Difference between revisions of "Week 10 Questions/Comments-327 11"
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(→Thelma Jennings, “Sexual Exploitation of African American Slave Women,” 1990) |
(→Sarah Haynesworth Gayle, “An Alabama Diary,” 1828, 1833) |
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While I agree with you, Rachel, that her diary shows how owner's viewed their slaves as property, I don't think it's a matter of how compassionate a white owner is. I honestly believe that many whites did not see the problem with having slaves, and thought all slaves were property. I think it is more about a question of power. Whites are expected to hold all power, so they must dominate and rule over their slaves. --Catherine K. | While I agree with you, Rachel, that her diary shows how owner's viewed their slaves as property, I don't think it's a matter of how compassionate a white owner is. I honestly believe that many whites did not see the problem with having slaves, and thought all slaves were property. I think it is more about a question of power. Whites are expected to hold all power, so they must dominate and rule over their slaves. --Catherine K. | ||
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| + | I found it interesting that in Sarah Gayle’s diary she referred to her slaves as “servants.” Servant implies compensation for work done, however the “servants” she was referring to were obviously enslaved. Why would she, in a personal diary, refer to her slaves as “servants?” Could she be trying to hide some sort of guilt that she feels over slavery or selling slaves? It would make more sense if she called slaves servants in a public sphere. The fact that it is a private diary (that presumably no one else will read) is problematic. Could it be that her personal guilt is so much that she cannot even admit it to herself? --Hannah W. | ||
== Mary Boykin Chestnut’s diary, 1861 == | == Mary Boykin Chestnut’s diary, 1861 == | ||
