Malcolm X often referred to the differences between house slaves and field slaves when he explained Black Nationalism and its connection to modern race relations. I first read those speeches when I was in college, but I don’t think I really understood the implications until I started reading about Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa in the early and mid 1970′s. There’s so much more to this story in a history textbook than just the immediate content. There’s sub-text. Do you agree? Disagree?
DAILY TOIL (370) Work and punishment is the theme of this section. Is the textbook effective in visualizing the stories of African American slaves? 14-18 hour workdays, 130-150 pounds of cotton, and flogging and lashes are all described here. What about the lack of evidence? Do you think that your textbook should provide more sources? When should it not?
SLAVE HEALTH AND PUNISHMENTS (371) This section tells quite a bit about the slave lifestyle, diet, clothing, housing, childbirth, life expectancy, and disease. Whippings are also discussed in detail. Do you believe that the text tells this information in an objective fashion? One issue we raised in the beginning of the school year is the question concerning the moral relativism of historical research.
SLAVE LAW AND THE FAMILY (373) Your text mentions that slave laws created legal ambiguity concerning treatment and rights. This is definitely true concerning families and marriages. Not only does your text talk about the breakup of families, but also their gender-determined duties. Masters in the Deep South dissolved 1/3 of all slave marriages.
Finally, your text highlights two points at the end of this section. Let’s reflect on this and comment.
There was a sound basis, in fact, for the abolitionists’ contention that slavery was a harsh, brutal system. However, two points need to be emphasized. First, although slavery led otherwise decent human beings to commit inhumane acts, many slaveholders throughout the South were not cruel; they did what they could for their slaves, out of both economic self-interest and Christian morality. Second, whether under kind or cruel masters, the slaves endured with dignity, communal sensitivity, and occasional joy.
What are your thoughts on this?
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The quote posted gives an opposing view to that of slaves as machines. They have “dignity, commuanl sensitivity, and occasional joy,” distinctly human traits. Regardless of how slave owners justified slavery, I cannot understand how owners blind themselves to that fact, that slaves are people. By merely communicating with their chattel, the response back should set slaves above a tool. Yet that did not happen, as perhaps profit was enough for the owners to desensitize themselves.