'The Willie Lynch Letter and The Making Of A Slave' is a sinister inside look of the psychology of a slaveholder in the antebellum American South

The 30-page book contains a speech given by William Lynch, a white slave owner, in 1712 on the James River in Virginia.

"keep the body and take the mind" - Willie Lynch

This is Lynch's recommendation and method for breaking down black men and women and making them into slaves. He compares the breaking down of human to a horse. His racist view of them is that in their "natural state," they are "wild" and "uncivilized" (14-15). There was a separate method in psychologically breaking down women compared to men, but in both cases fear was the slaveholders' main weapon.

Though a short read, it is absolutely disturbing. People say that when art — in this case, literature — makes you feel something or draws emotion to you, you know it's worth your time. My stomach turned with every page. It was absolutely disturbing to read the mindset of a slave owner, actually so disturbing that I had to read it in two sittings. It's not that it was a hard piece to comprehend. It was just....sickening. I did some background research on this piece and saw that some historians say this is fictitious, but despite the debate, I ranked it five stars on Goodreads because it has the power to make one feel both infuriated and sad.

In the edition that I read (see below), there was a very odd letter at the end that was most likely not written by Lynch. It's supposedly Americans — the letter ends in "Sincerely, All Other Americans" though as one reads it, one can easily come to the conclusion that it is meant to have come off as written by white Americans — giving their gratitude to black people. It was ironic because they were bragging of their wealth and success, yet at the same time crediting and praising black people. There were a lot of racist remarks as well and it had a sarcastic tone to it. What else is ironic about the letter is that it is supposedly written to speak on behalf of "all other Americans," yet what the writer fails to have knowledge of is that Americans are people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. Its focus is clearly on the success of white people alone. There were statistics referring to businesses as well, but that evidence was not even cited. Not to mention, there was no date...so very strange.

Lynch, William. The Willie Lynch Letter ; The Making of a Slave. Lushena Books, 1999.

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