by Charles Lewellyn; his intended audience was Paul Cameron. The fourth letter that I read was written by Paul Cameron; his intended audience was his father, Duncan Cameron.

Contextualizing:
1. When and where was the source produced?
The three letters written by Charles Lewellyn were produced between August 16, 1845 and September 30, 1846. They were written in Hobbie, Alabama. The fourth letter was written by Paul Cameron on November 18, 1845. Cameron wrote his letter in Orange County, North Carolina.

2. Why was the source produced?
All four sources are letters.

3. What was happening within the immediate and broader context at the time the source was produced?
During the time of letter exchanges, Lewellyn and Cameron were the overseers of plantations. The two men were profiting from cotton production and used slaves as their source of labor. Lewellyn and Cameron used their letters as a means of detailing their cotton production. In the broader context, the letter exchanges occurred during the era of slavery in United States history. African-Americans were captured in Africa, carried across the Atlantic Ocean against their will, bought and sold like chattel upon arriving to the United States, and made to work for whites. The workload of slaves varied depending on their age and gender; young females were often household servants, while older women and men worked in the fields on plantations.

4. What summarizing information can place the source in time and place?
By viewing the original letters, the following information can be used to place the source in a time and location: the dates transcribed on the letters, the handwriting, the addresses at the top of each letter, the type of paper used, and the context of the letters.

[Sarah Hoyle]

Inferring:
1. What is suggested by the source?
The sources suggest that slaves were forced to work long hours in the fields. It seems that they had no say in the type of work that they did and were not able to regulate their hours – they had to work until their overseer allowed them to quit each day. From the letters, it seems that slaves were monitored very closely, and were expected to report on the amount of work that they completed each day.

2. What interpretations may be drawn from the source?
From these letters, the reader may interpret that Lewellyn and Cameron are the overseers of prosperous plantations. It seems that they take pride in the work completed by their slaves because they often detail the name of slaves and the exact amount of bales picked throughout their letters. It appears that slaves are forced to work very hard and are given very little leisure time.

3. What perspectives or points of view are indicated in the source?
Three of the letters are written from Charles Lewellyn’s point of view. The fourth is written from the perspective of Paul Cameron.

4. What inferences may be drawn from absences or omissions in the source?
The letters do not specify how these two men know one another, but it appears they are good friends or have worked together in some way before. It also appears that Paul Cameron is close with his father (even though it does directly say it) because it seems he wants to keep him well-informed about the happenings in his life.

Monitoring:
The questions I have formed from reading these letters is how were Lewellyn and Cameron similar and how were they different in terms of their overseeing? Did one man force his slaves to work more than the other? Which one punished their slaves more harshly?

1. What additional evidence beyond the source is necessary to answer the historical question?
Perhaps a biography on the two men would be helpful in answering this question. Letters from slaves living on their plantations would serve as a resource in determining the two men’s behaviors towards their slaves.

2. What ideas, images, or terms need further defining from the source?
The letters themselves are easy to read and understand. To discover the overseers’ actions, I would need to find more information about the two men and the relationships each had with their slaves.

3. How useful or significant is the source for its intended purpose in answering the historical question?
This source is not necessarily useful for answering my specific question about the treatment of the slaves by Lewellyn and Cameron. However, it does provide significant information regarding my initial subject of workload.

4. What questions from the previous stages need to be revisited in order to analyze the source satisfactorily?
The questions concerning time and place, the perspective of the source, and specific information provided from the source are all valuable in analyzing the letters. As I stated previously, it would be beneficial to have letters from the slaves’ perspectives to reveal the relationships they experienced with their overseers.

[Sarah Hoyle]

Corroborating:
1. What similarities and differences between the sources exist?
All of the letters detail the names of slaves and the bales or pounds of cotton per day picked by each. Both men list the number of sick slaves as well. In all of the letters the men talk about the workload of slaves and their crop yields. The difference between the letters written by Lewellyn and the letter written by Cameron is that Cameron describes the demeanor of his slaves by discussing their cordial reception of his arrival.

2. What factors could account for these similarities and differences?
The similarities most likely occur because both men are overseers of plantations that produce great supplies of cotton. The difference between the letters written by Lewellyn and the letter written by Cameron may be a result of the differences in the relationships between each man and their slaves. Perhaps Cameron treats his slaves more kindly.

3. What conclusions can be drawn from the accumulated interpretations?
It can be concluded that both men were successful overseers of prosperous plantations. They both expected their slaves to work hard and took pride in the work that they did. It seems that both men cared somewhat about their slaves because they often detailed the number of them who were sick. From their letters, it appears that both men allowed their ill slaves to rest.

4. What additional information or sources are necessary to answer more fully the guiding historical question?
Letters and personal accounts from the slaves of Lewellyn and Cameron would have allowed for a more clear depiction of the working conditions and their relationships with their overseers. It would have been nice to have historical information from an opposing viewpoint, rather than from two men holding similar positions.

[Emily Hurr]

Topic Question: How did slaves feel about emancipation?

Summarizing:
I used three ex-slave narratives. All three narratives are of ex-slaves that belonged to Paul Cameron in NC. Each source tells about life on the plantation as a slave and is intended to inform the reader. The authors were Doc Edwards, Cy Hart and Abner Jordan.

Contextualizing:
All three sources were produced in 1937. They were produced to learn about the lives of slaves. At the time of these narratives being recorded, NC was in a period of development and modernization. The study of the lives of slaves had been deemed an important subject to research and catalog. Summarizing information tells us that the narratives are being told by men in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, and have been “free” men for over 60 years.

Inferring:
The sources suggest that the slaves didn’t have much of a reaction to emancipation. In all three narratives, the slaves and their families stayed on the plantation after emancipation. This could be interpreted as the slaves enjoying their life on the Cameron Plantation. However, this could also be interpreted as the slaves not knowing what else to do or being afraid of leaving. We get the perspectives of the ex-slaves in these narratives as they were told to an interviewer/recorder. The slaves don’t actually say how they felt about emancipation. They only state that they continued to live on the plantation, so we don’t know the exact reasons why they stayed.

Monitoring:
To answer the question, “How did slaves feel about emancipation?” much more information is needed. Sources in which ex-slaves speak about how they or other felt about emancipation and sources that discuss other slaves’ actions after emancipation would help. The ex-slaves in these three sources say that they continued to live on the plantation—it would help to know what the conditions of them living there were. Were they paid? Where did they live? How did conditions change after emancipation? The sources are somewhat helpful in that they give the action of three particular slaves, but a greater number of accounts or deeper insight into the individuals’ feelings would make it more significant in terms of the question asked.

Corroborating:
The sources are similar in that all three ex-slaves belonged to Paul Cameron, and all of them stayed on the plantation after emancipation. Differences include, age, personal history of life on the plantation, subjects recounted in the narratives. A conclusion that can be drawn is that the 3 slaves all had reason to stay on the Cameron Plantation after emancipation (we don’t know exactly what the reason was, just that it was enough to make them stay). Additional information needed would be more accounts by ex-slaves and accounts that offer opinions or feelings about emancipation.

[Lindsey Guffey]

Summarizing:

1. What type of historical document is the source?
These historical documents are letters written by Charles Lewellyn.

2. What specific information, details and/or perspectives does the source provide?
Each source provides several types of information. I chose to look at the theme of childbirth, so each of the four letters I read mention the birth of a child to different slaves. Each letter also makes mention of the condition and quality of the crops that are being grown, particularly the poor quality of cotton. Mr. Lewellyn writes theses letter very frequently, so Cameron is kept up-to-date. One important thing to note is that several of these letters were written in the same month and multiple women gave birth in that time period.

3. What is the subject and/or purpose of the source?
Mr. Lewelyn is keeping Paul Cameron up-to-date on everything that is going on the plantation while he is away.

4. Who was the author and/or audience of the source?
The author was Charles Lewellyn and the audience is Paul Cameron.


Contextualizing

1. When and where was the source produced?
All four letters were written in July and August of 1846 in Hobbie, Alabama.

2. Why was the source produced?
These letters were written to provide Paul Cameron with information regarding his slaves and his plantation.

3. What was happening within the immediate and broader context at the time the source was produced?
Slavery was in full force. There was a worm that was damaging the cotton crop, along with the bad weather. Whipping is discussed as a punishment for one of the slaves. The health and well-being of some slaves is mentioned. Many slaves were having babies and Lewellyn wanted to keep Cameron posted of all of the happenings. These letters put slavery into perspective by discussing the lives of slaves, the production of cotton and life during the mid 19th century.

4. What summarizing information can place the source in time and place?
By viewing the dates on the letter and the material discussed, one can place these sources to the era of slavery.

[Lindsey Guffey]

Inferring:
1. What is suggested by the source?
These letters suggest that summer was the season for having babies. Within the month of August, several women are said to have had children. These letters also suggest that the crops were not doing well and that was a big concern. Apparently, some sort of worm was attacking and damaging the crops. The bad weather was also bad on the cotton.

2. What interpretations may be drawn from the source?
One might interpret that Charles Lewellyn is an overseer of one of Paul Cameron’s plantations. This interpretation could be made because Lewellyn refers to Cameron as “sir” and calls himself Cameron’s “humble servant.” Since these letters provide information about the happenings of a plantation, it appears that Lewellyn is keeping Cameron up-to-date on his plantation.

3. What perspectives or points of view are indicated in the source?
The point-of-view is from Lewellyn, the overseer. This is evident because he gives his opinion on the crops and of the birth of the children to slaves.

4. What inferences may be drawn from absences or omissions in the source?
Like the interpretation, one might infer that Charles Lewellyn is an overseer of one of Paul Cameron’s plantations. Since this is not directly stated, one has to infer that this is the case.

Monitoring

Question(s): How many slaves were women on this plantation and how many of them gave birth during 1846? Were these women given proper care during childbirth? How were Lewellyn and Cameron related?

1. What additional evidence beyond the source is necessary to answer the historical question?
It would nice to see how many slaves were at this plantation that Lewellyn describes. I would appreciate this information because it would be neat to see the ratio of the how many of the slaves had children during the summer of 1846. It seems that many of them did. An autobiography of Lewellyn and Cameron would be helpful so that their relationship could be clearly defined.

2. What ideas, images, or terms need further defining from the source?
It would be helpful to have information from the slaves that had children. A narrative of their labor and delivery, along with their treatment by their overseers would be helpful. I would also like to have the numbers of slaves defined.

3. How useful or significant is the source for its intended purpose in answering the historical question?
The source is pretty useful in answering the question. In one letter, Lewellyn tells Cameron that a slave has a “fine son.” This could suggest that the child is appreciated and that the slaves were treated fine during childbirth. On the other hand, Lewellyn could be calling the son fine, meaning that he was healthy and would be another good worker. The salutations that Lewellyn writes to Cameron helps support the idea that he works for Cameron.

4. What questions from the previous stages need to be revisited in order to analyze the source satisfactorily?
The author and audience are important to discover the relationship between Lewellyn and Cameron. The specifics and details from each letter help to analyze the condition of women that gave birth during this time period. Inferences and interpretations are also a factor in making sense of the letters and answering the historical question.

[Lindsey Guffey]

Monitoring:

1. What similarities and differences between the sources exist?
Every letter discusses the birth of a child to a slave and the quality and quantity of the crops. Some letters discuss the punishment of slaves, while others discuss the health of the slaves. One letter mentions the need for more weapons, with another discusses the weather and worm attacking cotton. All of the letters were written by Lewellyn to Cameron.

2. What factors could account for these similarities and differences?
Some factors that could account for these similarities and differences include the following: All of these letters were written within a time period of five months; all four letters were written by the same person and addressed to the same person; the crop season; and the number of women giving birth.
3. What conclusions can be drawn from the accumulated interpretations?
It can be concluded that many slaves had children during the summer of 1846. It can also be said that Lewellyn is an overseer of Cameron’s plantation because of the way he addresses him. One might also conclude that since some sort of bug had attacked the cotton, that the production levels were negatively effected.

4. What additional information or sources are necessary to answer more fully the guiding historical question?
Slave narratives or accounts, the relationship of Lewellyn and Cameron, the number of slaves on the plantation and letters from Cameron to Lewellyn would be helpful.