How was slavery woven throughout the American society? This question is easy to see in our readings this week because slavery was the key to the uprising in America. One answer to this was the stereotypical black man the “Sambo” and the black maid. The sambo stereotyped as a lazy black man that was there just having fun and singing. The black maid was a lady who was bigger and always happy to do the laundry and make the food for their master. In reality the sambo was not a typical black man at all and the black maid was normally not big at all. The typical black man was a hard worker and the black maid was skinny often time being a rapped victim by their master. These two stereotypes were and attempt to cover up the wrong doing in slavery by showing happy picture of a black slave. Also slavery was the easiest way to get money because slaves were cheap and they never paid. As years past slavery only became to make more sense for plantation owners because there was a lot of work that needed to be done and it would be very costly to have any other kind of labor to be working for these owners. In the 1700’s there were no tractors or combines in the fields and there wasn’t any for hundreds of years to come. Farm work was hard and very time consuming and owners knew that slavery would make the most logical sense. If there were no laws against it I would have to believe that their would be some slavery but hardly any because of the advancement in technology. Technology put farmers into a place where they could plant and harvest the same amount of acres in one day to what a single slave would take nearly two weeks. Slavery was wrong but it only made logical sense at the time. Slavery did begin not long after the English moved to the Americas. It was not common at this time but there was a showing of some slavery. In the 1860 census there was 4 million slaves and 12 million people in the population. That is a lot of slaves but in the slave states only 4.8 % of people held slaves. This meant that every person that held slaves had on average 10 slaves at this time. To me this shows that not everyone had slaves or needed slaves but the people that needed them had a lot of them. This makes sense because the plantations were large in the south and it would take many people to operate them. Also there were laws being in place to allow the south to keep their slaves and make it harder for other people to take away that privilege. If slaves would run away they were according to law to be brought back to their owners.
How were all people implicated in it? This started when the slave owners took action in the government positions because they were forcing laws to keep the blacks from getting knowledge so that they would not get the idea of making a big revolt. The laws were to help keep the blacks under control and allow slave owners to do what they wished out of the slaves. They also made a fact that runaways would be brought back to their original owners. I would not want to be a slave coming back from being captured as a runaway. The laws really tried to make slavery legal and to keep it that way for many years to come.
What was necessary for it to end? I really believe that southerners believed that blacks were so inferior to the white man and with the laws in place I believe there needed to be a war. The slave owners had so much hatred running through their veins and would not give in until a fight. The slaves and the whites that wanted to free the slaves had to come together. They were too scared to do anything about it before and it took some leadership to come and fight these tough slave owners. Once the war began a slave owner was scared to go to sleep because they never knew if a slave would come into the house and kill them while they sleep. This war had to haunt the slave owners because they knew what they were doing was not right. I hope to believe that not every slave owner whipped their slaves and did bad things but there is no telling what all went down at a slave house.
Even today you can see how society controls people based on money. The rich class controls everything and everyone especially the poor. For instance where my mom works at Minster Machine there is a rich man behind the company. The company is getting slow right now and instead of cutting his large pay cut he decides to cut everyone else’s pay by 19% while he is making over $100,000 per year. In this day in society he is treating his workers like slaves because they still work the same amount everyday but with the pay cut it is hard for people to buy anything but necessities with that the little pay that they are getting. It is not like a person would leave this company because chances are there are no other opportunities for you to find a job anywhere else. Another example is people working at a Wal-Mart who are making very little income. This is fine you are young but it is not enough for the adults that have to pay for the insurance and mortgage on homes and the food that gets put on the table. These people are at the lower class in society and are forced to be because of the rich manager’s decision.
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You mentioned the new technologies that some of the slave holders purchased that did as much work as the slaves in a shorter period of time. Obvious a benefit for the slave holder but what about the slaves? Slaves that were not needed anymore were probably sold to other owners. This would mean possibly breaking up families or a slave who had lived a fairly decent life may be sold to a very cruel slave holder. On the other hand maybe the slave holder would free the slaves they didn't need but then where would they go and what types of jobs could they get. From our readings it sounded like most of the jobs were menial at best and the pay was not enough to feed, clothe and house them. On a plantation at least they received the basic necessities. So for slaves it seemed like their lives could go from bad to worse. It must have been very difficult for them to make a decision about whether or not they should stay where they were or run, especially if they knew there was a chance that freedom could mean an even more difficult life.
ReplyDeleteI hope your right about "not every slave owner whipped their slaves". So many stories, movies and books show the slave owner as a violent master. I would like to think this is just a stereotype and that many slave owners were fairly decent human beings. However, it is clear that the white slave holders realized what they were doing was wrong because they put so much effort into changing laws to give them total control over slaves. So I would not doubt in the least if they were that cruel just to try and keep that control.
I thought it was very interesting how the slave owners used the Sambo to cover up their wrong doings. It amazed me that the white southerners saw the slaves as irresponsible, lazy, affectionate, and happy. LAZY! WHAT?! From what I have read this past week to even put the word lazy and slave in the same sentence seems wrong. I guess this just proves how they pulled the wool over the white southerner’s eyes for many years. It makes me question what would have happened if the portrayal of the Sambo wasn’t used if slavery would have lasted as long as it did…..
ReplyDeleteThe new technologies never really happened until after slavery so it really would not have made this that big of a deal. The slaves were at a disadvantage when the technologies came around but so has everyone else. My parents remember when they were picking the corn out of the fields now that 6 man job is down to one driver of a combine and one person on a planter. The technology just helped our country get past the step of needing others to always help in the agricultural field. Sorry if I miss led you at all.
ReplyDeleteMichele I totally agree the sambo I really think helped the slavery last as long as it did. It lasted more years than I really every immagined. Personally I can't believe that women and or blacks had to wait until really the turn of the 19th century to have any real rights to begin with. That is my greatgrand parents time or maybe some peoples grand parents. That just is so shocking to me.
ReplyDeleteIn this blog, the paragraph about was was necessary for it to end,I thought that he made a very good point that the slave owners had so much hatred running through their veins and would not give in until a fight. Slaves were scared to do anything before because it took leadership to come and fight the slave owners. This reminds me a little of how today is and people who have the money are the ones in control. When will this stop? Who knows,I believe this will stop when everyone comes together and realize that even people without money can have control too if they stand up to the people that have all the money and that are in control. In this blog, he also commented on how the mom works at the Minster Machine and there is a rich man that works for a company. This is still how it is today, but women too are very succesful, its if you want to do the hard work and push yourself into becoming successful. The only thing with that now is that women and men are losing their jobs so both are not making as much money as they once did in the past because of the rough economic times, which hopefully gets better soon.
ReplyDeleteMichelle- I agree that is was crazy that the white man could actually consider slaves "lazy". Although when you are greedy with money and power I would assume you could convince yourself of anything to get to the goal you have set. It probably did not help that there were slaves who acted like "sambos" but I can understand why they did it. If acting a particular way gets you through the day without beatings and possibly gets you a little extra food or some other kind of benefit it would be easy to pretend.
ReplyDeleteMallory- After reading all of the information we have been presented with over the last two weeks it is nice to know that in today's world everyone, I hope, has a chance to be successful in whatever they choose. I know there is still racism and social controls in todays society but everyday there are examples of people who achieve more than is expected of them. It is their optimism and fight that passes on to others and lets them take a chance. The world is not a perfect place but it is good to know that we have evolved in some ways.
Also to add to my post I would also like to remind everyone from our readings that the in the beginning of the tabacoo movment there was a negative image on people who had slaves. I think it just got to a point where people said screw the image and lets make the money. Image only gets a person so far and to the slave owners it was not as important as making the money that brought happiness to themselves and their family.
ReplyDeleteAlso I keep seeing how everyone puts the word "successful" in their comments. That word to me is very vague because people have different levels of success. I graduated with a person who wanted to be a truck driver his whole life. He thought if I could be a ice road trucker that it would be the best job in the world. To some people this is not a very high level of success. To him he found it stupid that a person would want to wear a suit and tie everyday to make the extra money. Money does not always bring happiness and to him as long as he felt comfortable that is all that mattered as long as he had his big Kenworth truck to drive.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad someone else used black stereotypes (“controlling images,” as I put it in my own post) as an example. I totally agree with you. Though I didn’t say it in my own post, you are right when you say that “These two stereotypes were and attempt to cover up the wrong doing in slavery by showing happy picture of a black slave.” Also, if you consider the black maid (or the “mammy”), that doesn’t necessarily have to do with slavery. Think of how recently we’ve seen that stereotype…maybe that also has an effect on more recent views of blacks or distinctions between two races (specifically, blacks and whites). And, maybe that image isn’t necessarily to say, “Hey, these people are happy,” but to say, “Hey, this is natural, this is how it is supposed to be,” so when someone saw a big black woman, for instance, they would automatically think of a “mammy.” I think it was a way to naturalize images and stereotypes. Stereotypes (though, not necessarily those two) have a big influence on today’s society, don’t you think?
ReplyDeleteTechnology as an end to slavery…A very interesting thought, and one that I really hadn’t given thought to before now. I have to agree. So, what you’re saying (just so I’m sure that I’m understanding you correctly…forgive me) is that, in order for slavery to end, it was necessary for slave owners NOT TO NEED slaves anymore? Seriously, it seems simple enough, but I really never had considered that!
Okay, so reading further, I see that’s not your answer to that question, but I still find it to be an interesting concept.