The first way that I saw how slavery was an encompassing system that structured American social and economic relationships was in 1613 when the first shipment of tobacco was sent to London. The tobacco economy was rapidly rising and therefore the need for labor was increasing in Virginia. Though labor was needed the English did not want to use many African servants because of the negative images they had about them. English portrayed black color as “dark and deadly” “wicked” and infused with the Devil. The English choose to use white indentured servants from England, Germany and Ireland. The indentured servants were mostly white but there were blacks who also worked side by side with the whites in the tobacco fields. Some of the English servants were running away with and sleeping with the black servants. This caused the Virginia legislation to establish new laws. Africans were receiving more harsh punishment than the white indentured servant which in the end defined Africans as slaves.
All people were implicated in this woven tapestry of slavery. There were slaves all throughout the Americas North and South. The South had become a more prominent area for slaves because of the exporting of cotton. This seemed to be an important part of an economic transformation in America. America was relying on the slaves and indentured servants for the growth and riches of the economy. This marked the importance of international trade in the Americas which today is still an important part of our economic system.
The Civil War was an important part of ending slavery. The black man wanted to join the white man and end slavery. It was interesting to see that even after the Civil War, slaves were considered freedmen, but still had to struggle to make ends meet. The free white man was not just going to hand over his land to the black man because slavery had ended. They made the black man work and pay off his debts to own his crops. It became a vicious cycle where it seemed that even though the black man was considered free he was still bound to slavery because he could never pay off his debt. It was not until years later, during the “New South” era that the industrial market started to boom. Blacks were now an important part of industrial labor. To the white man slavery seemed to have ended but, to the black man slavery, segregation, and discrimination was still in full force. In most states the black man was still unable to vote and was still not able to ride the same trains or be educated like the whites.
I think that religion plays a big part in social control in our lives today. It has formed some of our laws today. Look at gay marriage. States are still trying to fight to allow or not allow people of the same sex to marry. Religion has controlled what people say is right and wrong. With this social control comes continued segregation and discrimination against people and their beliefs. Will this viscious cycle ever end?
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You stated that the Africans were considered slaves because they got harsher punishment, but I thought it was also because they started not working off their indenture and were working for free mostly and inturn being treated worse in every way possible by the "masters?"
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Civil War was a huge part in ending slavery. While reading I couldn't help but be disgusted with the fact that no matter how hard the slaves worked to gain their freedom it still took soo long for them to even get the slightest bit of respect. Still then they couldn't afford to buy land, and were'nt even allowed to use the same bathroom as the whites!
I also agree that religion is taking major leading roles in peoples lives, where it shouldn't be. I consider myself a fairly religious person, but I do not agree with trying to push it upon everyone especially through the government!
I actually would say that blacks became slaves because of the white's selfish desire for more land and money, but that they used the harsher punishments and everything else in order to keep them in their place so that they wouldn't realize what freedom they truely deserve. In the end we know that they do realize that as blacks they are human as well and deserve every liberty that the whites had. This is what led to the civil war. I am also completely disgusted with the face that blacks had to fight so hard for liberties they should have been enjoying right beside of us the entire time.
ReplyDeleteAgain with the religion, I completely agree with you both. Everyone is allowed to have their own opionion and faith and we shouldn't be judged for it, but this doesn't mean that it should be pushed upon us.
Religion may be to blame for allot of injustices but it also deserves allot of credit. Sadly religion is rearely recognized for the great things religion provides our society. It is true that an atheist family can be quality contributers to society but the 'fear' and love of a higher being or beings is a great tool of teaching the right way to live.
ReplyDeleteTo answer if this cycle will ever end I might have to take the depressing point of view on this one and say no. The only way for debate on ethical issues to end is for one side of the arguement to stop caring. Humans have passions and beleifs and those rarely change and are usualy passed down generation to generation. Currently gay marriage is the new women's right, or slavery or any other past injustice of our country that at the time was a major debate but eventually society will become accepting of the issue and look back and realize how wrong banning gay marriage is. So the cycle will continue but it seems to have worked so far. I'll be it very slowly.
I guess I didn't put all that together at first. We wanted more land and needed more people to work on it, and slaves were the free route. Which led to the need for harsher punishments-gotya.
ReplyDeleteI think religion being brought into every single part ofour lives is a little overbearing. Seperation of church and state! Where has that gone!?
I really like how you discussed slavery's impact on the economy. This is the reason i feel that slavery was so huge during this time of our history. Without it the economy would have be completely different.
ReplyDeleteWhen you talked about the Civil War i completely agreed with you on you comments about the african americans impact. For these people to join the fight against the oppression that they were under was one of the reasons the north won. The one thing that always comes to mind when I think about this is that the slaves fought on both side. I mean if you had to put yourself in the shoes of a slave fighting for the south against your will, how awful that must of been.
Although you focused on the effect the segregation and degradation had on African American's, it effected all minorities of America. The Irish were at first considered on the same level as the blacks, but they used the color of their skin to identify with and assimilate with the hegemonic class. Also, to prove their identity as a higher class, they would further degrade the black class, causing even more resentment and suffering.
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