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A Mysterious Property By Kenneth M. Stampp Summary

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The topic of slavery is most definitely an interesting one. It has taken place across the globe and is as old as civilization itself while taking many forms. Slavery was brought to the Americas to assist with the growing need for laborers and continued for hundreds of years. The cotton boom created by Eli Whitney’s cotton gin called for an increase of labor that lasted through the Civil War Era. Slave mentality and attitude towards their work varied from job to job, location to location, and master to master. While some slaves fought against their masters with rebellion, others chose to simply live in a way of avoiding attention being drawn to them; they would get done what needed to be done and nothing more. Their actions affected the lives …show more content…

When it comes to slavery, there is a tendency for the historians to have contradicting ideas. This is partly due to the fact that much of slave and early African American history in our country was passed down orally rather than being written down on paper. Three historians who show different ways of thinking towards this issue are Kenneth M. Stampp, Eugene D. Genovese, and Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. Their articles cover different subtopics, but with the same focus; slavery and its effects on our history. “A Troublesome Property” by Kenneth M. Stampp is an article that touches on whether slaves liked being slaves or not. The primary opinion of Stampp’s work is that overall slaves didn’t like being slaves. Evidence towards this includes how often slaves would run away or plan some sort of attempt. A handful of slavs like Nat Turner organized large-scale violent revolts in their attempt to send a message of discontent with the way society was treating African Americans, whether they were free or …show more content…

It included tough quotas with punishment if they were not met, but a celebration and rewards for a met quota awaited them at the end of the season. However in oftentimes a whip was necessary to keep the slaves going as cotton picking was “hard and distasteful work,”(312). Another method to keep them going during this intense labor was song. At times a slave would sing to himself individually, but Genovese states that “whenever possible they sang collectively, in ways derived from Africa but rooted in their own

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Justin Brookshire HIST 4001 01/24/2023 The first scholarly historical work of significance considering the topic of slavery as an institution is American Negro Slavery by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips. As a southerner publishing in 1918, this book was racist in nature against African Americans. Phillips’ argues in his book that slavery was a necessary paternalistic practice between master and slave that established an interdependent agricultural society for the betterment of the country.

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In the introduction of the essay, Davis states “This book is about how the threads of slavery were woven deeply into almost every aspect of American society for centuries. It is about how important slavery was to the nation’s birth and growth and to the men who led the country for so long. It is about wealth and political power and untold misery” (xii). He supports his topic with the five stories of the black people enslaved by American heroes that he researched well. Within the stories, he appeals to logic and emotion.

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Slavery, the “peculiar institution” of the United States, has been a heated subject for many years. Even though slavery remained in some parts of the world, opposition to it grew. The leading argument was that slavery was immoral and that it violated the constitution. Three main reasons for opposition to slavery were social issues, the press, and political views.

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It was one of the most significant and disputed practice ever to reach the shores of the Western Hemisphere. A dimensional issue that caused much argument and conflict on each of its multiple levels. This was the practice of Slavery. Taking a closer look, there are many different interpretations of what the attitude of American slaves were towards their work experiences. In order to fully answer this question, a closer examination, summary, and comparison will be made of three different historians and their ideas to accurately answer the overarching importance of this question.

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If asked to describe the lives of slaves and how happy the slaves were to be apart of this thing we call “slavery” what would you say? Some say that African Americans liked being slaves and it gave them a sense of being, others would beg to differ. Kenneth Stampp, Robert Fogel, Stanley Engerman, Eugene Genovese, Susan Becker and William Wheeler have their own opinions about slavery and the attitudes of American slaves. Is black the same as white? Stampp seemed to think so.

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“The historical debate over slavery began where the propaganda war between abolitionists and apologists for slavery had ended. Condemnation of slavery as a moral evil and a system of ruthless exploitation was pitted against respect for slavery as an effective system for the adjustment of relations between a superior and an inferior race. ”2 This disillusion can be stopped by proper education of the history of slavery, the true history of slavery, not the pretty and happy version that some tend to

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Slaves also lived in a constant fear during their lives. If they did not obey they would be whipped or beaten badly, leaving scars that left their bodies marked forever. Now think of what Harriet Tubman went through. Her first breath of air was as a slave. Put to work as a child, Harriet

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They wanted to keep the slaves alive but not waste a lot of money so they would feed them enough to keep them alive and work (“Southern

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From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

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Slaves were treated like livestock, kept for the purpose of managing plantations which yielded

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One of those things was slave codes. Which gave more power to the slave owners and even less power to the slaves on page 434, it says "in existence since the 1700's slave codes were written to prevent the event white southerners dreaded most-became more severe. This shows that the slaves had absolutely no access to freedom to the slave codes another way that the slaves resisted was that they faked an illness, so they can get revenge to their masters on page 437 it gives a specific explanation on how they faked their illness. It says "For the most part enslaved people resisted slavery by working slowly or pretending to be ill. Occasionally resistance took more active forms, such as setting fire to a plantation building or breaking tools.

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In the autobiography of “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass”, the word victimization use by Frederick, is describing a particular person being a “victim”, a hopeless person that is unknown to the world system with no identity. As a result, slaves were people being victimized by the slavery system, including slave owners and non- slave owners. Although, African American were the main victims being discriminated by their character, why does Douglass believed that the slave owners and non- slave owners were also under the category of being victimize by the system? Is it because before African American were shipped to America, most white owners like Mrs. Auld had a kind heart towards blacks until she was told to change her

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