Frances Harper was a female African American poet of the 1800s. Her poems
"Ethiopia" and "The Slave Mother" reflect on the pain and suffering of
slavery in the United States but also the legacy of slavery in Africa.
"Ethiopia" mentions the country's "cry of agony" and refers to
those who would enslave her people as the "tyrant," whose "yoke" and
"fetters" keep Ethiopia's people submissive and inferior. However, the poem suggests
that God will recognize Ethiopia's plight and will free the country from its pain and agony.
Eventually, the poet suggests, Ethiopia will "smile" and her "sorrows cease"
as she gains "redress" from God.
"The Slave Mother," on
the other hand, is a bleaker and more specific portrayal of the struggles of African American
women under slavery. In addition to the sexual assault that many female slaves were subject too,
women had to deal with the ever-present possibility that her children would be torn from her and
sold to another slave master. That is exactly what the...
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