Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2001) attempts to offer an alternative perspective to the history of slavery in the South. Rather than focusing on plantation life or historical accounts of the region, Johnson offers a meticulous study of the legalities of slavery and gives special attention to the marketplace of slavery. Johnson underlines the normalcy of slavery in the eyes of white Southerners and traders. To traders, the slaves were largely commodities or cargo; to the slaveholders they were potential ways to enrich their plantations or make domestic life easier. "My object is to get the most I can from the property...I care but little to whom or how they are sold, whether together or separated," said one owner, regarding breaking up families for the slave trade (Johnson 39).
Walter Johnson is a professor of history and African-American studies at Harvard University. Soul by Soul is his first full-length work. His career has focused upon the history of capitalism, imperialism, and racism in the United States. Johnson's stated intention is to take a fresh perspective on one of the most written-about periods in American history. He is grappling with a question that he feels few have satisfactorily answered, namely how Americans became so comfortable viewing human beings of a different race as chattel.
Johnson uses court records of slave sales as well as personal accounts over the course of his work. He examines the prices of slaves and the deeds of sale to find clues about the mentality of buyers and...
It seems to this reviewer that the practices of the white workers that Roediger describes are not far removed from this. Though they did not own the blacks, they worked to hold them down so that they themselves could be made to feel superior. Roediger may want to call such behavior prepolitical, apparently in the belief that only when class distinctions enter does the relationship become political. However, class and
suck-egg mule!": An Examination of Southern Euphemisms Euphemisms lend languages a colorful and meaningful quality that is not easily achievable otherwise, and all languages share this common linguistic feature to some extent. Although euphemisms provide a useful linguistic shortcut and add flavor to conservations and writing, they are one of the more challenging aspects of learning another language because of their esoteric qualities and subtleties of meaning that defy ready
"I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery," wrote Frederick Douglas as he describes the horrors in which he had to work in slavery. "We were worked in all weathers... work, work, work, the longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him" (Bayliss 57), helping to show what was expected of the slaves. Slaves had to work under horrid conditions as much as possible, and they
religion entered the 18th Century and with it a revival. The growth of the revival was overwhelming.More people attended church than in previous centuries. Churches from all denominations popped up throughout established colonies and cities within the United States. Religious growth also spread throughout England, Wales and Scotland. This was a time referred to as "The Great Awakening" where people like Jarena Lee got her start preaching. Evangelism, the epicenter
Otter and Crocket Crockett considered life as an absolute saga, coupled with the added charisma of undeniable reality and his virtue was that he was willing to devote his life for his loved ones and fellow countrymen. However in spite of his virtues there were also dubious elements involved in Crockett's activities, hence he cannot be considered as a completely virtuous person. Again with regard to William Otter, virtue was in
It will use historical evidence to examine the role of the church is a spiritual entity. It will examine the role of the church as a political entity throughout changing political landscapes. It will explore the role of the church as a social service provider with regards to the importance of this role in helping black people to redeem themselves in light of historical cultural atrocities that they have
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