Form Of Behavior Control For The Slaves example essay topic

Review on John Blassingame's The Slave Community In John Blassingame's The Slave Community, he shows the life of a slave from the inside working its way out, instead of vice versa. He has a unique way of portraying the life of a slave living from the 1600's to 1800's. He focuses on different aspects of the slave's life and things that influenced the way their life was lived. One of the most important topics discussed in his book was the content of Chapter 2, The Americanization of the Slave and the Africanization of the South. Other topics that he discusses are: acculturation, the slave family, stereotypes, realities, and the personalities of slaves. The book begins with discussing the enslavement process and acculturation.

Blassingame explains how the process of enslavement was very long and painful for the Africans. He makes the connection between the enslavement process and the initial Indian-white relations because the Indians were forced into a form of slavery. Many of the Africans resisted enslavement and showed their resistance by jumping off the boats to drown on their way from Africa to the New World. Those who did not resort to that extreme level of resistance became uncooperative laborers. In the transition process, the religious aspect was made easier because Christianity was somewhat similar to the beliefs that the Africans held.

Blassingame raises a discussion over the sole aspect in which Africans were superior to the Europeans: music. Music, dances, folk tales, magic and language were important to the African culture and Blassingame often mentions them throughout his book. The Africans struggled to hold onto their beliefs and customs because they were battling with the whites over changing their ways. Even the American-born slaves were able to retain their original culture because a certain degree of African cultural forms were maintained. In Chapter 2, Blassingame discusses the many ways that the slaves were Americanized and they many ways that the South was Africanized. Blassingame states that are main determinants in the acculturation of bondsmen were: "the length of their servitude, the parallels between their culture and that of their masters, the role of the masters' governmental and religious leaders in protecting, training, and converting the slaves to their faith, and the treatment and labor of the bondsmen" (49).

He brings up other cultures that are involved in the enslavement process such as white indentured servants, the Arabs and Europeans who served as slaveholders, and women who were ransomed off. He does this to show that the Africans were not the only ethnic group who were forced into slavery, and that the whites were not the only group who were the slaveholders, even though that is how it is most often portrayed. The Africans were forced to learn the language of their masters, adopt many aspects of their culture and to accept their God. Blassingame says that, "the rate of acculturation of the African in the Americas varied with time, place, and numerous other factors" (65). The Catholic Church played a very important role in the Americanization of the slaves because they provided religious instruction for them and they were the closest people for the slaves to look to for support. Ministers emphasized oral instruction, memorization, and singing to Christianize the slaves.

The degree that a slave was allowed to participate in religious instruction depended on how much his master would allow. The South was Africanized in large part because of the idiomatic expressions that they brought from Africa. Also, many Southerners commented on the Africanization of their children by the slaves. Their children began to use the dialect of the slaves and mimic their ways. Blassingame notes that "the acculturation of the African slave in the South proceeded in ways similar to that of bondsmen in other parts of the world" (104). He felt that the black and white cultures were becoming homogeneous.

The next topic that Blassingame focuses on is the culture of the slaves. As a result of the life that the slaves were leading, they created a culture that worked on building self-esteem. The elements that make up the culture were: emotional religion, folk songs and tales, dances and superstitions. A person's values, ideals, behavior and thoughts were influenced by these elements. Blassingame feels that customs served as a form of social control in the living quarters. The slaves relied on folk songs and tales to tell their stories of love, work, floggings, and as a form of expression.

Religion was a way for the slaves to find some hope of freedom and of a better life. The slave's culture helped them to form bonds with each other and to have a feeling of group solidarity. Their culture was what united them and kept them from being completely dependent on their masters and the culture that was forced upon them. The plantations allowed monogamous slave families because of the beliefs of the master. The master encouraged monogamous families because then the threat of being separated if they did not obey would be more meaningful. They used it as a form of behavior control for the slaves.

Blassingame also discusses the yearning of white men and women for black men and women. On the plantation, the master held the final word on marriages between the slaves. The children of slaves were able to participate in the joys of childhood until around the age of ten when they were sent to perform labor. The slave's formed a strong sense of respect and love for their parents. A family was used as an escape from the realities of slavery and was a form of survival. Blassingame briefly discusses the group of slaves that refused to accept the way of life that they were forced to be part of, the runaways and rebels.

He classifies the rebel leaders as "young, literate, married, charismatic men" (221). He also describes running away as "a highly personal act constituting a safety valve for slavery by ridding the institution of "deviants" who could not fit in, a conspiracy or rebellion was a threat to the stability and very existence of plantation slavery" (222). Blassingame also discusses the stereotypes that are used to describe slaves. Many of these stereotypes were caused by literature. He takes a unique approach and uses the characters Jack, Sambo, and Nat to describe the way slaves were stereotyped. He felt that in order to characterize someone, a person must take a look at how well an outsider would be able to fully understand a persons' behavior.

Many white people considered blacks to be "dangerous, insubordinate, bold, evil, restless, turbulent, vengeful, barbarous, and malicious" (231). Blassingame feels that the behavior of the slaves was directly related with the nature of the plantation and the behavior of the masters. The plantation provided a routine for the slave's lives. The domestic slaves had it a bit tougher, even though they received better food and clothing. They were forced to work around the clock with no regular hours and the master was always watching them. On the plantations, the masters choose slave drivers to keep control over the slaves.

As a result of the slave drivers being black, they were put in a difficult situation between being loyal to their master or to their own people. Blassingame often talks about the punishments that the slaves received for running away, not completing their work or not obeying their master. This was one of the worst and unfair parts of the slave life. The final topic that Blassingame discusses is the personality types of the slaves. A slaves' personality was formed by parents, relatives, conjurers, religion and the size of the plantation that he or she worked on. One of the most sought out trait was self-esteem.

Blassingame says that "our sense of self-esteem is heightened or lowered by our perception of the images others have of us" (285). Punishment played a big role in the loss of self-esteem because it forced the slave to completely recognize the fact that the whites had control over their life. Generally speaking, the slaves responded to the master in the same way that the master responded to the slave. If a master treated the slave with some dignity and kindness, then the slave would work harder for the master. Many slaves survived these cruel acts because they had faith of one day obtaining freedom. It was noted that within living quarters, many of the slaves were very generous and respectful of each other.

Many slaves realized that they needed to respect their master and do what they were told to simply in order to survive. Overall, The Slave Community does an excellent job of using primary sources to illustrate how plantation life really was. He is very blunt when trying to portray his point on the harsh life that a slave led. His entire book is based on quotations he has collected on this topic.

He also shows how African-American culture assimilated to general European-American culture over the generations. He does not analyze the situation and give his personal opinion, but instead he allows the reader to form his or her own ideas about the various aspects of the "peculiar institution.".