Humanities Homework Help

Post your initial response to Part 1 and reply to at least 2 posts. Then post an initial response to Part 2 and reply to at least 2 posts

Part 1

View the power point, “Slavery and the Antislavery Movement” and listen to/read the lecture.  Try to incorporate material from the lecture and your own research into the discussion. 

Imagine you are a slave in Virginia in 1830. You are a skilled artisan whose work the master appreciates.  Although you are well treated, on a regular basis you see field hands and other workers being beaten and abused.  Recently the family of one of your fellow slaves has been sold into the lower South, and he is emotionally devastated and depressed.  You learn that he has joined a plot to kill the master’s family and launch a violent revolution to end slavery.  Would you:

1. Join the revolutionary movement?

2. Pretend you know nothing about the scheme and just try to ignore it?

3. Tell the master, save his family, and reap considerable rewards for stopping the plot, perhaps even personal freedom?

Explain your answer.

PART 1:  POST 1

First of all, slavery was one of the worst thing humans could do to another, and then you add racism to it, and it became THE worst thing. 

Because I don’t know really what it was like in this  slave household, I can only make assumptions. 

1. Join the revolutionary movement?

No – I am a slave that is an artisan and I understand the value that I hold to my master. I have hope that I could maybe be part of a bigger movement that could make a difference, but I need to be alive to see that happen. 

I would try to reason with the slave and explain my reasons and that he should try to stay alive and work toward a larger movement. If he is caught and hung, he’s of no value to his family. 

POST 2 :

This reminds me of the Nat Turner story because Mr. Turner of one of a kind in terms of his intellect and  gift. Even as we think about the different jobs the slaves had it was like a pyramid system having different level of work from in home work which was fairly decent to field jobs which could be brutal.   With that said if I were to learn someone was going to kill the master’s family  I would pretend to know nothing about the scheme. I am sure if I put myself in their shoes I definitely wouldn’t want to be a slave and if that was the word the plantation so be it. I technically would have anything to do with it and it’s none of my business.  

Part 2

The essential question to consider in both parts of this discussion is whether violence is necessary to end an injustice such as slavery. (Consider Turner’s Rebellion and John Brown’s Raid, for example)

Now let’s look at the issue of slavery from a different perspective. Slaves would have had trouble addressing the wrong of slavery from their position of total oppression, So now let’s consider the obligation of those in the dominant society, who have not themselves been subjected to abuse or oppression. They would have far less at stake but also far more power and more to lose.

Imagine you are a non-slave owning white who has no direct stake in slavery, although you realize that you benefit indirectly from the wealth that it generates. You have seen the cruelty of the system and disapprove of it. You know the slave master in this scenario to be an especially cruel man, who routinely separates families, rapes slave women, delights in delivering sadistic punishments, and kills any who resist his cruelty. In your community, the law condones his behavior or at least does nothing to moderate it. You learn about the planned revolt. Do you:

1. have an obligation to your white community to report the plot and stop the rebellion?
2. ignore the rebellion since it has nothing to do with you?
3. aid the slaves in their battle against injustice? How specifically would you go about doing this?

Part 2 Post 1:

Part Two – My choice would be 3 – aid against injustice, however based on my situation it would be in the dark. A white man in this time period in the south could possibly be killed for helping those of color. Even though I disagree with the occurrences, I still profit off the trade. I cannot lose my fortune based on assisting those in need. Yes my fortune may suffer for the loss of the labor but at least it wouldn’t be because I was killed. I would’ve like to been apart of the Underground Railroad or similar, it was helping those in need escape through passage to get to a better future while in the dark of night so that during the day no one could tell what secrets where hidden underneath some lands.

Part 2 Post 2:

Part 2: As a white man in the United States of America, where I know for a fact that the country is the land of the free, but only for me. I would personally take no pride in being white, any obligation further felt wouldn’t have any ties to positive community values such as preservation of culture but rather to support tyranny, is that truly the essence of cultural communities? This rebellion in my eyes wouldn’t be a rebellion but rather a cry for help. I would absolutely aid the slaves against the injustice, one white man wouldn’t flip all white opinions. However, in a sea of doubt, uncertainty sand a lack of support from society, the black community would atleast have some hope from seeing that atleast one white person sparks hope for coexistence and equality and the basic practice of fundamental human rights, I would do anything to be that small but first step in the right side of history, which is never worth any worldly posssion or profit from slavery like money and crop.

Part 2 will provide later when first one is done.