I would not compare slaves to people who were under an oppressive regime. I
doubt that these people were shipped in from thousands of miles away to
labor on plantations. Besides that there are the writings of slaves who
escaped, such as one of my ancestors, Josiah Henson, who wrote narrative
about his life as a slave. He wrote that narrative from Canada where he was
living the life of a free man, after being a slave in Maryland. Instead of
quoting the WPA narratives, maybe you should read the writings of slaves who
were able to escape.
Anita
>From: "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Madison's slaves (and black descendants?)
>Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:22:47 -0400
>
>Melinda's is the most insightful comment I have yet read about this, and I
>speak from considerable direct personal experience. From 1981 to 1993 I
>went to what is now the former Soviet Union so often I maintained an
>apartment there, and have made perhaps a dosen trips subsequently. I had
>stumbled across the WPA archives during the course of research to write
>John Warner's 1976 bicentennial address (he was the head of the
>commission) and been very struck by their nostalgic tone in so many
>instances. Having grown up in the civil rights movement, and having been
>arrested a number of times in the south for nonviolent demonstrations, at
>the time I could not reconcile the discongruity. But, almost 15 years
>later, I saw its mirror, in the people of Russia and East Germany, and it
>gave me insight into the slave narratives. Time and again I would talk to
> Russians, and East Germans and, somewhere during the conversation, they
>would compare their post-Communist world unfavorably to their present
>"free" state. This was particularly true if they had lost status, or been
>cast adrift to an uncertain day-to-day existence.
>
>The cold truth is that many, perhaps even most, people want, above all
>else, a stable life style, with enough food, a place to sleep, steady work
>to do, and a social fabric in which they play a recognized role. History
>abounds in examples of this truth, even though it is very hard for many of
>us today to swallow, not least because it seems so politically incorrect.
>But there it is.
>
>-- Stephan
>
>
>
>
>
>Stephan A. Schwartz
>Email:
>[log in to unmask]
>Personal Website:
>www.stephanaschwartz.com
>Schwartzreport:
>www.schwartzreport.net
>Explore Schwartzreport:
> www.explorejournal.com
>Schwartzreport Annual Conference:
>www.schwartzreportconference.com
>
>
>
>
>On 12 Jun 2007, at 08:07, Melinda Skinner wrote:
>
>>On reading some of the WPA narratives of former slaves who recalled their
>>enslaved lives fondly, I thought of the people in the Soviet Union who,
>>after its break-up and the end of the communist regime, were devastated
>>and wanted to go back to the way things had been. It was difficult for
>>some of them to know how to live within the new "freedom." Surely, it
>>would be hard to adjust to being responsible for everything after living
>>your entire life as the property/ward of the master/state. If your
>>master had not been cruel, it may not have seemed so bad when you looked
>>back with the perspective of trying to make it in a difficult, racist
>>world.
>>
>>--
>>Melinda C. P. Skinner
>>Richmond, VA
>>
>>
>> -------------- Original message ----------------------
>>From: Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Kevin, thank you for your reply. For me, George Washington remains the
>>>exemplar, the maximum leader. The more you study him, in almost any
>>>aspect,
>>>the more you have to admire him. In researching Washington as an
>>>emancipator, I was astonished to find how deeply biographers and
>>>historians
>>>had buried that aspect of his life and career. It just didn't fit with
>>>the
>>>received wisdom that slavery was "just the accepted system,"
>>>unchallenged, a
>>>venerable practice enshrined in law, sanctioned by the Bible, and
>>>carried
>>>out as much as possible on a humane basis. Washington's views and
>>>actions
>>>don't fit that grid at all--"they don't compute." We like to think that
>>>"they didn't know any better; we can't judge them." But if you look at
>>>what
>>>Washington did and contended against, you find that he was not fighting
>>>against ignorance and indifference, but against profit. The modern
>>>analogy I
>>>use is: getting Thomas Jefferson to give up slavery is like getting Dick
>>>Cheney to quit pumping oil.
>>>
>>>Henry Wiencek
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