Preview

James H. Sweet, Sweet: Article Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
345 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
James H. Sweet, Sweet: Article Analysis
In this article written by James H. Sweet, Sweet tries to go back to the root cause of how slavery actually came to be and thought of as it is today. Why were people of dark skinned complexion exploited to the extreme that they were? Why not the "lighter" colored people treated in the same manner?
As outlined in the article, a person's skin color outlined the inferiority in society. The darker the skin color the more inferior you where as a person, as a class as well as a race. White servants were not subject to hard labor because Iberians did not think of them so much as laborers but as good investments, because of the money they could receive from them and the possible religious outcomes. People of dark color were thought of as not having

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The adage “You reap what you sow” is the saying that characterizes the times of slavery. Slave masters sowed bad seeds upon themselves by abusing, neglecting, undermining, and deceiving their slaves. In return, they reaped consequences of slave rebellion, slave wittiness, and overall the come up of the black race. In Larry Rivers “A Troublesome Property: Master-Slave Relations in Florida 1821-1865” he expounds on how slaves used what was supposed to make them oppressed and hopeless to their advantage by them learning how to outsmart their masters.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the years before the Civil War, people from the North and South argued about the institution of slavery. Blacks wanted to be recognized as humans and wanted to have the rights that were given to the whites. Others saw slavery as a way of life and thought that slaves were content under the conditions forced upon them. John C. Calhoun and George Fitzhugh make strong, intellectual arguments defending slavery, but Fredrick Douglass and William Craft provide a compelling challenge to these pro-slavery arguments.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inferiority had a complex/sense of insecurity with the Europeans contact outside of Europe. When the Europeans embarked on different parts of the world they noticed that the people of these countries had melanin, skin color, in which they did not have. As Europeans explored even further, they concluded that they are the minority in the world. Hence, they wanted to be the majority. The problem with this desire was that the Europeans could not obtain a darker hue. This state of mind caused the Europeans to want to oppress the people opposite of them. So, they began seeking…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, Rodriguez's skin color means nothing to his identity because he realizes his color does not make him "disadvantaged" in life. (149) Rodriguez believes his skin color is a label for a Mexican worker based on people's biased opinions on his race and class. When he used to go at Stanford one of his friend had asked him if he was available for a summer construction job. (140) His friend was almost apologetic…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Black oppression dates back to the birth of the United States. For almost two hundred years Africans were kidnapped from their villages and directly imported to the New World where they would be sold into slavery and remain there for years to come (King). In slavery they would experience “the abuses associated with bondage, including arduous labor, corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, and family separations” (King). Even after slavery was abolished, black “parents taught their children how to work satisfactorily, handle injustices, and pay deference to whites while maintaining their self-respect” (King). From one generation to another, their children and…

    • 1809 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Civil War Origins and Legacy

    • 2553 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Andrist, R. (1967). The American Heritage: History of the making of the nation 1783 – 1860. American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.…

    • 2553 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery, the practice of being possessed by someone as a labor force or for his personal needs, was a ubiquitous workforce in nearly every part of the world. Slaves served as the propelling engine behind the Southern labor force for a long time. These African-Americans first arrived in ships from Africa and progressively started setting in the South, were they worked and served as a labor powerhouse. These slaves were used predominately for plantations, were treated as animals and worked under extremely harsh conditions with no pay. Historians have argued for a long time on whether slavery destroyed the black family. Despite the fact that Eugene D. Genovese states that slaves created there own system of family and values, Wilma A. Dunaway clearly proves that due to the harsh living conditions, the inevitable separation between families and the absolute lack of freedom of slaves, destroyed the black family.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery DBQ

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Slavery was a very unstable, fluctuating part of history. From 1775 to 1830, slavery was booming, while at the same time, plenty of slaves were freed. Although this statement seems paradoxical, it is entirely accurate. The reasons for this happening range from political manipulation to social typecasting. Not only are these reasons imperative, but understanding how enslaved and freed African Americans responded to what was happening around them is also important.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Underneath the racial hierarchy possesses the truth behind why slaves are subjected to harsh labor work. Slaves worked hard from morning till night cooking, cultivating, and relentlessly laboring. Moreover, if they did not behave, they would undergo terrifying predicament such as being tortured in front of their peers as a way to discourage rebellion. Although African Americans were known as minorities, they had played an important role in the American Revolution. Slaves had helped the Patriots win and shaped what is now “America”, yet no benefits were given. When the British created myriads of tax laws, to earn more money because of debt, the Patriots started to believe that they could gain their independence again. Believing these dreams, the Patriot told the slaves that they could be “free” at last , if they helped fight.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It was assumed that the slave with a lighter-complexion were more likely to be of mixed race and therefore better in some way or superior to the darker slaves. Even now in the 21st century where there are more…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this synthesis I will discuss the quotes from Yaeger, Soto, Fanon, and Davis. Both Yaeger’s and Soto’s quotations parallel one another in a way in which the laborer is dehumanized. The slave or laborer no longer has an identity to him or her, but is instead just a faceless human who performs labor-intensive duties to provide for him or herself or to the family. Yaeger describes the slaves in the triangular trade just as flesh, not an actual human being, therefore accentuating the loss in the sense of identity to each slave. The “flesh” on the slave ship is nothing more than just an object that can be overworked and thrown out once it no longer functions. The white-man/owners do not care for this loss because there is an excess of the supply of slaves coming in from West Africa. Soto’s character is a lot like the slaves that Yaeger illustrates because the Chicano is overworked and suffers from fatigue much like the slaves do in the New World. Mexicans come into the Americas looking for a new living and a new source of income, and they sometimes have no other choice but to settle for such a labor-intensive job. The Chicano is overcome with such fatigue and emptiness that they begin to strip their own sense of identity from themselves. Both the slaves and Chicanos focus on one thing, and that is the prospect of a…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery In Secession

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Our new government is founded upon…the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man.” This quote by Alexander Stephens shows one of the basic driving principles behind slavery in the south. Slavery in America began long before the country existed. It began with Native Americans and transitioned to Africans after 1619 (Rosentreter, Lesson 2, 2018). The slave trade with Africa brought 600,000 African Slaves to the 13 colonies (Rosentreter, 2018). After, America was born slavery continued in the south while it was ended in the north. Slavery in the south then began to grow, after Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made it more profitable, then it had been in the past (Rosentreter, 2018). The south wished to protect…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although seldom heard of nowadays, a common ideology used throughout the 1700 and 1800s was the term human chattel which referred to humans as being owned by another person. The view on Africans was so demeaning that they weren't even considered as complete human beings. This resulted in the Three-Fifths Compromise, allowing the slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person, nothing more and nothing less. Slave owners felt superior to all and believed they could do whatever they wanted to their slaves. The slave owners were known for abusing, overworking, and torturing others because they were seen as less than their equal counterparts. They justified these horrendous actions because they were in a high societal class in which it was common to own someone else. This is where white supremacy started. How can someone own another person and not feel bad about it? Slavery is the only situation in which ownership can negatively affect a person. The ownership of slaves, unfortunately, caused the consciences of whites to diminish. Whites felt…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Have you ever thought about the explicit details that went into the creation of America? Slavery and the Making of America, written by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton uses facts and stories to portray the life of slaves, and the evolution of slavery over several decades, and its effect on America today. The title of this book, Slavery and the Making of America is a great leeway into the authors’ main thesis of the book; “Slavery was, and continues to be, a critical factor in shaping the United States and all of its people. As Americans, we must understand slavery’s history if we are ever to be emancipated from its consequences,” (Horton). Throughout the six chapters in this book, the authors’ go into explicit details on what actions from both white Americans and African slaves led to the Civil War, the abolition of slavery and America as it is today.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery and Its Impact on Both Blacks and Whites Slavery and Its Impact on Both Blacks and Whites The institution of slavery was something that encompassed people of all ages, classes, and races during the 1800's. Slavery was an institution that empowered whites and humiliated and weakened blacks in their struggle for freedom. In the book, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slave Frederick Douglass gives his account of what it was like being a slave and how he was affected. Additionally, Douglass goes even further and describes in detail the major consequences the institution of slavery had on both blacks and whites during this time period. In the pages to come, I hope to convince you first of the mental/emotional and physical damage caused by slavery on black slaves, and secondly the damage slavery caused in the mental well-being of white slave-owners.…

    • 1481 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays