Beloved, written by Toni Morrison and published in 1987, won the Pulitzer Prize and loosely follows the story of escaped slave Margaret Garner.
Garner’s Medea-like heroics when she was captured in her attempt to escape from slavery threw the city of Cincinnati, OH to the forefront of the Nation’s attention.
Garner made the ultimate sacrifice and instead of seeing her child be taken back into slavery, decided to take the child’s life with her own two hands. Morrison’s fictional reproduction of this real life drama was so popular; Oprah Winfrey redeveloped it into a screen play in addition to a Michigan Opera house creating a theatrical stage production of the novel in the form of an opera.
The true story comprises of Garner escaping from freedom by crossing the Ohio River just west of what is now known as Covington, KY to the free state of Ohio. In the city of Cincinnati, a Mecca for escaped slaves, Garner sought out her uncle Joe Kite who lived in Cincinnati’s Mill Creek area. Kite sought the advice of Levi Coffin a formidable business owner and notable abolitionist; as to how to get the family free but before Kite could return with new as to how to continue along the Underground Railroad, slave catchers found Garner and the rest of the escapees.
Due to the close proximity of Cincinnati, a beorgering metropolitan in a “free state”, to the “slave state” of Kentucky, this type of situation occurred all the time; slaves were caught in attempt to regain their freedoms. When this occurred; the slave was put on trial lasting about a day or so and then usually placed back in the custody of their master. In the case of Garner, her trial lasted two weeks and judge deliberated another two weeks, making it the longest trial of its kind. The rub was that this case contested the highly controversial Fugitive Slave Act by deciphering rather Garner should be placed on trail for murder (saying that slaves were human beings) or should it be tried as destruction of property (saying that slaves were property). It was decided that The Fugitive Slave Act had precedence and Garner was returned to the slave state of Kentucky. Later; the verdict was over turned and Garner’s “owner was served a sophena to return her to Ohio where she would stand trial for murder, but before she could be located, her master “sold her down the river” before she could be reprimanded.
Conversely, the theatrical reproductions of the novel follow the life of a character called “Sethe”, an escaped slave, and her daughter Denver. They both reside in the free state of Ohio in the city of Cincinnati. Throughout the story we find that Sethe’s home is haunted by the soul of the child whom she killed in her escape from slavery rather than see her be taken back to life of slavery in which she grew up.
Both Garner and “Sethe” escaped from a farm in Northern Kentucky to Cincinnati. Both were raped by their master (supposedly) and both killed their daughter rather than send them back to slavery. As the story of “Sethe” unfolds, we find that she was sexually abused and raped by her master while she was enslaved. From testimonials from Levi Coffin, it is assumed that Garner was abused in the same fashion by her slave master. Here is where the similarities of the Garner and “Sethe” end.
To begin with the differences, it is very apparent with the names of the characters involved, the fictional character being called “Sethe” while the real person whom this character was fashioned after was named Margaret (also known as Peggy). In addition, “Sethe” and Garner also differed in their marital status; the former being single and the latter being married. Also, the fictional reproductions of Garner show her living in the city of Cincinnati decades after her escape, but from historical accounts, Garner lived freely in Ohio for only a short period of time, eventually being reprimanded and forced back into slavery. In addition, “Sethe” was written to have escaped alone and pregnant, but in truth, her escape was in cooperation with several other slave families. Finally, though it has never been proven that the ghost of the child that Margaret sacrificed did not haunt her in some way, the ghost would have been hard pressed to affect the life of Garner as it did with the character of “Sethe”.
We have looked at the historical aspects of the novel “Beloved” written by Toni Morrison. Though the story was fictional, it was steeped in truths which should never be forgotten.
