HIS 3728 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Slave George, Stanley Elkins
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Slavery
Celia-
Robert Newson-going to pick up a slave, 14-year-old named Celia,
He had 5 male slaves and 2 daughters
A daughter had 3 children, abandoned by husband
He raped Celia, his daughters said nothing even when she had a baby and was
pregnant
Newson’s neighbors said nothing
“Any lady is ready to tell who the father of all the mulatto children except her
own”
Celie was in love with another slave George, and didn’t know who the father was
Celia claimed Newson and smashed in his skull, dismembered and burnt his body
Asked the children to come bury the “chicken bones”
Got lawyers who defended her in court, was hung
1.Slavery was a horrible institution 2. Slaves fought back
Historiography-
Traditional School- slaves benefitted, well-treated, happy, not economical
Revisionist School- maltreated victims, horrific conditions, exploited, harsh, profitable
-Stanley Elkins- “Slavery” (Jewish Holocaust and Stockholm Syndrome),
psychological scarring, Sambo complex, not giving up facing inevitable
death
-Worked all day when it was light, and at night if the moon was full
-Slaves sold at least once or twice, broke up families, “till death or
distance do we part”
-Slave cabins bred disease, 4 out of 100 lived to be 60
New Social Historians- horrific and exploitive, slaves built on oppositional culture
Slave Agency- slaves fought back, resisted, two-dimensional society, separate and
secret culture
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