Slaves often used the notion of paternalism to their advantage, finding opportunities within this system to engage in acts of resistance and win a degree of freedom and autonomy. For example, some slaves played into their masters' racism by hiding their intelligence and feigning childishness and ignorance.
Slaves often used the notion of paternalism to their advantage, finding opportunities within this system to engage in acts of resistance and win a degree of freedom and autonomy. For example, some slaves played into their masters' racism by hiding their intelligence and feigning childishness and ignorance.
The paternalistic view of slavery argued that it was the responsibility of the masters to care for the slaves, to provide them protection, guidance, and attention. Masters saw themselves as kind and it disguised the brutality of slavery as a rehabilitation or improvement to slave's lives.
Middle Passage: The voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and the Caribbean. Second Middle Passage: The forced migration of slaves from the upper south to the lower south of the United States.
As late as 1800 most slaves in the U.S. had not been converted to Christianity. In the years that followed, however, widespread Protestant Evangelicalism, emphasizing individual freedom and direct communication with God, brought about the first large-scale conversion of enslaved men and women. African-American Church.
to earn profitsThe main economic goal for large plantation owners was to earn profits. Such plantations had fixed costs – regular expenses such as housing and feeding workers and maintaining cotton gins and other equipment.
How did most white Southerners view the practice of slavery? They saw slavery as a "positive good" for enslaved workers.
Why did southern whites who did not even own slaves support the system of slavery? They still benefited from the social advantage of having a class of people beneath them. Southerners had always used religion as a means of defending slavery.
Why did slaves complain to their masters about the treatment they received from overseers? They believed this would drive a wedge between the master and the overseer.
Most contemporary historians estimate that between 9.4 and 12.6 million Africans embarked for the New World. Disease and starvation due to the length of the passage were the main contributors to the death toll with amoebic dysentery and scurvy causing the majority of deaths.
There were numerous restrictions to enforce social control: slaves could not be away from their owner's premises without permission; they could not assemble unless a white person was present; they could not own firearms; they could not be taught to read or write, nor could they transmit or possess “inflammatory” ...
roughly 80 daysThe Middle Passage itself lasted roughly 80 days on ships ranging from small schooners to massive, purpose-built "slave ships." Ship crews packed humans together on or below decks without space to sit up or move around.
How did slaves manipulate planters' emphasis on paternalism? Slaves sometimes negotiated concessions like small garden plots. What did southern men need in order to achieve high social standing and success in the world of politics?
In what way was the South a paternalistic society during the days of slavery? Slave owners believed they helped enslaved people by providing food, shelter, and clothing while relieving them of responsibility. During the Industrial Revolution in the American South, about a quarter of Southerners had enslaved workers.
Planter Paternalism consisted of the belief that slavery was for the good of the blacks, not simply the benefit of the whites. (Introducing them to salvation through religion.
Southern paternalism reinforced racism and class exploitation as it empowered slaves to alter the society. Genovese exhaustively studies how paternalism and the pattern of accommodation and resistance that it shaped influenced subjects such as black families, children, religion, burials, and labor.