Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 10:26:23 -0500
From: David Herr <d-herr@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Discussion Question - Slavery and Social Practices
Recent discussion about slave marriages prompted this discussion
topic.
Herbert Gutman, in the context of discussing the development of
the slave family before the spread of paternalist ideology,
emphasized the importance of tracing "the long and painful
process by which Africans became Afro-Americans, a process that
included the development of slave standards and rules of
conduct."
Herbert G. Gutman, _THE BLACK FAMILY IN SLAVERY AND FREEDOM,
1750-1925_, (New York: Pantheon, 1976) , 316
Willie Lee Rose stressed important priorities for students of
slavery. She argued that any issue involving slavery should
include three guidelines: a concern for change over time and
sensitivity to particularity and place.
Willie Lee Rose, _SLAVERY AND FREEDOM_, ed. William Freehling
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1982)
What evidence is there that suggests in the nineteenth century
South social practices indigenous to places other than America
primarily influenced any significant segment of slave families?
What about earlier periods?
What are the most recent articles and books examining slave life
and slave families?
Can we accept the idea that slaves born in America developed
social systems bound to their immediate condition with little if
any reference to social systems in Africa or the Caribbean? Why
or why not?
What other questions should we ask about these ideas?