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Often in histories of slavery, the slaves don't speak. If you want to hear their voices, read "Slave Testimony," edited by John Blassingame. It's stunning in le
by TT3351 6y ago
Often in histories of slavery, the slaves don't speak. If you want to hear their voices, read "Slave Testimony," edited by John Blassingame. It's stunning in length and detail. Not all suffered the same slavery we know today.
This passage is by an enslaved (interviewed by the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission) in Kentucky, 1963, named Charlotte
"I belong to Gen. Thos. Strange. I have two boys. I pay a dollar a week to him, and support myself and children, and pay my house rent. I have been hiring myself for over fifteen years; I get along very well, and keep the hire paid up. You couldn't pay me to live at home, if I could help myself. My master doesn't supply me with anything -- not even a little medicine -- no more than if I didn't belong to him. Each of my children pays him $2.00 a week. They work in tobacconist shops. I support them. One of my boys is thirteen years old and the other seventeen. They get $2 a week pay. If the boys make more than $2 a week a piece I get what is over; if they don't make that, I have to make it good to him. He has got to have it Saturday night, sure. I have not had good health. Sometimes I am ailing, but I always keep up enough to try to make my wages. I have only one room, and pay three dollars a month for it. I live by washing."
- danans 6y ago> Not all suffered the same slavery we know today. What is the "slavery we know today"? Do you mean "American slavery as we understand it today", or "Slavery in the current day"? If the former, then how is the passage you quoted different from our understanding of American slavery? Do you mean to say it was better, worse, or in some other way different?
- alisonkisk 6y agoCharlotte's family weren't the well known field slaves or house slaves. They were tenants, renting their own lives from their legal owner for $2/week.
- bigyikes 6y agoWhat does it even mean to rent from somebody that owns you?
- frEdmbx 6y agoImagine taxation, or inflation of a fiat currency with legal tender laws forcing acceptance.
- Frondo 6y agoIt is extremely offensive to compare chattel slavery with living in a society that requires you to pay taxes.
- frEdmbx 6y ago"Offensive" means nothing today, and I'd suggest you stop allowing yourself and others to waste your time with it. Have you actually compared the two? You'll notice one is far more insidious if you do. Also, don't conveniently leave out the inflation of the world reserve fiat global enslavement system. I know we can always opt to live in the woods, and barter, but you've got to take both into consideration to honestly consider what it is I said.
- TT3351 6y agoSpecifically slavery was more varied than "American slavery as we understand it today." The passage I quoted is different, in that it departs from the traditional model of plantation based, field labor slavery. It is still reprehensible exploitation, of course. It's just important to remember/question how diverse people's experiences actually were.
- jpster 6y agoI’m trying to see something: “Not all suffered the same Holocaust we know today. It’s just important to remember/question how diverse people’s Holocaust experiences actually were.” Maybe it’s just me but these type of statements seem to miss the point. Given the deplorable state of American understanding of slavery, Reconstruction, the state-sanctioned apartheid that only ended a few decades ago, and all its effects that continue to reverberate, I don’t think “a nuanced understanding” of slavery is really what’s called for. The evidence suggests that most Americans never even learned the ABCs of slavery and its effects.
- TT3351 6y agoBecause a proportion of America has been poorly educated, it's inappropriate to interrogate the primary sources slaves left behind? I don't follow. Yeah, obviously we need to fix the appalling state of our Civil War and slavery history in this country.
- jpster 6y agoDoes the account you posted here resemble most of the chronicled experiences you’ve encountered?
- TT3351 6y agoNope! Never said it did. EDIT: Literally just picked a random (that I thought would fit in the space I had--didn't want to go over-long) passage from the Freedman's interviews section of the book.
- 6y ago