"THE SLAVE COMMUNITY" (JOHN BLASINGAME).   Term Paper ID:26504 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reviews 1972 work on slave culture & plantation life in pre-Civil War South.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Reviews 1972 work on slave culture & plantation life in pre-Civil War South. Paper Introduction: The author of The Slave Community: Plantation Life In the Antebellum South (1972), John W. Blassingame, is a prolific scholar whose examination of slavery has continued throughout his career. According to Contemporary Authors Online, Blassingame was born in Georgia in 1940 and pursued his education at Howard University and Yale. He later went on to receive a coveted fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1972. He has worked in numerous capacities to advance the fields of African American Studies and History. His work includes serving as acting chair for the Afro-American History program at Yale, as assistant editor of the Booker T. Washington papers, and as a member of The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. Dr. Blassingame has edited numerous texts in the fields of history of African American Studies and History, and wrote a secon Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Blassingame argues that theloyal 'Sambo' stereotype was an important counter to the murderous 'Nat'stereotype that frightened so many slave owners. Byunderscoring the individuality, independence, and creativity of individualslaves in their response to slavery, Blassingame deflates the commonstereotype of the lazy, docile, and broken 'Sambo' personality type sopromoted by slave owners and perpetuated in popular culture in the centuryafter slavery. These avenues for self-expression boosted morale among slaves andoffered opportunities for slaves to build communities around sharedactivities that were not labor-related or controlled by slave owners(Blassingame, 42). In chapters on acculturation,culture, family, rebellion, stereotypes, realities, and personality,Blassingame examines every facet of slaveÕs lives, and focuses heavily ondeveloping an understanding of the interior and emotional lives of thetypically dehumanized people. In The Slave Community, the slave narrative is reliedupon very heavily and to great effect. Dr. Blassingame himself notes that the traditional study of history(at the time the book was written, in 1972) has not encouraged relianceupon slave narratives as a reliable sources of information about theinstitution of slavery (Blassingame, 231). Showing the faces of those writerswhom Blassingame quotes is an excellent means of humanizing the storiestold and is a vivid testament to their survival. Dr. Blassingame has edited numerous texts inthe fields of history of African American Studies and History, and wrote asecond book, Black New Orleans: 186 -188 , in 1973 (Gale Group, 1-2). Blassingame's The Slave Community is a compelling historical text, buthis thesis is sometimes hard to follow through the chapters that tackle abroad range of topics. Thesurvival and prosperity of the slave owners depended on the hours ofbackbreaking labor performed by slaves. BlassingameÕs exhaustive use ofindividual slave accounts of every aspect of slavery, from the initialdeparture from Africa to escape and rebellion in America is moving andenlightening. The author of The Slave Community: Plantation Life In the AntebellumSouth (1972), John W. Despite that occasional confusion, the power of Blassingame's ideasis not lost. Blassingame, is a prolific scholar whose examinationof slavery has continued throughout his career. His work includes serving as acting chair for theAfro-American History program at Yale, as assistant editor of the Booker T.Washington papers, and as a member of The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. His emphasis on creative expression among slaves, andsubsequent argument that it is evidence that slave-owners were not able todestroy the spirits of slaves is unusual and convincing. The Slave Community: Plantation Life theAntebellum South. Blassingame notes that "Lazy,inefficient, irresponsible, dishonest, childish, stupid Sambo was guaranteeof economic ruin" (Blassingame, 144). Most fascinating is Blassingame's discussion of the important roleplayed by creative expression in the maintenance of self-esteem, culturaltraditions and personal autonomy in enslaved peoples. The comparisons he draws between thetwo, however, are accurate and perhaps jarring to those historians orreaders who had never before considered the emotional horrors of slavery. The authorcasually mentions the lack of attention given to the topic and sources hehas chosen by traditional historians, and then launches a thorough,thoughtful examination of the inner lives of slaves. The Slave Community is written in an objective tone that belies therevolutionary approach to the field undertaken by Blassingame. While the narratives, journals,and letters of plantation owners have long been thought to provide validinformation on slavery, Blassingame suggests that the importantperspectives of slaves on their own experiences has long been ignored inscholarly circles. In The Slave Community, Blassingame's main thesis is that thepersonalities of enslaved African peoples were complex and shaped by manysocial and cultural factors. www.galenet.com. (1999). He later went on to receive acoveted fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1972. Folk tales were used to teach youngsters moral values andsurvival techniques so necessary under the system of slavery, as well asillustrate the possibility of the weak or small (i.e. Blassingame writes that Anglonovelists depicted Sambo stereotypes in order to contradict literaturewritten by abolitionists, and that the white population generally acceptedthe stereotype as it facilitated the dehumanization of slaves and thereforethe defense of slavery (Blassingame, 138-39). He hasworked in numerous capacities to advance the fields of African AmericanStudies and History. Works Cited Blassingame, John W. Another compelling aspect of Blassingame's scholarship is his exposureof the confounding double-think necessary to maintain the 'Sambo' and 'Nat'myths about slave personality and character, and the cultural purposesserved by those stereotypes. Perhaps the most strikingargument against the 'Sambo' stereotype and the belief that slave ownerstruly proscribed to it was the actual labor performed by the slaves. He argues that the maintenance of separateliving quarters, traditional family structures, and a strong spiritualfoundation allowed enslaved Africans and African Americans to maintain adegree of personal autonomy and create meaningful cultural traditions. slave owners) (Blassingame, 57).He acknowledges the obvious emotional release that is found in theactivities of singing spirituals and dancing, but also the veiled way inwhich slaves could voice through specific songs their transgressive desiresfor freedom which they were forbidden to express otherwise (Blassingame,66). The author's use of slave narratives, his expose of the commonemotional and familial trials of slaves, and his understanding of thecomplex and paradoxical nature of the relationships between slaves andslave owners are impressive.Near the end of his study, he brings all of these factors together tocompare the slave experience to that of those imprisoned in concentrationcamps in Nazi Germany in the Twentieth Century. Blassingame adds that if whites really believed the truth of the'Sambo' myth as they claimed, there would be no need for continuedlegislation which limited even the smallest freedoms of such a pathetic and'docile' slave population (Blassingame, 14 ). Blassingame employs a host of illustrations and photographs in hisdiscussion of slavery, as well as graphic physical descriptions of torture,punishment, and emotional anguish experienced by slaves. He writes that thedistinctive cultural forms of creative expression, such as folk tales,singing, and dancing served important and multi-faceted roles in the livesof slaves. slaves) triumphingover the strong or more powerful (i.e. Blassingame argues that the myths of theclownish and docile 'Sambo' and savage and rebellious 'Nat' are sopervasive in Anglo literature and popular culture that even historians haveaccepted them as fact (Blassingame, 135). Theauthor relies heavily upon slave autobiographies, travel narratives, andinterviews with plantation owners in order to analyze the structuralcomponents of slave life in the United States, as well as the psychologicalunderpinnings of the institution of slavery. (1972). The photographsin particular are useful in personalizing the struggles of a people usuallydescribed in numbers and statistics. His consideration ofthe power of emotion and social bonds in the lives of slaves is conveyedin a dispassionate style which suits the field of study while remainingtrue to the interests of those about whom he writes. Dr. Blassigame's text is a modern (1972) examination of theenslavement of native Africans and African Americans in the southern UnitedStates from the mid-Eighteenth Century to the mid-Nineteenth Century. He ultimately concludesthat slave life was probably a bit less obliterating to body and spiritthan that of the prisoners of Nazis. The two incongruousstereotypes were held concurrently and used interchangeably by fearfulwhites. This is true in the chapter "Plantation Realities," whichbegins with a structural examination of slave life and then moves into alengthy discussion of the perspective and responsibilities of the slaveoverseer, without a clear transition between the concepts (Blassingame, 173-183). Occasionally, multiple points are undertaken insingle chapters and the obvious connections between the two are not clearlydistinguishable. New York: Oxford UP, Gale Group, The. Contemporary Authors Online. According to ContemporaryAuthors Online, Blassingame was born in Georgia in 194 and pursued hiseducation at Howard University and Yale. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.