Poetry · Chapter
The Slave Girl's Address to Her Mother explained
A slave girl comforts her weeping mother, urging faith in God's protection and justice despite their suffering and separation from home.
What happens
A slave girl comforts her weeping mother, urging faith in God's protection and justice despite their suffering and separation from home. She condemns the hypocrisy of American freedom, which tolerates slavery, and expresses hope for divine deliverance.
Themes in this chapter
Faith and Prayer
The slave girl repeatedly urges her mother not to weep, trusting in God as their guardian and deliverer.
Hypocrisy of Freedom
The poem directly challenges those who boast of freedom while enslaving others, calling freedom 'nothing but a name.'
Characters to notice
- Poor Afric
The speaker, a slave girl, addresses her mother and represents the enslaved African voice.
- Mother
The mother is comforted by her daughter and mourns their lost home and freedom.
Key passages
“Oh! mother, weep not, though our lot be hard, And we are helpless—God will be our guard”
Don't cry, mother, even though our situation is difficult and we have no power—God will protect us.
The speaker reassures her mother with faith in divine protection.
“Freedom, what art thou?—nothing but a name.”
Freedom is just an empty word, not a reality for us.
A direct condemnation of the hypocrisy of American freedom.
“In thine own time deliverance thou wilt give, And bid us rise from slavery, and live.”
In your own time, God, you will rescue us and command us to rise up from slavery and truly live.
The poem ends with a hopeful prayer for eventual liberation.