John Blassingame's Essay: The Slave Family
The Slave Family by John W. Blassingame
John Blassingame's essay entitled "The Slave Family" analyzes the composition of the nineteenth century slave family in America. The essay offers a perspective into the lives of slaves including their hardships, trials, and their plight for a sense of commonality. The essay begins with a sex ratio comparison between American slaves and slaves in other areas, such as Latin America, Brazil, and Cuba. It states that the male to female ratio was significantly more proportionate in the United States compared to the other areas. This suggests that there was a definite capability for stable family units amongst American slaves. However, as Blassingame pointed out, the factors that inhibited slaves from …show more content…
Some of the info was new to me, as I had never heard of black slaves murdering white men for the offense of raping their wives. My ears were also new to the white woman and the black slave relationships. I had never heard that there were instances of black slave men in relationships with white women, and that white women had pursued black slave men. In the essay, the author discussed an example of a white woman actually living with a black slave male. I also learned that some Southern churches actually became advocates for the black family, and campaigned for slave owners to promote the monogamy of slave families. The religious beliefs of the church were passed down to the slave. Blassingame makes family the focal point of slavery in this essay, and he does so convincingly. Our text, along with many other textbooks, does not make the family the central point of focus on the subject of slavery. Instead they provide a more global view of it. Blassigame delves deeper into the slave family in order to provide interesting data about the societies in which slaves lived. If one were interested in anything related to slavery, I would recommend this essay, simply because it lets the reader inside the slaves life, instead of having them watch slavery as a system spinning its gears for the undercarriage of America. John Blassingame's "The Slave Family" presents slavery from angles crucial to its complete
John Blassingame's essay entitled "The Slave Family" analyzes the composition of the nineteenth century slave family in America. The essay offers a perspective into the lives of slaves including their hardships, trials, and their plight for a sense of commonality. The essay begins with a sex ratio comparison between American slaves and slaves in other areas, such as Latin America, Brazil, and Cuba. It states that the male to female ratio was significantly more proportionate in the United States compared to the other areas. This suggests that there was a definite capability for stable family units amongst American slaves. However, as Blassingame pointed out, the factors that inhibited slaves from …show more content…
Some of the info was new to me, as I had never heard of black slaves murdering white men for the offense of raping their wives. My ears were also new to the white woman and the black slave relationships. I had never heard that there were instances of black slave men in relationships with white women, and that white women had pursued black slave men. In the essay, the author discussed an example of a white woman actually living with a black slave male. I also learned that some Southern churches actually became advocates for the black family, and campaigned for slave owners to promote the monogamy of slave families. The religious beliefs of the church were passed down to the slave. Blassingame makes family the focal point of slavery in this essay, and he does so convincingly. Our text, along with many other textbooks, does not make the family the central point of focus on the subject of slavery. Instead they provide a more global view of it. Blassigame delves deeper into the slave family in order to provide interesting data about the societies in which slaves lived. If one were interested in anything related to slavery, I would recommend this essay, simply because it lets the reader inside the slaves life, instead of having them watch slavery as a system spinning its gears for the undercarriage of America. John Blassingame's "The Slave Family" presents slavery from angles crucial to its complete