Indentured Servants, Enslaved People, Marginalized Voices in Poetry

 Honor the ancestors whose stories were silenced, but not lost.

Slaves Waiting for Sale: Richmond, Virginia
painting by Eyre Crowe (archived site), Public Domain

Family trees often carry silences within generations where lives were marked by hardship, servitude, or erasure. Writing poetry about these ancestors calls forth truth, compassion, and remembrance. Through words, we can acknowledge their struggles and honor the strength that helped future generations survive. These poems are not just art; they are acts of recognition.

If you have indentured servants, enslaved individuals, or other marginalized voices in your family tree, you may learn that they were not without words, but they were not permitted to speak them. Look at their actions, because actions often speak louder than words.

Poems and Books Inspired by Marginalized Voices

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• "The Slave Mother" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: a haunting portrayal of love and loss under slavery.

• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs: not poetry, but written with powerful lyrical depth, and can provide perspective.

• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine: blends poetry and essay to confront identity and invisibility.

• "The Song of the Shirt" by Thomas Hood: a Victorian-era poem highlighting labor and poverty.

Poetry Form Spotlight: The Pantoum

The pantoum uses repeating lines to echo memory and rhythm, making it ideal for expressing endurance, injustice, and generational echo. Each stanza’s second and fourth lines reappear as the next stanza’s first and third lines, weaving a pattern of remembrance.

🪶 Tip: Use the repetition to emphasize survival, pain, or persistence — the things that echo across generations.

• Pantoum from Poets.org
• Pantoum from Wikipedia
• How to Write a Pantoum Poem from Writers.com

Checklist

☐ Read at least one pantoum to understand its rhythm.
☐ Choose a story or ancestor who faced hardship or erasure.
☐ Jot down four powerful lines or images to build your stanzas around.
☐ Write a draft using the pantoum’s repeating-line structure.
☐ Reflect on what your poem teaches you about strength and survival.

Mini-Prompt

Write a pantoum that begins with:

"Their names were never written down…"

Call to Action

Share your poem as a gesture of remembrance. Encourage readers or family members to research and honor the untold stories in their own lineage. Poetry can restore what time tried to erase.