Difference between revisions of "328 2010--Week 2 Questions/Comments"
From McClurken Wiki
| Line 80: | Line 80: | ||
The idea of collective responsibility is very interesting. That it takes a whole family sometimes including fictive kin to survive. The idea that when one makes a decision it effects the whole family especially including political decisions. '''Did the importance of community and family stem from the fact that they had been divided in slavery?''' --Mhimes | The idea of collective responsibility is very interesting. That it takes a whole family sometimes including fictive kin to survive. The idea that when one makes a decision it effects the whole family especially including political decisions. '''Did the importance of community and family stem from the fact that they had been divided in slavery?''' --Mhimes | ||
| − | Family stemmed from two things, in my opinion. Firstly, a large portion of family unity came from being divided in slavery. Secondly, after slavery, African Americans had no one to turn to, no one to gain sympathy from, and no one to support them in their actions or their decisions. The family was a unique place where African Americans could be united and create stronger, unbreakable bonds. | + | Family stemmed from two things, in my opinion. Firstly, a large portion of family unity came from being divided in slavery. Secondly, after slavery, African Americans had no one to turn to, no one to gain sympathy from, and no one to support them in their actions or their decisions. The family was a unique place where African Americans could be united and create stronger, unbreakable bonds.--MDvorak |
I found it really striking that African American women worked so hard to ensure that the men in their lives voted, and voted Republican. And that it was a family vote, not a man's vote on behalf of his family says a lot about the system of community many seemed to operate under. In answer to Mhimes, I would say that yes, a lot of the importance of family probably stemmed from generations of families being torn apart. Now that these individuals could house their families under one roof a strong desire to do everything they could to protect that family meant weighing every decision, including of course the political ones, carefully. '''And slaves, out of necessity, had long built families out of unrelated community members so I imagine that the same sense of self-preservation felt for blood relatives carried over for the community as a whole.''' The women did not want to see hard won freedom taken away by a lack of awareness and participation. And, as the author points out, some of the women's involvement was even to ensure the physical safety of the voting men. -Mary Ann | I found it really striking that African American women worked so hard to ensure that the men in their lives voted, and voted Republican. And that it was a family vote, not a man's vote on behalf of his family says a lot about the system of community many seemed to operate under. In answer to Mhimes, I would say that yes, a lot of the importance of family probably stemmed from generations of families being torn apart. Now that these individuals could house their families under one roof a strong desire to do everything they could to protect that family meant weighing every decision, including of course the political ones, carefully. '''And slaves, out of necessity, had long built families out of unrelated community members so I imagine that the same sense of self-preservation felt for blood relatives carried over for the community as a whole.''' The women did not want to see hard won freedom taken away by a lack of awareness and participation. And, as the author points out, some of the women's involvement was even to ensure the physical safety of the voting men. -Mary Ann | ||
