Difference between revisions of "HIST 131--Week 11 Questions/Comments"
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(→Frederick Law Olmsted, 1861, Cotton Kingdom) |
(→Bennett Barrow’s Plantation Journal, May, 1838) |
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Although the introduction to this piece says that it defines the rules in terms of what the master expected his slaves to do and not do, I can’t help but notice that there really only seems to be things listed that the slaves can NOT do. ~Kristen Lonsdorf | Although the introduction to this piece says that it defines the rules in terms of what the master expected his slaves to do and not do, I can’t help but notice that there really only seems to be things listed that the slaves can NOT do. ~Kristen Lonsdorf | ||
| + | Even though I’m sure Bennet Barrow claimed that his rules were expressions of his concerns and what not, it seems to me that he is merely trying to maintain control over his slaves. He says “The very security of the plantation requires that a general and uniform control over the people of it should be exercised.” Perhaps he is trying to make himself feel better by twisting it to sound like he is concerned about security. But in my opinion, many slave masters desired a constant sense of control. Having hundreds of slaves I’m sure induced a stressful lifestyle, so continuous power and rules probably had to be of utmost importance I would think. In this aspect, it makes sense why a sense of control was so important. But I think, as a psychology major, it goes deeper than that. I think that many slave holders genuinely knew that what they were doing was wrong, and that they incessantly tried to justify their actions through distortion and denial…(in this case, Bennet Barrow claiming that he has to make up rules because he is “worried” about the safety of his slaves). ~Megan Tisdelle~ | ||
== Nat Turner – from ''Confessions of Nat Turner'', 1831 == | == Nat Turner – from ''Confessions of Nat Turner'', 1831 == | ||
