The Sport of the Gods and The Lynching of Jube Benson were written both around 1901 and 1902 by Paul Laurence.
Sadly, I detect many similarities in both texts. They described the same unjustified
situation of Africans Americans servants where they were judged by their skin
color. Africans Americans were suspects of any criminal or illegal situation. They
were judged without doubt benefit. Berry Hamilton and Jube Benson were judged
by their employers, by the persons that really knew them. It is sad to learn
how men forget their feelings and their values when they had to make a judgment.
In the both cases did not matter how good human beings were Jube or Berry
because both were black. It did not matter that they were not considered
slaves, they continued seen as animals without soul, feelings, and values. In
those times black people were considered as criminals without reason, just for
their skin color. The difference between both cases was that Berry went to jail
and was sentenced, but Jube Benson did not have judgment, he was killed by the
person that he never imagined. The lynching of Jube Benson is one of the many
cases of lynching in the history. However, I think that Benson’s lynching is one
of the most shocking cases because he was killed by the person that he cared,
the person that he saw not only as his employer, he saw as a friend. Benson was
a devote servant that found the death in the person that he trusted.