Difference between revisions of "426--Week 6 Questions/Comments--Thursday"
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It seems to me that there was a little bit of irony in this chapter. It discusses at the beginning of the chapter that although the state of Virginia demanded that death sentence be placed on a slave who murdered a white or black male or female. Rothman then goes on to state that Virginia communities did not always agree with that sort of punishment without all the evidence and particular circumstances considered. After reading the cases of the chapter, it appears to me that the majority of cases went straight to the death penalty, especially in Manuel's case. Therefore, the argument should be that a male slave who acted alone in murdering a white male, regardless of the crime the white male committed, the black slave would be on a one way street to the gallows. --Joe C. | It seems to me that there was a little bit of irony in this chapter. It discusses at the beginning of the chapter that although the state of Virginia demanded that death sentence be placed on a slave who murdered a white or black male or female. Rothman then goes on to state that Virginia communities did not always agree with that sort of punishment without all the evidence and particular circumstances considered. After reading the cases of the chapter, it appears to me that the majority of cases went straight to the death penalty, especially in Manuel's case. Therefore, the argument should be that a male slave who acted alone in murdering a white male, regardless of the crime the white male committed, the black slave would be on a one way street to the gallows. --Joe C. | ||
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| + | Rothman certainly had more sources for this chapter and made his points well. The cases were fascinating but I was frankly shocked by some of the circumstances (Ben, the wife and Gooding come to mind). And actually, I have to disagree with Joe. While some slaves such as Manuel and Henry were hanged, many were acquitted or the sentence was lessened to "transportation." I was really surprised by this. This chapter exposed many facets of white&black relations that are not usually taught. I had no idea the extent to which whites tried and often succeeded in intervening on the behalf of slaves. Even the fact that some slaves had attorneys and their cases were brought into courts surprised me. After reading this chapter, I felt that slave women had one choice in life: between rape or death.--Amanda | ||
== Chapter 5 == | == Chapter 5 == | ||
