Master Gallagher

Called it punishment

Slave weddings weren't anything fancy. Infact William's father was not pleased. He kept yelling at me saying, what's wrong with the slaves from the Gallagher plantation... I'm shameless for going to the Cunningham's slave. He was a man with pride and I suppose there was a bit of bad blood between the two. Most probably because the Cunningham's were somewhat better. They paid their workers and this got slaves from other families/plantations to start talking.

From my own knowledge, I knew that slave weddings were often discouraged but Slave owners did allow this because it kept male slaves grounded. If a slave had a family or love interest, they would be less likely to run off. Another reason was Masters wanted the women slaves to have children. The more children the money the master could make off the family. Many of the children were sold, in most cases never to see their biological parents again. Women who were fertile were often the ones who sold the best among other slave owners.

Other slave men and women practiced abstinence often with the intention of denying their master any human capital. Resisting reproduction was very common in the slave commune. It deprived our owners of future property and profit. I was afraid Elliot would refuse to have a child as a way of following this well known fashion. I was already pregnant and I needed to make this as fast as I could. I was disgusted with myself.

I did not wish to show that I was fertile, I did not wish to have a child just so they could be sold off. Clearly Will had ruined that for me. I somewhat felt assured that my child would be alright, with Williams status but I couldn't say the same for myself. Death probably awaited me. I knew that my child would not live a fair life, yes they would stay here with Liam and... lady Tracy but I knew that she would treat my child like cow dung. My child would never be happy. This is not what I wanted, this is why Aunt Ruth did what she had to. This is why slave women did what they did, there was never a guarantee that your child would have a better life than yours. It's alright if I suffer but the pain of knowing my child will go through that.

I could never imagine myself having a daughter and a white male taking advantage of them every evening. I just couldn't—

If I really was pregnant.. I hoped it was a son. For many reasons, I couldn't even justify. Being forced to work while being sick or having period pains was the absolute waste. Being beaten for being sick, was even worse. I could say more but I did not want to even think about it.

I had only discovered recently that me being married to Elliot wouldn't change my living situation. If you fell in love which really isn't the case here and want to marry a slave from a different plantation, their owners might allow the marriage. However, just because the slaves were married did not mean we would be sold so we could stay in one place. William contributed to his father not allowing me to be sold to the Cunningham's. I really wanted to leave the Gallagher's so badly. Truth be told, when a slave acted out of character on the plantation they were sold out of spite. Maybe I needed to act out of character but what's the point, I already had. Master Joshua Gallagher (Williams father) would probably take my child and sell me off.

What was I suppose to expect from a man who sold off his own children after impregnating my mother. He had absolutely no heart. He was ruthless and not even William would stop him from killing me. Master Joshua would probably ask me to dig up my grave with nothing but my hands before ending me with his Remington hunting rifle. I had seen him do this multiple times. He always set an example for the rest of us. I suppose he would not make my death that easy, if he ever used his hunting gun on me, I'd be very lucky.

Pregnancy was not a barrier for punishment even William knew that reason being why I needed to... pin it on Elliot. Masters had methods solemnly set to punish the mother and not harm the baby. I would most probably be asked to dig a hole big enough for my stomach to lie in on and receive my rightful lashes.

Master Joshua was the worst even with him being in his early sixties. Old age wasn't a disadvantage. I was also worried because I did not want a fancy dress. I did not want to look good. There were certain rules that us n*****s had to follow mainly.. "No slave could be taught to write, work on Sunday or work more than 15 hours per day in summer and 14 hours in winter."

"No slave should wear clothes finer than n***o clothing or work for pay."

"The fine for concealing runaway slaves was £1000 and a full year in prison."

"A fine of £100 and six months in prison were imposed for selling (giving) alcohol beverages to slaves."

"The Willful killing of a slave was fine £700 and passion killing £350."

The way Master Joshua Gallagher loved money, maybe just maybe he wouldn't kill me. Why waste any pound on me? He wouldn't want to pay that fine. Again, out of all his seven children William is by far his favorite perhaps he would kill me. William was his pride and joy, the last born. He wouldn't mind paying that amount to make his sons mistake to disappear.

Slave homes were searched every two weeks for weapons or stolen goods. Punishment could escalate from loss of a ear, branding, and nose slitting to death on the fourth offense. Such things kept me up at night. Overthinking—

I was really next...