Mid-Term Essays
Hello,
Listed below are the directions, guide lines, essays that need to be completed and the resource links. Attached are study guides, PowerPointes, the exam essays and the rubric.
Directions: Answer 2 essay questions, one from each section below -2.3 pages per essay – approximately 5 pages total -All essays should be in a single MS Word document, attached/uploaded to the assignment prompt.
Support every part of each essay answer with course resources; construct each essay with a descriptive/unique title, introduction, body, and conclusion; proof read your writing for accuracy, clarity, grammar, plagiarism, etc.
Part 1: Essay #1 – Describe/explain today’s state (condition) of African America in terms of the disparities (compared to the white population) in the areas of employment, health, incarceration, wealth and politics/power. Did the slavery experience contribute to these disparities between Blacks and whites; how so or how not so? Despite the disparities, what do you see as specific current strengths (Hip-hop, elected officials, Black live matters movement, etc.) of the African American community and how do these strengths specifically work to relieve the relatively poor state/condition of African America?
Resources for #1:
Study Guide – State of AA’s
PPT – State of AA’s
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/22/5-facts-about-blacks-in-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/24/key-facts-about-black-immigrants-in-the-u-s/
Part 2 Essay #6 – Consider/review U.S. enslavement holocaust as a four part/characteristic system. What are at least 2 examples of enslavement, characterized/described as: forced, legal, resisted and contradictory? Concerning the many ways in which the enslaved resisted bondage, what is at least one example of the following forms of resistance: day-to-day, cultural, escape, and revolt, and how effective, in your opinion, were these forms of resistance?
Resources for #6:
PPT’s – enslavement system
Study Guide – antebellum blacks;
F & H chapters: 5 thru 8;
https://faculty.mccneb.edu/HPearson/HIST%201050.html
If you have any questions, email and I will responded in a timely manner.
Thanks
Exam Rubric
Study Guide: The State/Condition/Status of African America HIS 1110 Dr. G. J. Giddings
In order to appreciate the importance of history as a tool we can use to help us better understand
present issues, let us explore the present state or condition of African America (AA) first before reaching
back into the past to find some sources of what ails African America today. Before we explore the AA
condition, we should first consider its current demographics: size, boundaries, location, diversity, etc.
We have already explored how history surrounds us – the significance of WU and CSU. We have also
analyzed some of Jay-Z’s work to learn how make Afrocentric or culture-based analysis of African
American issues and history.
To understand important aspects of the current state/condition of African America (1980s-present)
explore these resources: Black Demographics website and PEW Research Center reports. (You may also
consult our optional textbook, From Slavery to Freedom, 9th Edition, chapters 22 and 23.)
Most of us are very familiar is the modern Civil Rights movement (1950s-1970s) the goal of which was to
bring an end to racist discrimination and socio-economic inequalities/disparities through the
accomplishment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet, over 50 years later
African Americans still face many socio-economic and health disparities, compared to the whites and
others in the U.S. population.
I use the word “African America” to suggest that in some ways it seems that there is an African America
and a white America when it comes to many socio-economic realities. Indeed, African Americans are
only approximately 14% of the U.S. population, yet their overall socio-economic conditions are
disproportionately wretched, bearing an oversized or disproportionate share of Americas’ miseries such
as high incarceration, high HIV-AIDS contraction, high morbidity, high mortality, low life expectancy, etc.
Your goal here is to identify some of these disparities and their cause or reasons.
Now, the state/condition of African America is not all bad news, because African American culture/s and
communities have definite strengths and achievements. Let’s explore some of these disparities, the
reasons for same, as well as the diversity, strengths and solutions within the African America.
After exploring the current negative state of African America and some of the reasons, but also the
strengths of African America, you should wonder what can earlier history tell us about both the
challenges and the strengths.
Select Resources:
Current Black Demographics: https://blackdemographics.com/
5 Facts about Blacks in the U.S. today: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2018/02/22/5-facts-about-blacks-in-the-u-s/
Black immigrants to the U.S.: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/24/key-
facts-about-black-immigrants-in-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/22/5-facts-about-blacks-in-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/22/5-facts-about-blacks-in-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/24/key-facts-about-black-immigrants-in-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/24/key-facts-about-black-immigrants-in-the-u-s/
State of
African-America
Dr. G. J. Giddings
State of African-America?
History informs
Why Hip-hop?
Why do you live in Chicago, etc. …?
What is African-America?
Size?
Location?
Boundaries?
Characteristics?
Diversity?
Conditions/State
African-America (AA) – Size?
AA – Location?
SOUTHERN U.S.?
NORTHERN U.S.?
A-A – Location?
SOUTHERN U.S. …
NORTHERN U.S. …
56%
44%
A-A – Location?
Urban (Suburban)?
Or
Rural?
…
…
A-A – Location?
North …
South …
90% urban
10% rural
70% urban
30% rural
Atlanta, Houston, Richmond, Orlando, (DC?)
AA – Most Populous?
Detroit
New York
Chicago
Atlanta
Jackson
Raleigh
AA – Most Populous?
New York …
Chicago …
2 million
1.6 million
AA – Blackest City?
Philadelphia
New York
Detroit
Jackson
Chicago …
AA – Blackest
Detroit, 84%
Jackson, 80%
“Philly”, 42%
“Chi”, 33%
“Big Apple”, 25%
AA – Growth & Diversity
DIASPORA…
Globally
1.30-2 billion/7
10% from diaspora
Africa – 98% HS
Caribbean
>economically
Immigration Acts
Diversity Lottery
1965 &’90
AA – Higher Education Brand
Historically
Black
Colleges/
Universities
AA – Higher Education Brand
Historically
Black
Colleges/
Universities
106
3%
16%
State/Condition of AA
HEALTH
Morbidity & Mortality
Cancer, 34%
HIV/Aids (2005), 50%, 61% Black women
Shortest Life expectancy: 74 y. vs. 78 y.
4% of American doctors …
State/Condition of AA
Incarceration
47% of U.S. prisoners
40% 17-27 years old …
US Prison growth
200, 000 – 1970
2,250,000 – 2006
State/Condition of AA
ECONOMICS
Median income 1970-1990
whites – $34.4K to $36.9K
Blacks – $21.1K to $21.4K
Unemployment: 1965-1990 (F&H, 584)
2018: 3.4 vs. 6.1
State/Condition of AA
EDUCATION
72% HS graduation rate
45% urban HS drop out rate
25% Black males, Special Education
College Graduates
88.3% v. 86.2 Employment rate
State/Condition of AA
POLICE BRUTALITY
R. King, 1991; A. Louima, A. Diallo, Tupac/Biggie Smalls; Jena 6; Trayvon Martin (2012), … Michael Brown (2014), Eric Garner (2014), Tamir Rice (2014), John Crawford (2014), Freddie Gray (2015), Sandra Bland (2015), et al.
State of African America
POLITICS/Protest
Elected Officials: 1,469 (1970); 6,056 (1985)
Conservative: Pres. Reagan, Bush, Bush, Trump, T. Scott
Progressive/Democrat:
Pres. Clinton;
Obama,
Senators: K. Harris, C. Booker; T. Scott
Reparations … Million Man March, Great Migrations; emigration; Trans-Africa; “Vote or Die”; C. Kaepernick
Mid-Term Exam
Joseph Sigmon
Dr. Giddings
HIS 1110-02
March 5, 2020
Africanisms: Are They Part of Present or Just the Past
It’s Giddings’s belief that Jay-Z’s work and particularly his lyrics can aid in illustrating African Cultural characteristics. These characteristics are innate to African Americans since, throughout most of U.S history, African Americans were not allowed to integrate into European American culture through practices such as slavery and segregation. Since Jay-Z is arguably one of the most accomplished hip-hop emcees’, his musical works are known world-wide, providing a framework for examining and understanding the value and contribution of hip-hop towards African American cultural core values.
Giddings has talked of the 4 Africanisms: oral, spiritual, and communal and matrifold that is seen in the work of Jay-Z. To start with, oral value is seen as prevalent in African American culture. This preference for oral communicative forms has a broad axiological expression in hip hop music (Katz, M. (2017). In the culture, the African Americans as discussed by Giddings are the emcee skills by Jay-Z as well as his professional insistence on freestyle rap something that illustrates the oral tradition. Live concerts are some of the venues where oral tradition is experienced. Giddings has provided evidence of the oral tradition by giving an example of the marimba Ani.
The hip hop artists can read the mood and the impulse of the crowd and with this; they can engage the audience throughout the entire concert. Jay-Z is said to have previously violated the MTV broadcast in the name of getting connected with his audience as the audience was singing his lyrics with him. Jay-Z’s lyrics are the hip hop’s aesthetic core. He has a good poetic replete combined with his masterful humor and irony showing that he is a true character of the oral tradition. The African oral tradition demands honesty, sincerity and authenticity (Meyers, 2017). Jay –Z has proved to show these values.
The second on is the communal core values, which he dictates much of these instances of being able to break through the veil that inhibits optimal engagement between him as an emcee and his audience (Xu, & Zhang, 2019). He is a man who investigates the pervasiveness of the African communal values. Giddings, for instance, says that in one of his albums, Jay –z admitted to dumping down to the audience for optimal profits. Jay Z also embraces the role of an emcee as a street representative and he drugs and poverty plagues taking on flawed educational systems such as in the verse where he says that” school made me sick, teachers said I was too crazy”. In another, he indicates the component of the communal value by collaborating with the other artists in the music industry despite him having made it in music showing commitment to an extended self. He builds community awareness through his rap.
Thirdly, when it comes to the spiritual core, Jay-Z uses the tradition of personifying something evident in the Africans spiritual value of recognizing reality as a composite both tangible and elusive. For instance, in his song Lucifer, jay has reflected the African American tradition. In the song, he says that “lord forgive him he got them dark forces in him but also got a righteous cause for sinning” (Giddings, 2011). Giddings has successfully shown the spiritual value regarding how Jay-Z has used the African American culture by talking of Lucifer used as a metaphor referring to the devil.
Lastly, the matrifocal principle which alludes to women appreciation in the unique, indispensable and complementary role that they play in the relationships, the family, the community and the society, in general, is seen in his music. The song cry as Giddings has cited proved this point. He fantasies about the romantic conquest of all women from various races. The value of women is seen in his rap from them being primary care providers, primary educators, husbandry among others.
Giddings arguments connect with F&H text chapter 1 in that both of them have shown how Africans inherit, negotiate, innovates and perpetuates African culture in different areas across generations. Similarly, the American culture in the two shows the importance of the community and the culture in Africa. For instance, F&H text follows ancestral Africa and their tradition just like Giddings is talking about the culture of the African Americans through Jay-Z.
References
Giddings, G. J. (2011). The authentic cultural agent. Jay-Z: Essays on hip hop’s philosopher king, 39-51.Retrieved from:
https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Y6ZUnXUvpQYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA39&dq=Giddings%27+Afrocentric+Jay-Z:+Africanisms+in+Black+Culture&ots=Nu6XM0dG9p&sig=7W9TaOm_O0mbXTOhMRFP4VHFDRc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Giddings’%20Afrocentric%20Jay-Z%3A%20Africanisms%20in%20Black%20Culture&f=false
Katz, M. (2017). The Case for Hip-Hop Diplomacy. American Music Review, 47(2).Retrieved from:
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/aca_centers_hitchcock/AMR_46-2_Katz
Meyers, M. A. (2017). Art, Education, and African American Culture: Albert Barnes and the Science of Philanthropy. Routledge.rtrieved rom:
Xu, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2019). The African American Culture Expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Retrieved from:
https://webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/ART2L/CLLA%202019/CLLA077
Enslavement System
Dr. G. J. Giddings
Characteristics
forced,
resisted,
Codified/legal,
Contradictory …
(Evolving/evolutionary)
(indentured servitude; post-bellum …)
Key Concepts (M. Karenga, 1980)
Culture
collective, self-conscious means by which a people (re-)create, celebrate and introduce themselves to the world.
History
struggle and record of a people … humanizing the world, i.e., shaping it in their own image …
Forced … Chattel slavery
4
Forced … by the numbers
Capitalism
12.5 (10.7)million
U.S.: 388,000;
Brazil: 5 million
~90% enslaved
50% enslaved, plantations
88% enslavers, owned <20
25% of enslaved, lived on plantations of >50
~52% of free, Southern
“Slave Community”
Enslavers; overseers; head-slaves (house, field, freshwater, creoles.
Forced …by the numbers
Legal…
Mass Bay Colony, 1641 “Slave Code”
244 years enslaved; 155 years free
Virginia Code, 1670
Child followed mother’s status
U.S. Constitution, 1787
3/5 compromise clause
End of slave trade clause (1808)
“fugitive slave” clause
Fugitive Slave law of 1793
South Carolina, 1822
Black sailors imprisoned while ships were docked
After Denmark Vesey revolt conspiracy
Death penalty
73 death penalty laws: for crimes of arson, rape, revolts …
Resisted …
Day-to-day
Small daily acts of defiance
Cultural
Remaining one’s self; holding on to African traditions …
(“Sankofa” by Haile Gerima)
Escape
1810-’50: 100,000
Revolutionary War: 30, 000 in Virginia; 75% enslaved in Georgia
War of 1812(-1815) Blacks
(Alan Taylor’s The Internal Enemy: Slavery & War in VA, 1772-1832)
Revolt
1/10 mutinied (i.e., Amistad, 1839)
Gabriel P., 1800; D. Vesey, 1822; N. Turner, 1831
Creole Case, 1841: Revolt; British freed 128 in Bahamas
Contradictory …
Crispus Attucks, 1723-1770
“Boston Massacre” martyr, 1790
Phillis Wheatley, 1753-1784
poet …
“Brains & Beauty as well as Brawn”
Rice cultivation in South Carolina; metallurgists; carpenters …
Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings’ relationship;
“Internal enemy” (A. Taylor)
Ethnology
Polygenesis theory of human development
“One drop rule”
5,000 Black Revolutionary War veterans
Emigration
American Colonization Society, 1816
Segregation started at Puberty
Contradictory …
Crispus Attucks 1723-1770
Narragansett mother
1750 Advertisement
Boston Massacre,
1770
5 casualties
“Blackness” …
“Normative behavioral system; a way of looking at the world, deciding how one aught to behave, and then acting accordingly”
-Rhett Jones (1997)
3 ingredients
Slavery experience
Lack of ethnicity
One drop rule
AntebellumBlack Status, Problems & Solutions HIS 1110 Dr. G. J. Giddings
Enslaved Southerners
The overwhelming majority (88-92%) of antebellum Blacks were enslaved, but a growing
percentage (8-12%) were free individuals. So there were more enslaved southerners than
any other group in many parts of the region, and up to 1865 Blacks in general were the
majority population in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana! This majority helped them
to resist bondage, using various tactics (escape, revolt, cultural and day-to-day). Despite
being in bondage many Blacks did not give in. They faced challenges head on, and
sometimes they even thrived. For example, in the War of 1812, many Blacks ran away and
helped the British beat the Americans! In Charleston, South Carolina there were more
enslaved Black carpenters (an important and lucrative profession, and Denmark Vesey being
one) than free (white or Black) carpenters! When he was enslaved the famous abolitionist
Frederick Douglass was a skilled ship caulker, hired-out by his enslavers in Baltimore. And
enslaved Africans from the Senegambia region of West Africa, know for rice cultivation,
were essential to South Carolina’s rice industry.
Enslaved Blacks were often separated from loved ones, who were sometimes sold away to
neighboring or distant plantations and therefore they visited each other, often at night. As
such, many created back trails in the Virginia terrain unfamiliar to whites. In fact, Blacks
offered this knowledge/intelligence to the British in the War of 1812 against Americans.
(Alan Taylor argued that this made whites view Blacks and an “internal enemy”!) Many
enslaved Blacks took advantage also of this war situation and escaped with the British, just
as others had done earlier during the Revolutionary War 2 decades earlier. The famous
leader of the most successful slave revolt, Nat Turner, had actually ran away from slavery in
South Hampton, VA but then returned on his own to be with his community where he was
known as a “prophet” and eventually organized 70 Blacks to resist slavery by armed
rebellion, which killed 58 whites.
Free Southerners
Of the 10 percent of antebellum Blacks who were free, approximately 51% lived the South,
not surprisingly because that’s where most Blacks lived. Blacks became free persons in
various ways – escape, purchase, manumission by enslaver, manumission by state law
(north), etc. John Parker of Virginia payed $1,800.00 for his freedom in New Orleans, then
moved to Ohio. Once liberated, Blacks mostly stayed within their community to be
connected to family and if possible sometimes purchased the freedom of their kinfolks. The
famous Denmark Vesey too purchased his freedom with funds he won in a lottery, but could
not purchase his wife and kids from their enslavers, who refused to sell. 60% “freedmen” in
Charleston, SC held skilled jobs such as masonry and carpentry.
Unfortunately, Blacks had to carry with them “freedom papers” to prove their free status. In
fact, some free labor states such as Ohio required Blacks moving there, to register their
“freedom papers” with local county officials! However, many Blacks did not migrate out of
the south, but chose instead to stay in the south because of family, community, weather,
etc.
Free Northerners
Approximately 49% of free Blacks resided in northern free states, typically in cities, which
offered a variety of economic opportunities. Elite Blacks in New York City owned “$1.4
million worth of taxable real estate and held $600,000 in savings banks.” (F&H, page 170).
But that wealth was concentrated among a very small number of elite free Blacks. As a
matter of fact, most antebellum Blacks in northern cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and
New York worked in service industries such as barbers, servants, washers, shoe
repair/cobblers, etc. Only 20% of “freedmen” in Boston, MA held skilled jobs (carpenter,
etc.) compared to 60% in Charleston, SC. In fact, when John Melvin purchased his freedom
in VA and moved to Ohio no one would hire him as a skilled carpenter that he was, and thus
he had to work/serve as cook on lake ships.
Some successful free northern Black leaders included abolitionist David Walker (a North
Carolina native), wealthy ship sail maker James Forten (who employed Blacks and white),
Richard Allen (founder of the AME church in Philadelphia). Underground railroad conductor
John Parker who purchased his freedom for $1,800.00 migrated to Cincinnati, and settled in
Ripley, Ohio the perfect location for helping Blacks run-aways from the south to freedom in
the north and Canada. Eight northern states eventually abolished slavery from 1777 to 1804
(New Jersey being the last). Some well-known enslaved northerners (Bostonians) were poet
Phyllis Wheatley and American revolutionary martyr Crispus Attucks (who had run away
from slavery in 1750).
Emigration?
Antebellum Blacks all over the U.S. had to deal with, and counter/challenge, the pseudo-
science of ethnology which created/concocted mythical theories that the Black body, mind,
culture and heritage were inferior to that of whites and argued that the races should be
separated at all cost.
One solution to the challenges of being Black in antebellum U.S. was the emigration
movement, which encouraged and helped interested Blacks to move out of the U.S. Many
Blacks of all statuses played a role in the Underground Railroad, and although escaping all
the way to Canada was the surest way to avoid the “fugitive slave” laws, most opted to stay
in the U.S. (north and south) to fight for full freedom and citizenship.
If you were a free Black in antebellum U.S., would you emigrate out of the U.S., and go to
Canada, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Liberia, etc.; why or why not?
Listed below are discussion questions and my post as it relates to the essay questions that must be answered correctly.
Questions:
-From the U.S. Census data, etc., what is unique or surprising about the African American (AA) demographics: population size/percentage, locations, etc.?
-What is at least one disparity between AAs and whites in each of the following 4 categories:
A) economics (employment, wealth, education, etc.)
B) politics/power (elected officials, voting, incarceration, … )
C) health (cardio-vascular diseases, food deserts, HIV/AIDS …)
D) perception/views of racism/disparities?
-Why do you think these disparities exist/persist today, even 60 years after the modern Civil Rights movement’s achievements and in the era where a “Black” person was elected President of the U.S.?
-Despite the disparities (as outlined in the resources), what are any 2 specific strengths/resources of AA communities (culturally, politically, educationally, etc.)?
-What is your US congressional district number; who represents you in the U.S. Congress from that district; and who are your 2 U.S. Senators from your state? (If you are not a U.S. resident, use Wilberforce your congressional area and Ohio as your state)
-What wonderments/questions remain in your mind after engaging the required resources (what aspect/s of this subject was not addressed by the resources provided)? (mandatory!)
My Post:
What surprised me most is that the population of African Americans is only 14.6% and then that’s percentage is broken down into different categories. Those categories being only black, black w/ another race combination and only black non-Hispanic and then when it’s broken down like this the population for African Americans that are only black is 13/4%. I found it odd that the population of AA’s was greater in the Northeast than in the Midwest considering that you have some heavily populated cities with AA’s in the Midwest like Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis.
A. Economics – When looking at the chart for black educational attainment for black males under 25, I fall in that 7% because I have an associate degree. What surprised me most about this chart was that 5% more males obtained a high school diploma than females. Could this be that parents were pushing the male child more or we just finally woke up and wanted to do better.
B. Politics/Power – Voting is something I think people of all races take for granted and people have died for us to have this right. When AA’s turn out to vote, it’s generally in our best interest because a candidate has promised new legislation that’s good for us or we want to elect the first AA as president. This was the case in 1964 and 2008 when the Civil Rights Act was signed into law and Barack Obama was elected president.
C. Health – When you look at the life expectancy data for AA men and white men in 2016, white men are expected to live at least 7 years longer. I think this is due to lifestyle that AA’s live. AA’s have a history of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease that runs in the family and this mainly have to do with what we eat and the lack of exercise. So, we are predisposed before it happens to us, but we know it’s coming but I feel if we just exercise more and make smarter food decisions, we should be fine and live long healthy lives. My great granddad turned 90 years old last Sunday and he got there by making those adjustments that I mentioned.
D. Racism will always be a big problem among AA’s, and nothing can change that, but you have some AA’s that think differently, and race relations have gotten better. In the article “5 facts about black’s in the U.S.”, eight out of ten agree but who are those two people that say this is not a problem, Ben Carson and CSU alum Omarosa Manigault. If you have white people saying racism has gotten worse, it must be true and finally they see it from our perspective.
I think these disparities exist/persist because we need to figure out a way to help ourselves first by opening grocery stores, clinics and other types of businesses and stop looking for the government to save us and our community. The neighborhood can’t survive with a diner, the barbershop and the beauty salon to save it or wait for gentrification to happen. The people in the community must change these disparities by talking with activist, council members and other community leaders for this to happen.
The 2 strengths are the increase number of AA’s completing high school and the decreasing of the wealth gap among low-income black and white families. When talking about AA’s getting high school diplomas as a strength is great because that says that education is more valued now than what it was in the past. I say this because back in the day people didn’t finish school specially the male child in the family. They were the ones that had to get jobs or work in the fields to help the family out. With the wealth gap decreasing among low-income black and white families, shows that we are making strides in getting jobs that pay a decent wage and we are holding on to them. I think this is possibly due in part to those AA’s getting high diplomas that the gap is closing.
The question is, why do we as AA’s complain about what’s being done to us by the government and we don’t voting? I feel you shouldn’t say anything if you’re not participating in the process that your elders died for.
Questions:
-What is at least one example of slavery in the U.S. as a system that is:
A) legal (U.S. Constitution, slave codes, etc.)
B) forced
C) resisted (revolts, day-to-day, cultural, escape)
D) contradictory?
-What was at least one problem/challenge each of being an antebellum Black free northerner, free southerner and enslaved southerner?
-What was one example of a strength/achievement/advantage/blessing of being an antebellum Black free northerner, free southerners and enslaved southerners?
-Given the pros and cons of each antebellum Black status, which would you prefer the most; which the least and why so?
-Concerning the emigration movement, do you think it was a good solution for antebellum Blacks; would you have wanted to or considered emigration out of the U.S. if you were an antebellum Black?
My Post:
Massachusetts Bay Colony is an example of legal slavery and it was the first legal slave holding colony in New England. Chattel slavery is a type of forced slavery that is called traditional slavery and is defined has an enslaved person who is owned forever and whose children and children’s children are automatically enslaved. These slaves are treated as property, to be bought and sold and this was supported the US and Europe in the 16th through the 18th centuries. Escape is an example of resisted slavery and this was usually done at night, so that they wouldn’t be seen leaving their masters land for freedom. 5,000 Black Revolutionary War veterans is an example of contradictory slavery because if I fight for you in your war, I could possibly be free at the end and with no pay.
A challenge for a free southerner was that they always that they had to carry their freedom papers with them, to prove they were free. A challenge for free northerner was that even though you had skills as a carpenter, you were only going to be hired as a cook. A challenge for the enslaved southerner was that they were often separated from their family because they or them were being sold away to neighboring or distant plantations.
The advantage for the free southerner was that 60% of the “freemen” in Charleston, SC held skilled jobs such as masonry and carpentry. An achievement for free northerners was that the Black Elite in New York City owned $1.4 million in taxable real estate. The enslaved southerners had the strength to create back trails in Virginia unfamiliar to whites.
I would not want to be an enslaved southerner because you don’t know if you are going to be sold off and moved away from your family and you have no say, in how your life will go. I would prefer to be a free northerner because no one in the north is asking me to show my “freedom papers”
Yes, it was a good solution for those antebellum blacks that were just tired of fighting and just wanted to live life free of status. Yes, it would have crossed my mind to move to Canada but I’m down for the cause, to fight for freedom for all.