Slave to free- Module 6

Fitzhugh states that The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world (Fitzhug). There is hard evidence that for the majority this is not true. The multiple slave rebellions and attempts at escaping prove that the slaves were not happy, and definitely not free. From Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass he states “I distingutly remember being, even then, most strongly impressed with the idea of being a free man someday. This cheering assurance was an inborn dream of my human nature” (Zinn)Even if they were treated like Fitzhug said; where they work nine hour days, the women do no physical labor, and they get great sleep, they still lack the thing that most would argue haunts every dream a person has. Than they are a slave. One thing that caught me though was the Quote by James Hammond "the poor ye always have with you;"(Hammond). This makes a great argument that weather slave or not, rich white men rule the country. So you could ask whether the slave blacks were better off in terms of eating everyday and having a roof over there head than free blacks would be.

When the blacks gained their freedom, they began asserting there independence of whites, forming their own churches, becoming politically active, strengthening family ties, and trying to educate their children (Zinn). They were trying hard to be truly free, and America was trying hard to keep them as slaves, even if they weren’t legally slaves. There were many things to keep the free black man in fear, like the Philadelphia riots between 1820 and 1859 where riots cost more than 1000 lives by 1860 (Faragher). It wasn’t just Individual whites and small groups, it was all of America joining together to keep the blacks in check. Andrew Jackson’s administration collaborated with the south to keep abolitionist literature out of the mails in the southern states. This seems like the way the government works today with poor minorities, sometimes they try to help, but they try harder too keep them in check.

So the transition from slave to free was a great moment for the Black nation, it got the slave demons out of their heads and they finally had the opportunity to be truly free. But the transition from free to slave was not only a bad time for the black nation, it was a bad moment for human history. We took free happy people from their native cultures and assimilated them into our society, is that ok to take advantage of material poor people? No? Then is our society right. We still do it.