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History of slavery in america
African Americans and slavery
The plight of black slaves in america
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As Professor Tolson explains the shocking story of Willie Lynch, he explains that the actions of Willie Lynch were “diabolical” meaning pure or extremely evil. Mr. Tolson used that term to describe Mr. Lynch and other slave owner’s method, because only someone of their nature could think of these ways to undermine and degrade the working mind of their slaves. Willie Lynch used his methods to gain and have full control over his slaves. His methods were extremely evil, but very tactful. His methods worked because slaves become weak in the mind like Mr. Tolson explained, and eventually the slaves fall victim to learned helplessness. Learned helplessness can be described as a human being experiencing a painful event and is unable to escape or avoid
In the case of a lynching, the violence affects both the lynchman and the lynched. Other times the violence is psychological in nature and it is often indirect. No matter what, it poisons and corrodes everything and everyone, from the environment itself to the very self; the “i” within the environment. And it still does to this day. Jean Toomer’s short story, “Blood Burning Moon” and other works featured in Cane, visualizes depictions of violence through lynching and reveal the innermost madness of the psyche that is the product of racialized violence in the South.
TRANSTION: As a way to control and manipulate the slaves, slave masters used many different methods. One of which was the Willie Lynch theory
I found that, to make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision,and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right, and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.* (315)
Ironically, their journey to the “land of the free” ended with their liberty being stripped from them and their enslavement. The slaves lost their own civilization because of slavery, which led to their lost heritage and history. Their slavery not only subjugated them to the white man, but it also locked their psyche into ego-restriction. Their minds became trapped at a very young age during the original phase of their psychical development. In this stage, their primary narcissism never fully developed, which is what helped to lead to their obsession with approval from the white man. This incessant need for approval led to an impaired development of the psyche. Another key factor in the development of neurosis in the black slave was the lack of education. Because the black man’s primary narcissism never fully developed, due to his lack of a proper education, he attempted to lose his true self and become the white man. America’s early history of slavery led to the obsessional neurosis that the black man had for the white man. Thus the dramatic effect that a civilization can have on the psyche is
...tery breaking apart families. This is how he describes slavery to be such a virus to everything that it touches. Whether you’re White, African American, Hispanic, or Asian h he claims nothing can rid you from the evil that it brings. Such evil leaves the reader wonder if they were even truly religious, leaves you to wonder why someone who believes it is wrong to harm anyone but does so to someone of a different decent. Is taking someone’s freedom and making them suffer
Imagine waking up before the sun rises feeling sore and unrested. You pull yourself together and start your daily duties with just seconds to spare before your master realizes you are late. As you begin your chores you cringe when you hear the crack of a whip followed by a sharp, painful scream from a fellow slave. You quickly distract yourself from wondering if there was a reason for the abuse or if it was "just because". The daily monotonous routine is taking its toll on your body as you stumble and accidentally break your master's tool. Overcome with fear you hide your mistake and continue your job. Hours later, still regretting your error you feel a hard blow to the back of your legs. Turning around you see your master yelling and swearing. You cover your face in shame and fear as you are beat until unable to move and covered in blood. Forced to finish your day's work every move you make is accompanied by agonizing pain. Finally, the day is drawing to a close and you stagger to your "bed". Closing your eyes you can feel your stomach turning in hunger and you pray that God will either give you the strength to continue or allow you to die. You finally doze off in a restless sleep only to wake up and to do it all over again. As awful and unrealistic as that sounds it was a reality for many slaves. Despite being harshly treated many slaves still had a positive and hopeful outlook on life.
Slaves were subject to harsh working conditions, malicious owners, and illegal matters including rape and murder. In many instances, slaves were born into slavery, raised their families in slavery, and died within the captivity of that same slavery. These individuals were not allowed to learn how to read, write, and therefore think for themselves. This is where the true irony begins to come into light. While we have been told our entire lives that education and knowledge is the greatest power available to everyone under the sun, there was a point in time where this concept was used to keep certain people under others. By not allowing the slaves to learn how to read, then they were inevitably not allowing the slaves to form free thoughts. One of my favorite quotes is that of Haruki Murakami, “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, then you can only think what everyone else is thing.” This applied in magnitudes to those who didn’t get to read at all. Not only were these individuals subject to the inability to think outside the box, but for most of these their boxes were based upon the information the slaves owners allowed them to
These mind games helped explain the common actions of slaves as normal human responses under the circumstances. As an example, the slave-breaker, Covey, enacted such cruelty on Douglass that he broke. Douglass wrote, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!” Garrison argued that any race would have become as degraded as the Negro race, had they been subject to slavery. Mental deterioration was a result of slavery, not a preexisting quality of the slave population. Slavery was not a natural condition resulting from a superior and inferior relationship, but the result of a calculated process to break and control
Slavery can devour the mind and lead to extreme action. We know of Nat Turner, whose mind was twisted to the point of believing that the murder of another race would lead to him receiving justice for the inactions against him. Slavery has a way of twisting the mind…Of corrupting the human spirit, or of damaging what might otherwise be a benefit – not a detriment – to society! The very idea of slavery is an impairment of free will. Enslaved people are given no choice over how they want to live. Attempting to escape is tantamount to one’s own destruction. The punishments are gruesome beyond measure, and trial by jury is practically irrelevant to enslaved people. Furthermore, slaves are often punished for crimes as miniscule as looking at their masters improperly. If a slave appears dissatisfied, he must surely have the devil within him…Such are the presumptions made to the expense of enslaved people. We find that the punishments extend far beyond what might normally come to mind with the idea of “cruel or unusual” punishments. We find that some enslaved people have been tied to smoke houses…Before being set back to work, newfound injuries and
The atrocities of slavery know no bounds. Its devices leave lives ruined families pulled apart and countless people dead. Yet many looked away or accepted it as a necessary part of society, even claiming it was beneficial to all. The only way this logic works is if the slaves are seen as less than human, people who cannot be trusted to take care of themselves. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved the consequences of a lifetime of slavery are examined. Paul D and seethe, two former slaves have experienced the worst slavery has to offer. Under their original master, Mr. Garner the slaves were treated like humans. They were encouraged to think for themselves and make their own decisions. However, upon the death of Mr. Garner all of that changes. Under their new master, The Schoolteacher, they are relegated to a position among animals. They are seen as beasts of burden rather than equals. Paul D and the other slaves are stripped of their free will and their manhood. The Schoolteacher treats them as though they were animals without emotions. The schoolteacher is not the only one; he is representative of society in general and its mindset towards African Americans. The system of slavery by nature devalues the lives of slaves and demotes them to a status below humans.
The life of a slave was subservient to the master. They had to obey without question or face punishment. Even if the master was less abusive and demanding, the slave still held resentment, for his life was not his own. For slave owners, the main object was to keep financially valuable slaves alive and working. That was all that mattered. They were items, property and a commodity to be owned or sold for profit. Slave owner’s supplied only the minimum needs for survival, little food was given and often that was not fit to eat. Living conditions were poor such as no beds or bedding. The work was grueling and the hours were long for the slave. They often got very little sleep and they were watched during the day to make sure they were not idle and at night to be sure they didn’t escape. They were dominated by the people that owned them.
“The Passing of Grandison” debunks the stereotypical image of a slave in the 19th Century. The author Charles Chesnutt uses his personal background and ability to pass himself as a white man to tell a very compelling story. Grandison was more than an uneducated farm hand doing his masters bidding. “The Passing of Grandison” provides evidence that while the society of the time thought of slaves as nothing more than property to be bought and abused, slaves could be much more than what was on the surface. In Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” Grandison is a plantation slave in the early 19th Century who through his actions eventaully escapes and aquires his own freedom as well as that of several family members. Most people have been in a situation where they wish they could outsmart or outwit another. Whether it is a peer or a higher-up, many wish they had the ability or courage to get the better of others. Is it possible for a subordinate to really fool their superior and eventually gain what they really wanted in the end? This is accomplished through the actions of an trickster figure. A trickster is a character in literature who attempts to outwit and outmaneuver his or her adversaries. The trickster uses whatever means necessary to reach whatever goals they might desire. , Trudier Harris states, “tricksters achieve their objectives through indirection and mask-wearing, through playing upon the gullibility of their opponents” (Harris, 1). In “The Passing of Grandison”, Chesnutt uses a trickster figure to achieve that one-ups-man ship and plot twists while providing social commentary to present part of his own belief system as it relates to the treatment of slaves in the 19th century. Two characters in “The Passing of Grandis...
...tive on the psychological damages of slavery. White believes “pairing the psychological with the enslaved woman’s means of survival has helped us analyze many patterns that emerged after slavery (10).”
Slaves were not just abused, and tortured in the most horrific ways possible, but they were thought to be the lowest of mankind. Slaves were constantly reminded that their race was not pure, and that they were good at nothing besides labor work. Mental torture was just as bad as physical torture, it made the slave feel worthless to the world. According to S. Plous and Tyron Williams from Wesleyan University they claim “In the 18th and 19th centuries, many prominent whites in Europe and the U.S. regarded black people as mentally inferior, physically and culturally unevolved, and apelike in appearance” This comes to show that
Mr. Auld, a slaveholder, prevented his wife from educating and teaching Douglass to read, stating that slaves should not learn as they could become unmanageable. Douglass explained that what Mr. Auld “loved most, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read” (27). Most apparent in education, Douglass and Mr. Auld obstinately express their beliefs and differences. Douglass utilizes antithesis in order to present the separation between himself and Mr. Auld through the difference in education created by slaveholders. The separation is the slaveholder’s rationale for his mistreatment of the slave. The system of slavery has convinced and manipulated the slaveholder into taking education from their deserving slaves. Slaveholders hold the believe that if slaves are to be educated, they would they would rise in opposition against this society, similar to Douglass. Mr. Hopkins was known to be “less cruel, less profane, and made less noise, than Mr. Severe. His course was characterized by no extraordinary demonstrations of cruelty. He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer” (17). Though he did not enjoy whipping his slaves, Mr. Hopkins continued to do so out of “obligation”. Douglass employs irony in order to present the severity of slaveholders’ cruelty. A regular slaveholder is inhumane and takes pleasure in the torment of his slaves. The severity of their actions are great to an extent such that if a slaveholder whipped without feelings of pleasure, he is considered a good master. Ordinary slaveholders see slaves only as property, and barely acknowledge them as human; this miniscule amount of acknowledgement leads to a desensitized outlook to the harm