Additional materials, such as the best quotations, synonyms and word definitions to make your writing easier are also offered here. Douglass quickly learns caulking under Walter Price and soon earns the highest possible wage. You'll also receive an email with the link. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Previous. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Interpersonal behavior revolves around the dominant-submissive axes: "One form of behavior tends to elicit its complement: dominance leads to submission and vice versa. Written by Hellen Boss. Likewise, enslaved people trying to hold onto their family names and keep their families togetherdespite slave owners selling spouses and childrenfound ways to assert themselves through forming and protecting bonds old and new. To the uninformed observer, it would appear a positive thing that slave owners grant a holiday to their slaves. Wed love to have you back! Jacob falls in love with his master's daughter, Wanda, but his Jewish beliefs prevent him from taking a pagan woman for a wife. Generally, the public, or persuasivesections of the Narrative generally either disprove pro-slavery arguments, present antislavery arguments, or disabuse readers of misinformation or misinterpretation about the practices of slave owners. [53], Historians criticized Blassingame for dismissing the WPA slave interviews and relying solely on fugitive slave narratives. 34-page comprehensive study guide; Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis; The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions; Access Full Guide Download Save. Blassingame stated that, "Most whites felt that the 'natural' traits of Negro character were so deeply ingrained that they were immutable." It seems, that the most outstanding tradition that was mentioned was the spirituals. Singer was born in 1902 and died in 1991. 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. Historians criticized the use of slave narratives that were seen as unreliable and biased. When Richmond slave owner John Graves passes away, his slaves are put up for sale. Panelists included Mary Frances Berry, Herbert Gutman, Leslie Howard Owens, George Rawick, Earl Thorpe, and Eugene Genovese. "[13], Blassingame notes that many of the folk tales told by slaves have been traced by African scholars to Ghana, Senegal, and Mauritania to peoples such as the Ewe, Wolof, Hausa, Temne, Ashanti, and Igbo. He begins to despair. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Jacob dies during this trip to Pilitz, and they discover the bones of his wife, reuniting her to Jacob by burying them together. "[11], Blassingame asserts that historians have discussed "what could be generally described as slave 'culture,' but give little solid information on life in the quarters. GradeSaver, 6 August 2022 Web. History and African sections. 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. on 50-99 accounts. To install StudyMoose App tap "[44], Blassingame builds on the historiography of Phillips, Stampp, and Elkins, but he acknowledges the influence of Charles S. Sydnor's Slavery in Mississippi (1933), Orville W. Taylor's Negro Slavery in Arkansas (1958), Eugene D. Genovese's The Political Economy of Slavery (1961), and Ann J. The irony with which Douglass writes of American human rights in theory and in practice also seems present in the Narratives subtitle, An American Slave. However, enslaved people often played into their masters expectations to protect themselves and each other from punishment, hiding their genuine emotions and frequently reject[ing] the arguments (305) of their own racial inferiority. By encouraging them to spend the holiday riotously drunk, slaveholders ensure that freedom comes to seem unappealing. The Slave is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Polish-American author Isaac Bashevis Singer. Music, songs, and dances were similar to those performed or played in Africa. This guide covers the 1979 Oxford University Press edition. Continue to start your free trial. [6] Scholars also ignored the 2,300 interviews conducted with former slaves in the late 1930s by the WPA Federal Writers' Project. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% 'Numbers' and 'accuracy' are not two interchangeable words: Statistical truths are no more self-evident than literary ones. [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? Jacob has been sold to the pagans as a slave, but he still practices devout Judaism. "[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. In a review in the William and Mary Quarterly, George Mullin is especially critical of Blassingame's use of psychology, stating that Blassingame "reduc[es] slave behavior and culture to a question of roles and psychological characteristics". From Douglass's fight with Covey to the end of Chapter X. According to Blassingame, these periodicals printed slave interviews, letters, and autobiographies, but "gave even more coverage to white Southerners than to slaves and frequently reprinted articles, letters, and proceedings from a large number of Southern newspapers". Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Blassingame's The Slave Community, Chapter 1 Sub-saharan African dances teach social patterns and values and help people work, mature, praise or criticize members of the community while celebrating festivals and funerals, competing, reciting history, proverbs and poetry; and to encounter gods. Douglass recalls that he loved them and that they operated together as a single community. According to this theory, "a person's behavior is generally determined by the socially defined roles or the behavioral patterns expected of him in certain situations. Ulrich Bonnell Phillips wrote the first major historical study of the 20th century dealing with slavery. [35], In The Slave Community, Blassingame uses psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan's interpersonal theory to interpret the behavior of slaves on antebellum plantations. 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. Therefore, Blassingame concludes: Like most personal documents, the autobiography provides a window to the larger world. For example, Douglasss first escape attempt involves several people and fails, whereas he presents his successful escape as the act of an individual. She calls The Slave Community "a classic" but remarks that "Blassingame stressed the fact that many masters recognized the male as the head of the family. Dont have an account? He asserts that by concentrating on the slaveowner, historians have presented a distorted view of plantation life that "strips the slave of any meaningful and distinctive culture, family life, religion, or manhood." Then Auld suddenly changes his mind and sends Douglass back to Baltimore with Hugh Auld. Subscribe now. In fact, statistical analyses rely so heavily on inferences that one must carefully examine the data bases to evaluate the conclusions based on them. Thanks Writer Lyla you are indeed awesome . He decides to return, and he takes her as his wife. SparkNotes PLUS As a result, they had to give up many aspects of their culture because they didnt have the time to practice them because of the time spent working and being watched. Douglasss experience under Freeland is also positive because he develops a social network of fellow slaves that during this time. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. [3], Phillips's interpretation of slavery was challenged by Kenneth M. Stampp in The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South (1956) and Stanley M. Elkins in Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (1958). 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. 20% In practice, plantation owners and managers understood that enslaved people had diverse personalities and had to be controlled using methods beyond brutal coercion. An editor Plantation Life In The Antebellum South Summary. Overall, the portrait Blassingame provides is one of nuance. [22], Children observed fathers demonstrating two behavioral types. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. One day, four white apprentices attack Douglass at the shipyard and nearly destroy his left eye. "[68], After the 1976 Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History meeting and the publication of Revisiting Blassingame's The Slave Community in 1978, Blassingame produced a revised and enlarged edition of The Slave Community in 1979. "[17] Blassingame asserts that the most significant instance revolved around Protestant Christianity (primarily Baptist and Methodist churches): "The number of blacks who received religious instruction in antebellum white churches is significant because the church was the only institution other than the plantation which played a major role in acculturating the slave. He points to his dissatisfaction with Freeland in a pun on Freelands name. will review the submission and either publish your submission or providefeedback. [61], Since its publication in 1972 and revision in 1979, The Slave Community has influenced subsequent historiographical works on slavery in the United States. Historians argued that Blassingame's use of psychological theory proved unhelpful in his interpretation. The men are placed in jail. Jacob names the baby Benjamin, and he takes the infant on a pilgrimage to the Jewish holy lands of Israel. You can help us out by revising, improving and updating The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South is a book written by American historian John W. Blassingame. Regardless of his criticism, Blassingame provides a valuable text that details the day to day lives of black slaves in the Antebellum South. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. The two girls begin to grow apart. Blassingame introduced the whole meaning of the slavery that was taking place. When four of Gardners white apprentices attack Douglass, Douglass enjoys neither the right to defend himself nor the right see his attackers punished for their crime. [63] In Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South (1978), Albert J. Raboteau comments, "We should speak of the 'invisibility' of slave religion with irony: it is the neglect of slave sources by historians which has been the main cause of this invisibility." He wrote The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South in order to give a voice to the slaves rather than a voice through slave owners. Have a pleasant . Word soon spreads, and Douglass surreptitiously begins to hold a Sabbath school in the cabin of a free black. "Reevaluating the Antebellum Slave Community: A Comparative Perspective". Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. There was, however, little discussion of the reciprocal activities of slave women." These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer. He chaired African American Studies for most of the 1980's. He is the writer of New Perspectives on Black Studies ( 1971 ) . The book explores African Americans' search for freedom in slave rebellions, everyday resistance to slavery, the abolitionist movement, Reconstruction politics, post-emancipation labor struggles, the great migration, military service, civil rights activism, and the black power movement. In chapter one of the slave community book, the author initiates the chapter with a poem by Robert Hayden that's basically telling the horrors of the middle passage, the trips the Africans took to the Americas. Kilson criticized The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South by saying that it lacks a clear analytical perspective (Kilson, 1132). The dry bones of historical analysis, statistics acquire life when filtered through the accounts left by eyewitnesses. "[36], Another psychological theory used by Blassingame is role theory. [31] Blassingame concludes that the Sambo and Nat stereotypes "were real." At the school Spartacus learns how to fight as a gladiator. Students looking for free, top-notch essay and term paper samples on various topics. Blassingame, John W. (1972). 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. Instead of equating Freeland with free land, Douglass uses the pun to point out that belonging to Freeland is not as good a guarantee as living on free land.. However, though Freeland is a good model for a slave owner, Douglass remains clear that slaveholding in any form is still unjust. On the way, Douglass and the others speak together, agreeing to destroy their written passes and admit nothing. The escape party consists of Douglass, Henry and John Harris, Henry Bailey, and Charles Roberts. Can you re-state your question? Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? The third chapter discusses the distinct cultures of the slaves and their self preservation. [55] According to George Rawick, "We desperately need work that depicts and analyzes the lives of black women under slavery. Kolchin, Peter. Douglass points out that their decision was far more difficult than that of Patrick Henry, whose choice between death and an oppressed lifeGive me liberty or give me deathwas merely rhetorical. 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! Paul A. David, Herbert G. Gutman, Richard Sutch, For a summary of changes in the revised edition, see Gary B Mills, review of, Blassingame, "Appendix III: Statistics on Slaves and Slavery: Observations and Tables", in, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 17501925, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery, Southern Spaces: An interdisciplinary journal about the regions, places, and cultures of the American South, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Slave_Community&oldid=1131004461. See the difference for yourself. Douglass's first year with Freeland passes smoothly. Read more about slaveholding as a perversion of Christianity. Sullivan claims that "significant others", persons with the most power to reward and punish individual behavior, were primarily responsible for determining behavior. 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