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. Stampp believed that Black skins are “nothing more and nothing less” than whites. Stampp states that if you ask a slave in the south if he/she wants to be free, most of them will respond that they do not want to be free. This would be because they have good masters
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They both knew very well that the African Americans were not happy being slaves, but they believed that this was the best place for the blacks and that they wouldn’t be any better any place else. “Though they longed for freedom, slaves could strive to develop and improve themselves in the only way that was open to them”. Talking about the efficiency of slavery was a big statement that Robert and Stanley made. Every slave that was capable of being in the labor forces was in it, for the labor forces made up two- thirds of the population in both the North and South, and that made almost everyone employed and doing some type of labor work due to the institutional …show more content…
Some say that slavery is more humane than the northern industry system because unlike the northern industry the slaves were fed, had a shelter and were cared for in their old ages. Whereas the northern industry paid low wages and were very harsh to their workers. From the words of Susan Becker and William Wheeler the enslavement of African Americans was up to the limitation of rights and freedoms, for any settler that did not agree with slavery either moved up north where slavery was not allowed or they would keep quiet about the