master / slave partnerships in the ante-bellum period
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Master / Slave Partnerships in the Ante-Bellum Period. A New Paradigm of Interpersonal Relationships by: Dennis Kubicki. Slavery was overwhelmingly a brutal and dehumanizing institution. Forced expulsion Deadly passage Family separation Marginal existence Oppressive oversight - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Master / Slave Partnerships in the Ante-Bellum Period
A New Paradigm
of Interpersonal Relationships
by: Dennis Kubicki
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Slavery was overwhelmingly a brutal and dehumanizing institution
Forced expulsion
Deadly passage
Family separation
Marginal existence
Oppressive oversight
Hopelessness
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The institution was diverse in scope
• Plantations– Sugar– Tobacco
• Industry• Mining• Forestry• City Trades• Small Farms
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Small farms were a unique subculture
• 50,000 slaveholders owned 5 or fewer slaves
• One family owned another
• Common labor• Common recreation• Intimate settings
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My thesis
• The intimacy of small farm existence suggests a different interpersonal dynamic
• Daily life for slaves on small farms was more benign than elsewhere
• Master and slaves worked toward common goals…this effort termed a “partnership”
• These partnerships can be characterized by friendship, shared values and affection
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The life of slaves on large plantations was generally harsh
• Long work days
• Primitive housing
• Limited clothing
• Restricted diet
• Uncertain future
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House slaves offer a contrast
• Less grueling labor• Variable housing• More diverse diet• Better clothing• Intimate contact with
the master’s family …leading often to close interpersonal bonds
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Can we interpret the contradiction?
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What made small farms unique?
“Up in our country deh white folks hev no real big plantations like deh has heah. Some of dem has five or six n____s and deh lives and talks wid em and dey treats em most as if dem was dar own chile.”
Frederick Law Olmsted“The Cotton Kingdom”
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Mealtime activities stimulated close relationships
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The experiences of children help explain future partnerships
• Care for infants of both master and slave
• Young children
• Adolescents
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The care of the sick and the aged strengthened relationships
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Social events and religious observances strengthened bonds
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Surplus labor offered mutual benefits to both master and slave
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Excess capital could result in improvement to the lives of both
families
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The American Civil War manifested the master / slave partnership
• 80% of white southerners served in the military
• Slaves underpinned the CSA wartime economy
• Bondsmen contributed to the South’s defenses
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My conclusions
• Institutionalized slavery was omnipresent
• Unique conditions prevailed on small farms
• These conditions led to an intimate and cooperative relationship between master and slave
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My Principal Sources
• Berlin, Ira. Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves.
• Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Ante-Bellum South.
• Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A. Moss. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans.
• Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made.
• Horton, James Oliver, and Horton, Lois E. Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African Americans.
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My Principal Sources
• Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveler’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States.
• Raywick, George P. American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (Database on-line); available from: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html
• Stampp, Kenneth M. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
• Yetman, Norman R. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938. (Database on-line); available from: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html