Human
Rights
Ryan
Espinoza
HST
101: Essay #2
How
do
The History of Mary Prince and at least 2 other primary sources
demonstrate changing attitudes about what it means to be human during this era?
The
idea of the well-being of humans has been around for centuries. As history moved the world into the 18th,
19th and 20th century, the idea of human rights was to be
considered as it never had before. During
this time the world would be tested with unsafe working conditions due to the
growing industrialization. It would be
tested through economies relying on slavery and less than tolerable conditions
for soldiers during a new age of warfare.
Through the experiences of Mary Prince, soldiers during World War I, and
those of the young that worked in the mines of Britain we can see changing
attitudes about human rights during this era.
Slavery
was a huge factor in nations’ economies but also brought forth the question of
human treatment. Mary Prince felt the
cruelty of slavery first hand and sought to give others her account to gain
awareness that these slaves are humans as well.
“Oh the horrors of slavery!--How the thought of it pains my heart!
But the truth ought to be told of it; and what my eyes have seen I think it is
my duty to relate; for few people in England know what slavery is.” (Prince,
pg. 11) Mary Prince knew that the
best way to end the pain of those in slavery is to get those who have not
experienced it but have the authority to do something about it to open their
eyes. Many people acknowledged her
account and did try to change things. “
. . . and her death was hastened (at least the slaves all believed and
said so,) by the dreadful chastisement she received from my master during her
pregnancy.” (Prince, pg. 7) Mary Prince
spoke of the cruelties that occurred to those around her. She showed that even feeble and pregnant
women were treated like animals. By
showing the unbelievable treatment of pregnant women that would lead to death
would she force the ugly face of slavery unto the eyes of others. She even went as far as to share and
experience where she was beaten badly to the point where she did not care
whether or not she lived or died.
(Prince, pg. 8) This incredible
account that humans’ natural rights were not given to those such as Prince and
others in her position and needed to change.
Casualties in war
are certainly expected regardless of the war itself. However, the unnecessary slaughter of the
soldiers during World War I was a call to secure the safety of those men that
were fighting for peace. “One such shell
struck the next house and buried four men, who were got out from the ruins
horribly mutated.” (McKay, pg. 842) This
German soldier is not referring to the brutal killings happening on the
battlefield but the deaths that occur in their own supposed safe holds. It shows that not even at rest do soldiers
get solace due to unsafe conditions.
When fearing for their life below they then are to head to the
battlefield to shed needless blood and be buried in dirty trenches along the
battlefield. (McKay, 842) Even the rights of women at home were at
risk. The women on the front lines at
home fought “to get a few mouthfuls of meat of which they have been long so
deprived.” (McKay, 842) The lengths people had to go through just to
get food was “blameworthy and incomprehensible” as women spent the nights in
front of shops in the rain just to get food for their families during times of
war. War, by these men and women, has
taken away human rights of both life and food and they desire to regain it all.
If men or women cannot relate to the horrible treatment of slavery
or war, they certainly would relate to the awful conditions of 1800s
labor. Not only adults but young boys
and girls worked in dangerous conditions such as mines for little pay and less
than respectable treatment. “That children
are employed generally at nine years old in the coal pits and sometimes at
eight.” (McKay, pg. 672) Children as
young as eight were hired in these mines in order to reach dangerous and narrow
areas that adults could not reach. These
children have no other choice but to agree to these conditions in order to feed
their family and make a decent living.
“Sometimes they beat me, if I am not quick enough . . . the boys take
liberties with me.” (McKay, pg.
673) The horrible treatment of a
seventeen-year-old girl is expressed. Girls
were subject to nudity; they did not learn how to read nor did they go to
church. Certainly the rights of humans
did not apply to these poor workers. It
wasn’t until an illustration of a semi-nude girl pulling a wagon of coal
through a narrow tunnel did shocked people call forth the Mines Act of 1842 to
better the treatment of workers. (McKay,
pg. 673) It is a great relief that these
accounts were able to get out to the public so the human rights could return to
these poor people.
This era was certainly a trial for human growth. People endured slavery, war and unfair
labor. They came out of it in order to
allow society learn and grow. People
wonder how humans can treat their own so harshly. In times of profit, people do not take
consideration the well-beings of others.
They simply think about the easiest way to get the job done. The world since the 1800s has indeed grown
and learned from the past. It led way
for Civil Rights in America and continuous fighting to be treated as a
human. We must treat others as we would
like to be treated.
Sources Cited
McKay, J. (2009). A History
of World Societies. (8th
ed.), The Testimony of Young Mine Workers (pp. 672-673). Boston, MA
McKay, J. (2009). A History
of World Societies. (8th
ed.), The Experience of War. (pp. 842-843).
Boston, MA.
Prince, M . (1831). The History of Mary Prince; A West Indian
Slave. London, England: Stationer’s Hall
Court.
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