I found this week’s reading, chapters 4-6, to be really interesting, mostly because of the narrative structure Campbell employs throughout these chapters. Campbell made use of many primary sources in the first few chapters of the book, but in these chapters he doubles down on the emphasis of primary sources, particularly stories told by people in and around Richmond. Full pages in these chapters are taken up by first-hand accounts by figures such as Fredrick Douglass, Eyre Crowe, Anthony Burns, and Charles Dickens. This structural choice seems to indicate that Campbell feels that the information he is trying to impart on his readers is most impactful when coming from the people who experienced it first hand, an opinion I agree with. The stories and observations displayed in these chapters are truly impactful because they depart from mere summary of historical events, and instead present the readers with the real, gritty details surrounding the horrors of slavery in Richmond.

Another detail that Campbell mentioned that I thought was really surprising was the fact that so much of Richmond’s history was unknown until recently. The fact that the domestic slave trade played such a big part in the city’s economy, yet was almost completely concealed from the public was shocking to me. It reminded me of what Ana had brought up in class on Thursday (9/28), when she spoke about how information regarding the mistreatment of Native Americans had been blocked by her high school. I think that it’s essential to confront our history as a nation, the horrific parts especially, in order to rectify the wrongs of the past and grow as individuals and as a collective, and the fact that parts of America are trying there best to prevent such self-reflection is both disappointing and frightening.