TTC Week 10
TTC Week 10
Takaki, Ch.5, “No More Peck o’Corn’: Slavery and Its Discontents”
- Who
- Author is Ronald Takaki and the chapter is from his book A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. He was a professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.
- What
- Scholarly monograph that details the discontent among blacks about slavery
- When
- The book was written in 2008 but the content of the chapter covers the period of slavery
- Where
- The chapter has as its geographical focus continental America especially the southern states
- Why
- The chapter details how blacks in the north were no different to the blacks in southern states. While they were not slaves, they were also not free. Racism was as deep in north as it is in the south. Amidst the discontent, popular figures emerged such as David Walker, Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany. These African-American leaders have differing views on what it is to be black in America. The term Sambo was also discussed and it has ideological relevance for the maintenance of slavery as an institution. Sambo refers to a set of behaviour that includes being happy and satisfied. By showing their slaves as such, slave masters were defended from their moral critics. However, Sambo is only used by blacks to survive. They can exhibit Sambos and yet kill their masters. During the civil war, blacks were no longer Sambos but already individuals willing to wage war for triumphs. A number of African-American leaders supported the Union army such as Delany for the belief that winning the war would give African-Americans the opportunity to gain full citizenship. Despite the sacrifices, however, full citizenship remained elusive even after winning the war.
Reading Notes:
Reading Notes:
- Unlike the Indians, Blacks were not outside of white society’s border
- David Walker: freedom in the northern society is merely a façade of the real caste; whites were the true barbarians
- Slavery could only be destroyed through violence
- 1829, Walker published Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World; considered as seditious
- In 1860, there were 225,000 African-Americans in northern US. While they were “free”, they were frequent targets of racism such as not being accepted in schools
- Leon Litwack: African Americans were only “north of slavery”; everywhere blacks experienced discrimination and segregation
- Discrimination in the right to vote, case of New York
- Perceived intellectual inferiority of blacks, Dr. Samuel Morton findings on the larger skull of whites were used to conclude that whites are intellectually superior (but the skull used was that of someone hanged as a criminal); large head indicates criminal tendency according to Thomas Gos-sett
- White fear that blacks are criminal; threats to racial purity
- The North for blacks was not the promised land; although they were not slaves, they were hardly free
- 1860, around 4 million African-Americans were slaves (35 percent of the population)
- Sambo: childlike, affectionate, lazy and happy
- Relevance: if they could show their critics that slaves are happy and satisfied then they can be defended
- Slavery is to be seen as an act of beneficence for the inferior Blacks
- Slaveholders were terrified of the spectre of slave rebellion
- Some act as Sambo only to survive; slaves are deceitful when it comes to their true personality according to some masters
- Some act as Sambo and then killed their masters
- Slaves became more impatient with their condition
- Frederick Douglass: son of his master
- Hesitance of his master’s brother for him to receive further education despite the support of Sophia Auld
- He was sent to Edward Covey to break his spirit and thoughts
- His experience attracted him to the radical abolitionist John Brown; less confident in the peaceful abolition of slavery
- His hope: a society without racial borders
- Martin Delany: father of black nationalism
- Douglass: Delany thanked God for making him a black man
- Delany: Africa for African race
- Son of a slave father and a free mother
- Harvard Medical School: admission of Delany and two others was conditional; they have to practice in Africa after graduation; their integration would affect the reputation of Harvard
- Presence of black in the classroom was perceived as a distraction by academicians
- Delany called for black emigration to Africa
- Black liberation depended on entrepreneurial success but this is simply not possible in America
- Racism would persists even with the abolition of slavery; the only way to eliminate the effect of race is through amalgamation, which is never possible
- Delany: Blacks should be proud of themselves
- Delany abandoned his dream of emigrating to Africa and volunteered for the Union army
- Blacks thought winning the war is an opportunity to gain full citizenship
- As armed soldiers, the blacks were no longer Sambos
