Burden of slavery

In the same way the color of their sin chained blacks to slavery before the Civil war, the color of their skin also chained blacks after the war and their "freeing." Even though Sadie and Bessie are free from the physical chains of slavery and its horrors, they are both still black and to other people they are inferior and second class and fair game. They are, in a sense, chained to their skin color and the discrimination that comes with it- they still have the weight, per se, of color/race warfare on themselves, like in this illustration where this slave is both figuratively and literally forced to bear the weight of the slave ship and slavery. This slave, like Sadie and Bessie, had no choice in the matter and were forced to go through with life chained to the idea that they were second class citizens.
http://www.tfaoi.com/am/10am/10am96.jpg