4 ms·

What I don't get is what about our perceptions of how slavery worked in the US might not be accurate. Except maybe in negligible ways. I mean, people were born

What I don't get is what about our perceptions of how slavery worked in the US might not be accurate. Except maybe in negligible ways. I mean, people were born into slavery. They could be given freedom. But they typically had no way to earn it. What am I missing? What you are missing is that the sadistic behavior seen in Django Unchained was uncommon. Slaves were expensive. People don't usually destroy a $40k Lexus for entertainment - they usually take good care of their expensive capital investments, and they treat their own car far better than a rental. In fact, slaves were often treated comparably or better than freeman laborers. Here is a modern treatment: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/JLE-1977.pdf http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/JLE-1977.pdf Or you can read a contemporary treatment, from a northern unitarian abolitionist who visited the south: http://www.authorama.com/full/pdf/A-Southside-View-of-Slavery--Nehemiah-Adams.pdf http://www.authorama.com/full/pdf/A-Southside-View-of-Slaver... Note: none of what I've said here should remotely be interpreted as a defense of slavery. Just an acknowledgement that my modern mental picture of American slavery is likely not that accurate.

Spooky23 10y ago
You've fell into a trap. That's a narrative that was pushed by the slave proponents and has lived on in many circles. it has a veneer of reasonableness that sounds very logical. That argument was used to both justify slavery and to ensure that the people on the second to last rung on the ladder (the Irish) hated the blacks and would failure to see their common ground. In fact people abuse their cars and slaveowners abused slaves. Both by ignoring human needs, committing acts of brutality, including rape, beating and execution. Following your car analogy, slaves were also leased out, and their renters treated them like rental cars -- even worse. Like every business decision, chattel life had ROI. Eventually old milking cows are sent off to slaughter. In the case of chattel slavery, read about the Caribbean slave economy, you'll read of high "turnover" among slaves in the sugarcane. I'll assure you they weren't going to school and getting better slave gigs -- "turnover" was mostly from death. There are good, first person accounts of this world. Read them. The first link is from interviews with former slaves in the 1930s. The second is the tale of a slave auction and the third is the related, very readable acccount of the wife of a plantation owner. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/narratives-slavery/file.html http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/n... The Weeping Time https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-weeping-time/374159/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-wee... Fanny Kemble diaries: https://archive.org/details/journalofresidenceongeorgianplantation_1311_librivox https://archive.org/details/journalofresidenceongeorgianplan...
watwut 10y ago
However, if $40k Lexus attempts to flee or disrespect owner multiple times, owner will happily throw away the car or in case of slave violently punish him or her. The "cared about them well due to cost" narrative conveniently ignores situations where ability to be violent toward "property" matters the most.
- lgas 10y ago
  Especially if it would help keep the other Lexuses in line.

Spooky23 10y ago

You've fell into a trap. That's a narrative that was pushed by the slave proponents and has lived on in many circles. it has a veneer of reasonableness that sounds very logical. That argument was used to both justify slavery and to ensure that the people on the second to last rung on the ladder (the Irish) hated the blacks and would failure to see their common ground. In fact people abuse their cars and slaveowners abused slaves. Both by ignoring human needs, committing acts of brutality, including rape, beating and execution. Following your car analogy, slaves were also leased out, and their renters treated them like rental cars -- even worse. Like every business decision, chattel life had ROI. Eventually old milking cows are sent off to slaughter. In the case of chattel slavery, read about the Caribbean slave economy, you'll read of high "turnover" among slaves in the sugarcane. I'll assure you they weren't going to school and getting better slave gigs -- "turnover" was mostly from death. There are good, first person accounts of this world. Read them. The first link is from interviews with former slaves in the 1930s. The second is the tale of a slave auction and the third is the related, very readable acccount of the wife of a plantation owner. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/narratives-slavery/file.html http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/n... The Weeping Time https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-weeping-time/374159/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-wee... Fanny Kemble diaries: https://archive.org/details/journalofresidenceongeorgianplantation_1311_librivox https://archive.org/details/journalofresidenceongeorgianplan...

watwut 10y ago

However, if $40k Lexus attempts to flee or disrespect owner multiple times, owner will happily throw away the car or in case of slave violently punish him or her. The "cared about them well due to cost" narrative conveniently ignores situations where ability to be violent toward "property" matters the most.

lgas 10y ago
Especially if it would help keep the other Lexuses in line.