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Why Is Slavery Still Relevant Today

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Recommended: Brief history of racism

Why do we learn about slavery in school, when no-one alive today has experienced slavery? Why do we learn solely about a single form of racism which is not applicable to anyone today, when there are many issues which would educate our youth on racism in modern society, and actually apply to us? I believe that racism would be severely reduced in our society if we are taught about relevant forms of racism in modern society, such as the conflicts in Zimbabwe and Israel, as opposed to the over-studied, stereotypical and irrelevant topic of slavery. Slavery, although horrific, is almost certainly never going to come back, however there are many race conflicts which actually apply and could be stopped if the New Zealand youth learned more subtle …show more content…

This isn’t the story of some slave 150 years ago, or some prejudiced race in the mid-1900s. This is happening today, in the very world we live in, which is what I believe makes it so powerful and impacting. For me, I found it reasonably easy to pass over the underlying racism themes while learning about slavery, because it wasn’t relevant to me, or anyone I know. Learning about racism such as in Zimbabwe does hit close to home for a lot of people; I had a friend in my cricket team whose family had to flee Zimbabwe. That kind of modern racism does actually have an effect on people, and needs to be publicised and eradicated, both in extreme cases such as in Zimbabwe, and in less extreme, but still unacceptable cases such as in New Zealand. I believe that studying a novel such as The Cry of the Go-Away Bird in English or Social Studies would open up the eyes of our youth to racism, and would help eliminate it in the future, especially when relating to modern racism, citizenship and land ownership, and would help significantly in exposing and abolishing

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The book was very informative of life when racism was more apparent. I think that books like this show that standing up to racism is an option. It shows that even children of a younger age were involved in the situation.

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It felt like there is still a sense of guilt or embarrassment . Slavery is a difficult topic , for both black and white people. ”“Conversations about slavery in today's society are contentious precisely because understanding

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When history is whitewashed, it is filtered to hide marginalized groups and oppression. Recently on the news, textbook company McGraw-Hill stated that the company will rewrite a portion of their book which referred to African American slaves as workers and immigrants (McAfee, 2015). I was offended by the fact that McGraw-Hill even published a book that slaves were called workers and immigrants. To say that African Americans were workers and not slaves changes the whole fundamental history of enslaved populations; workers implies a willingness, when in fact, African American slaves were not willing participants. When you change the wording in textbooks, you change people’s views and perspectives of historical events and their everlasting effects on cultures.

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Slavery, political tension, disagreements between the north and south and the split opinions about Abraham Lincoln were components that contributed to the start of the American Civil War. These factors were the catalyst in the beginning of the Civil War. 

Slavery was the most influential factor that contributed to the beginning of the Civil War. The North’s support to abolish slavery in all American states was viewed as a violation of constitutional rights by the South, thus creating an extreme hatred between the two sides, and ultimately beginning the Civil War. The south, or “the great cotton empire”, was dependant on slavery to keep the large cotton plantations in business.

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There is still such a false concept floating around about slavery, even in the twenty-first century. I enjoy reading articles and documents, like the ones provided for this essay, to properly give me an idea of what slavery was like when our ancestors were around. Slavery, even today in schools, is not taught how it should be. Many people, especially in the South, try to ignore slavery as if it never existed, when it is definitely a part of our history. I think there is a falseness, on both ends of slavery, that many people do not talk about; these documents showed me just that.

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Slavery was to ingrained in the culture and economy of the Southern states to be removed from the United States peacefully, and is the dominating reason for the outbreak of the US Civil War. The North and South had two extremely different cultures and economies. Therefore, it was only a matter of time until these two vastly different societies controlled by a single federal government, would clash. Slavery was the underlying reason for the secession of the South in December 1860. The Southern economy was too reliant on the use of slaves in their economy to abolish slavery.

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The Narrative of Frederick Douglass is a very great perspective for people of today to understand what it was like to be a slave in the 1800’s. It tells the story of the slave Frederick Douglass and how he began as an uneducated slave and was moved around from many different types of owners, cruel or nice, and how his and other slaves presences changed the owners, and also how he educated himself and realized that he shouldn’t be treated so poorly It was at the point later in the book that I realized how some slaves might have felt during slavery in the 1800’s. When Douglass is sent away to Mr.Covey he is treated pretty badly but eventually he stands up to Mr.Covey and demands that he stopped being treated like an animal.

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Slavery in America, particularly in the Southern region, was heavily depended upon due to the high demand for labor. Historically, slaves were primarily blacks but race did not become an issue until 1650, when Virginia and Maryland claimed that infidel (non Christian) slaves could be enslaved for life. Following this claim, non-whites became a target for slavery. In 1739, a group of rebellious slaves paraded towards Georgia and Florida, and killed several whites at Stono, South Carolina. After these white killings, slave codes were implemented to end rebellion and restrict mobility.

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Prior to the Civil War, the north and south viewed liberty and freedom differently. Slavery was one of the issues that they did not see eye to eye on but also territorial expansion and tariffs on imports from other countries brought great opposition as well. Most slaves worked as agricultural laborers, but they were also employed in factories and mines. The success of the southern states depended on enslaved labor, and that dependence made the structure on slavery in the south all the deeper and inescapable.

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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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In this case, it teaches students about racism, how it’s still a part of society today, and how it’s so deeply rooted in our country’s history. It’s necessary to talk to our students about slavery’s roots in the United States and how recent African-Americans only got their equal rights and treatment with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965. John Schwetman, an assistant professor teaching American literature at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explained about a “conversation about literature… acknowledging changing reading tastes, changing values, changing concerns of readers.” (Louwagie) Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote of her experience with racism in mind. It teaches the importance of morality and resonates with the white students.

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Sexually, mentally, and physically abused; slaves were struck, smacked and slapped by their masters. Slavery is a practice in which people own other people. A slave is the property of his or her owner and works without pay. The owner, who is called a master or mistress, provides the slave with food, shelter, and clothing. Slavery is a cruel and abusive way to get work done.

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The Civil War was necessary to resolve the escalating tensions between Northerners and Southerners regarding slavery. To Southerners, slavery was essential to their agricultural economy and way of life. The North was industrialized and did not need slavery to support their economy. Since the regions had different views on slavery, compromises and fighting occurred to try to solve the issues which slavery brought up. Tensions over slavery began to grow when the country started expanding West because the North and the South wanted their personal beliefs to be spread West.

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I do believe that every African American should read these narratives or at least one once in their lifetime. I say this because we all have heard about and learned a few things about slavery, but many of us have never heard about it from a primary source. We as a people need to remember where we came from and never forget what our ancestors had to do for us to be able to be who we are

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While slavery and black freedom were a huge topic, the one right behind it was women 's rights. There were many women at this time that started to speak out. There were many black women such as Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman who both started the movement not only to African American rights, but womens rights too. Look up Sojourner Truth 's "Ain 't I a woman"

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