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¶ … Stand on Slavery
During the 1830s all the way to the 1860s, a development to end slavery within America picked up speed within the northern part of America. This movement was being led by free blacks; for case in point, Frederick Douglass along with a number of white advocates, for case in point, William Lloyd Garrison, who was the editor and originator of the radical daily paper "The Liberator," as well as, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who distributed the top of the line abolitionist novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Whilst numerous abolitionists construct their activism with respect to the conviction that slaveholding had been a sin, several others had been more disposed to the non-religious "free-work" contention that assumed that slaveholding had been backward, wasteful and seemed well and good (History.com, n.d.)
What stereotypes do these documents promote about African-Americans?
James Henry Hammond (1858) in Mudsill Theory mentions the U.S. Senate speech, which describes the African-Americans as black slaves 'of another and inferior race ... they are elevated from the condition in which God first created them, by being made our slaves;' while Dr. Cartwright (1967) uses the word 'negro' for African-Americans in the entire document. Furthermore, he also mentioned the symptoms of Dysaesthesia Aethiopica among slaves who do not have a white person to direct them. George Fitzhugh (1970) also talks about Negroes who enjoy some liberty under their masters. George Fitzhugh clearly states that the white race is superior to the Negro race and that they ought to be subjected to slavery or else they would become a burden to the society. Edmund Ruffin (1963) tells about the sufferings of slaves and how during economic downfall, it is the masters' sickness and infirmity that is seen important even though they have the most profit and capital from business.
How do these men justify slavery? Or what points do they make about the need to abolish slavery? Should the emancipated slaves remain "on-soil," that is, in the United States?
David Walker (1995) in his Appeal directly talks to his fellow citizens and takes a stand against slavery....
He talks about how Mr. Jefferson has called them an inferior race and how the powerful has associated their race with orangutans and monkeys, despite calling themselves learned and educated. He states that God did not create them as slaves, but the white people have always been selfish, blood thirsty, power hungry and unjust, which is what is injurious to the country.
The Declaration of Sentiments in1963 gives complete right to African-Americans, and states that one sixth of the country men who are striving for the country as treated brutally, and given no legal protection or rights (Louis, 1963). It also mentions that according to the Scripture, any man who enslaves another is a man stealer, so any slave should be instantly set free and given protection under law.
Edmund (1963) states that slavery has always been subjected to injustice and cruelty and compares free labour with slavery, stating that a free man would do more work since he gets rewarded more as compared to a slave who does not get any legal rights and protection, but has pressure to do more work, which leads to inefficiency.
How do these men envision civilized society and slavery's place in it? What remarks do the abolitionists make about the conditions under which the slaves worked and lived? The pro-slavery writers?
George Fitzhugh (1970) in his speech states that a Negro is not a criminal or a lunatic, but a grown up child who is no different than any other human being. Furthermore, he compares the slavery in America to the north, and states that the slaves in America are treated better as compared to the North where they freeze and starve. The Negroes in America are not just free workers, but also enjoy better conditions. Hammond in the speech also states that slavery although abolished would always exist. He said that their slaves are hired and given proper wages and incentives while the in the South, they are hired by the day and not even taken proper care of; which is also the reason that they are seen begging on the streets.
Frederick Douglass (1852) asks about the importance of America's Independence Day for the Negroes. Despite the…
Bibliography
Cartwright. (1967). "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race." Africans in America. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106t.html
Douglass, F. (1852). What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Teaching American History. Retrieved from: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/
Fitzhugh, G. (1970). "The Universal Law of Slavery," by George Fitzhugh. Africans in America. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3141t.html
Hammond, H. (1858). "The 'Mudsill' Theory," by James Henry Hammond. Africans in America. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439t.html
History.com. (n.d.). Slavery in America. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery
Louis R., (1963). The American Anti-Slavery Society. The Abolitionists, p. 78. Retrieved from: http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/democrac/18.htm
Slavery pattern in North America took a funny trend since initially the blacks had some social positions and had a voice in the running of the community. This however later changed and the North also started to own slaves at a higher rate. There are several factors that led to this change in events in the north that made it to fancy slavery just as much as the South was
The kind of work a slave did depended on where he/she ended up. In the Chesapeake region, for instance, Africans cut and burned brush, split rails, and built fences with axes and hatchets. They cut down trees and squared logs. They were wheelwrights, carpenters, shingle cutters, boat builders, cabinetmakers, and barrel makers. They built wagons, worked as blacksmiths, made saddles and harnesses. In South Carolina they built dugout canoes
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However, because it was so uncommon, it was a big deal. Wheatley was accused of "acting white'" (Gates), according to Gates, and this accusation was along the same vein as "getting straight A's, or even visiting the Smithsonian" (Gates), Gates reports. The irony is palpable and Gates puts it succinctly when he says, "we have moved from a situation where Phillis Wheatley's acts of literacy could be used to
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Social Justice and Theology Black Liberation theology offers a much needed critic of classical theology, and the various ways in which it favors, and even fosters the racially oppressive behavior and attitudes that many white people have towards marginalized people. However, while Black Liberation has adequately pushed back against the issue of white supremacy, it has done so without giving a sufficient attention to the issue of patriarchy, which has an