Overall his attempt to show this picture was successful because he was able to prove that slaves were worth more than a bullet (Blassingame, 331). Dont have an account? Retrieved from http://studymoose.com/the-slave-community-by-john-w-blassingame-essay. He remarks, "Nothing demonstrated his powerlessness as much as the slave's inability to prevent the forcible sale of his wife and children."[21]. In Chapter X we see Douglass working for wages for the first time. Please wait while we process your payment. He explains, "The more fear whites had of Nat, the more firmly tried to believe in Sambo in order to escape paranoia. The escape party consists of Douglass, Henry and John Harris, Henry Bailey, and Charles Roberts. Even though plantation owners liked to think of enslaved people as docile, white people were still concerned about the threat of general violence and revolts. By giving slaves a brief span of time each year to release their rebellious spirit, slaveholders keep them manageable for the rest of the year. This outline has been approximately created nailing down the fundamental central issues, and realities, and summed up subtleties to assist developing comprehension you might interpret the book. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. | As an isolated figure, he appropriately resembles the protagonist of a traditional comingofage story. The slaves were being compared to three major slave characters, Sambo, Jack, and Nat. We have over 4,000 in-depth study guides that offer a comprehsive analysis to each book. Ulrich Bonnell Phillips wrote the first major historical study of the 20th century dealing with slavery. When she loses her grip, the boy falls into a nearby river and drowns. From Douglass's fight with Covey to the end of Chapter X. Sethe refuses to let her children exist in such a world. Therefore, Blassingame concludes: Like most personal documents, the autobiography provides a window to the larger world. Contact us Douglass ironically portrays his master Hugh Auld as navely surprised and indignant upon hearing the lawyer say that a slave has no right to stand witness against a white. [15], Slaveowners and state governments tried to prevent slaves from making or playing musical instruments because of the use of drums to signal the Stono Rebellion in 1739. 'Numbers' and 'accuracy' are not two interchangeable words: Statistical truths are no more self-evident than literary ones. The Slave is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Polish-American author Isaac Bashevis Singer. [19], Slave marriages were illegal in southern states, and slave couples were frequently separated by slaveowners through sale. It might have been performed on stage, but was more likely simply read aloud by several different voices. Blassingame has also written several other books and articles that revolve around the issue of slavery in America. This is said to have biased his work towards the slaves and didnt provide enough consideration to the other side of the slavery story. Most of the male authors had done a large part of their work before the development of women's history as a discipline, and even the most sensitive were hampered by a paucity of sources and by unfamiliarity with the questions feminists would soon raise. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. [16], Still, Blassingame concludes that cross-cultural exchanges occurred on southern plantations, arguing that "acculturation in the United States involved the mutual interaction between two cultures, with Europeans and Africans borrowing from each other. This enforced ignorance robs children of their natural sense of individual identity. [62] The authors of Reckoning with Slavery (1976) use Blassingame's findings to challenge the assertions of Robert William Fogel and Stanley Engerman in Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery (1974). Douglass is grateful that Mr. Freeland is not a hypocritically religious man. To the uninformed observer, it would appear a positive thing that slave owners grant a holiday to their slaves. Slaveholders typically encourage slaves to spend the holiday drinking, rather than resting or working industriously for themselves. It is customary for slaves to enjoy a holiday from Christmas to New Years. At first, Thomas Auld announces his intent to send Douglass to Alabama. Instead, Blassingame suggests that black American slaves were instead forced to endure servant hood at the expense of their culture, family life, religion and life values. The The Slave Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. "[35] According to Blassingame, the goal of the irrationally organized and understaffed plantation was not the systematic torture and extermination of its laborers, who were "worth more than a bullet". Have been using her for a while and please believe when I tell you, she never fail. Blassingame concludes, "Uncritical use of the interviews will lead almost inevitably to a simplistic and distorted view of the plantation as a paternalistic institution where the chief feature of life was mutual love and respect between masters and slaves. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Consequently, the slave did not have to be infantile or abjectly docile in order to remain alive. In the new preface, Blassingame asserted that the book had to be revised because of George Bentley, an enslaved, pro-slavery Primitive Baptist minister from Tennessee who pastored a white church in the 1850s. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South by John W. Blassingame is considered to be one of the first novels that addressed the issue of slavery from the perspective of the slaves. Published in 1972, it analyzes the experiences of slaves in the Antebellum South during a time in history that was fraught with controversy and misunderstanding. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South - 1972 PB at the best online prices at eBay! Using psychology, Blassingame analyzes fugitive slave narratives published in the 19th century to conclude that an independent culture developed among the enslaved and that there were a variety of personality types exhibited by slaves. Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina had the greatest annual population loss. [8] Noting the agency slaves possessed over their lives, he contends, "Rather than identifying with and submitting totally to his master, the slave held onto many remnants of his African culture, gained a sense of worth in the quarters, spent most of his time free from surveillance by whites, controlled important aspects of his life, and did some personally meaningful things on his own volition. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Full Title: Oroonoko; Or, the Royal Slave When Written: Behn wrote Oroonoko towards the end of her life. Background Notes. Mills suggests, "All controversy and revision aside, The Slave Community remains a significant book, and the author's position that the bulk of both slaves and slaveowners lay between the stereotyped extremes proves durable. The Narrative goes on to show that the words American and slave are contradictory: the rights afforded by the designation American are nonexistent for slaves. Previous. He notes, "Blassingame, unfortunately, does not help us at all in this task." [70] The most significant changes made to the text involve further discussion of African cultural survivals, slave family life, slave culture, and acculturation. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The second half of Chapter X continues to shift between personal accounts and public arguments against slavery. They know what it feels like to be unable to protect their own children. Blassingame outlines that the reliance on planter sources led historians like Elkins to mimic planter stereotypes of slaves such as the "submissive half-man, half child" Sambo. Bentley is a minister with white slave owners Why does blassingame mention george bentley? Read more about the motif of slaves as property. American Historical Review 78 (10): The Slave Community by John W. Blassingame. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. These autobiographical stories tend to privilege a model of heroic individualism over social interaction and support. Kilson criticized The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South by saying that it lacks a clear analytical perspective (Kilson, 1132). 20% Douglass recalls that he loved them and that they operated together as a single community. SparkNotes PLUS A black man, they reasoned, who loved his wife and his children was less likely to be rebellious or to run away than would a 'single' slave. Douglass explains, however, that this seeming benevolence is part of the larger power structure of slavery. Then Auld suddenly changes his mind and sends Douglass back to Baltimore with Hugh Auld. [31] Blassingame concludes that the Sambo and Nat stereotypes "were real." It includes an account of the treatment of house slaves written by Angelina . "[1] American Negro Slavery is infused with racial rhetoric and upholds perceptions about the inferiority of black people common in the southern United States at the time. "[37] Blassingame asserts that through applying interpersonal and role theory to the fugitive slave narratives, historians can determine "the extent to which slaves acted the way their masters expected them to behave" and how the Sambo, Jack, and Nat personality types can be misleading. and then Add to Home Screen. Wali, Hina, et al. The most important component of personality is self-esteem. george bentley is a problem because he is a slave in support of slavery. In this sense, the slave writers present a participant observers' comments on the larger slave society. This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 02:37. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Issel, William. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Because Gardners shipyard is struggling to meet a deadline, however, Douglass becomes a helping hand for seventy-five different carpenters and learns no new skill. Spartacus is one of the slaves he buys. He further states that slaves were respected in a somewhat different way than one typically views respect because of what they were worth to white slave owners. Blassingame defended his conclusions at a 1976 meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History and in 1979 published a revised and enlarged edition of The Slave Community. On January 1, 1834, Douglass is sent to live with Mr. William Freeland. They plan to canoe up the Chesapeake Bay on the Saturday before Easter. One prominent example discussed by Blassingame is the Ewe story of "Why the Hare Runs Away", which is a trickster and tar-baby tale told by southern slaves and later recorded by writer Joel Chandler Harris in his Uncle Remus stories. "[29], Despite slaveowner paternalism and charges of submissiveness, Blassingame contends, "There is overwhelming evidence, in the primary sources, of the Negro's resistance to his bondage and of his undying love for freedom. [49] Carl N. Degler writes in the Washington Post that Blassingame's study comes "closer than any previous study to answering the question 'what was it like to be a slave? Wed love to have you back! Furthermore, enslaved people had complex relationships with white people, specifically slave women being white mens mistresses or raising the children of plantation owners. Auld takes Douglass with him to see a lawyer, but the lawyer informs them that no warrant may be issued without the testimony of a white man. They encouraged monogamous relationships to "make it easier to discipline their slaves. This is a dangerous undertaking, as educating slaves is forbidden; the community violently shuts down a similar school run by a white man. Douglass compares Auld to a pirate who has a right to Douglasss wages only because he has the power to compel Douglass to hand them over. Blassingame stated that, "Most whites felt that the 'natural' traits of Negro character were so deeply ingrained that they were immutable." Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Nevertheless, Blassingame argues that "however frequently the family was broken it was primarily responsible for the slave's ability to survive on the plantation without becoming totally dependent on and submissive to his master. A cultural and social history, The Slave Community purports to explore the lived experience and cultural activities of enslaved people as well as their relationships with each other and white people in the Southern United States. He was also criticized by many for his use of slave accounts and not enough accounts by white slave owners. Request a complete Study Guide for this title! Blassingame states there is overwhelming evidence of enslaved peoples undying love of freedom in defiance of their circumstances (192). I'm thinking this sounds right but I'm not an expert on population. I'm not sure what exactly you are asking here. The Slave Community by John W Blassingame is a significant revisionist work that places the slave as an individual at the centre of its analysis and argument. [46] Historian George P. Rawick noted in 1976, however, that the criticism "should not obscure the fact that [Blassingame's] book was of such merit as to warrant spending our time criticizing it four years after its publication. See for yourself. "[30] Blassingame outlines efforts of slaves to run away and rebel, particularly the Stono Rebellion of 1739, Charles Deslondes's revolt in 1811, Nat Turner's revolt of 1831, and the participation of fugitive slaves in Florida fighting with Seminoles during the Seminole Wars. History and African sections. Many men in the community profess to be religious, but merely use their religion as justification for their cruelty to their slaves. According to Blassingame, "Sometimes children internalized both the true personality traits and the contradictory behavioral patterns of their parents." They seize and tie Douglass and the rest of the escape party. Blassingame joined the module of Yale University in 1970. where he taught in the African American Studies. Written by Hina Wali and other people who wish to remainanonymous. Blassingame explains, "Our sense of self-esteem is heightened or lowered by our perception of the images others have of us." Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. [59][60], In 1976, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History met in Chicago and held a session on The Slave Community. One day, Sula playfully swings a neighborhood boy, Chicken Little, around by his hands. Elkins compares the process to the infantilization of Jews in Nazi concentration camps. Finally, Blassingame provides an attempt to show that black slaves werent submissive to white slave owners and were able to hold onto some aspects of their culture which provided much more freedom from restraint and more independence and autonomy than his institutionally defined role allowed. [41], Besides fugitive slave narratives, Blassingame uses abolitionist periodicals such as The Liberator, National Anti-Slavery Standard, Pennsylvania Freeman, Anti-Slavery Bugle, and Genius of Universal Emancipation. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. In these "invisible churches", slaves could discuss freedom, liberty, and the judgment of God against slaveowners. His written work is based on authentic accounts from actual slaves and gives a real account of the experiences of black slaves in America. IT IS A SUMMARY. Rawick, "Some Notes on a Social Analysis of Slavery", pp. Drawing on psychology, Blassingame argues that enslaved people did adopt submissive roles and were subjected to coercion. Have a pleasant . "The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South" by John W. Blassingame is the first book about slavery written by a historian in the viewpoint of slaves rather than slave owners. This guide covers the 1979 Oxford University Press edition. They questioned Blassingame's decision to exclude the more than 2,000 interviews with former slaves conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. He points to his dissatisfaction with Freeland in a pun on Freelands name. I'm sorry, your question has no connection to your chosen category. '"[50], Still, Blassingame's conclusions, methodology, and sources received substantial criticism from historians. The most dangerous of slavery's effects is its negative impact on the former slaves' senses of self, and the novel contains multiple examples of self-alienation. Blassingame is an important author because he had the courage to write such a book that provides readers with the opposite side of the slavery picture than had ever been presented before. They never tell anyone about the accident even though they did not intend to harm the boy. He traces the development of the slave's personality traits, analyzes the patterns of resistance within the slave community, and proves conclusively that the slave had a rich cultural and family life that was deliberately kept hidden from the eyes of his white masters. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Douglass explains that this strategy helps keep blacks enslaved. But the attraction is too overwhelming for him to resist, and they have sex. Douglass meets and befriends other slaves on Freelands property, including the intelligent brothers Henry and John Harris. [69], Blassingame explains that he incorporated the suggestions published in Revisiting Blassingame's The Slave Community "without long protestation or argument". Can you re-state your question? 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