Mon, 2 Jul 2007 13:58:57 -0400
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[log in to unmask] wrote:
> I continue to hypothesize that Black Africans were conditioned for slavery
> by their culture in Africa inasmuch as slavery was an accepted possibility for
> all Black Africans prior to the first one ever coming to the American
> colonies. Otherwise, how can you account for so many
> strong and able men and women submitting passively for the most part to such a
> terrible conditions and for so many generations?
>
> Arguably, today's US welfare system is nothing more than a continuation of
> the manifestations of that conditioning.
>
> I can't see myself or any of my ancestors living in that manner. Perhaps
> that's the reason they bravely sought freedom in the new world and made America
> the greatest, and most humanitarian, country in the history of mankind.
>
>
>
Indeed, African notions about slavery could have shaped the expectations
and behavior of those transported to the Americas. But by the 1820s or
1830s, the vast majority of slaves in the US had been born here, not in
Africa and had been forging a new culture that was African American.
Among the components of that culture was a vigorous embrace of
evangelical Christianity, which (some thought) offered rewards in an
afterlife to those believers who suffered harsh treatment in this life.
(Maybe this was part of the "conditioning" mentioned by J. South...?)
Naturally, one must show respect for one's own ancestors. It is both
inspiring and comforting to suppose they (if Europeans) were brave
freedom seekers who would not have tolerated being enslaved. Just who
was threatening to enslave them on these shores is not obvious. But, for
the sake of argument, let's grant that they would not have allowed
anyone to enslave them. That was a kind of conditioning too, I
guess--the kind that made them uncomfortable with the thought of
becoming anyone's slaves but quite content with being or supporting
slave owners. Slavery itself was a massive welfare system... for the
owners, not the slaves (just ask yourselves who was supported without
having to work). For many generations, it diligently channeled the
wealth created by the poorest laborers to the richest "dependents" in
the South. A very special kind of freedom it was, this gargantuan tax on
the unfree.
Doug Deal
History/SUNY Oswego
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