Knowledge and slavery
November 29, 2002
Problematic:
Why was it so important for slave owners that their slaves should remain ignorant and what strategies did they use to achieve this goal?
“If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do”, a sentence said by Mr Auld in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, written by himself (Boston 1845).
Since last year, I have been interested in slave narratives and I read some about them. And each time, or almost, I noticed many common features in those books. As we already know, slaves were generally ill-treated, whipped and beaten. Many of them had very few to eat so that they were almost starving to death. Sometimes, it was mere cruelty from the masters but most of the time, the aim was to weaken slaves’ will to rebel or escape from the plantations. Less shocking but maybe more important, slave owners did their best to prevent slaves to have access to any kind of knowledge. Even the most elementary knowledge that is to say their identity was taken away from them.
Why was it so important for slave owners that their slaves should remain ignorant and what strategies did they use to achieve this goal?
First of all, I will focus on the problem of the identity: how and why slaveholders deprived slaves of this self-knowledge that is necessary to man’s balance?
Secondly, I will turn to the issue of knowledge: Why was it so strictly forbidden to teach how to read or to write to a slave?
When reading testimonies and narratives written by fugitives, a problem often comes back: They know few or nothing about their identity. The first injustice that was committed against them was for the former slaves the uprooted ness from their original country. They probably had an important cultural background with a rich oral tradition. But slaves traders
Problematic:
Why was it so important for slave owners that their slaves should remain ignorant and what strategies did they use to achieve this goal?
“If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do”, a sentence said by Mr Auld in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, written by himself (Boston 1845).
Since last year, I have been interested in slave narratives and I read some about them. And each time, or almost, I noticed many common features in those books. As we already know, slaves were generally ill-treated, whipped and beaten. Many of them had very few to eat so that they were almost starving to death. Sometimes, it was mere cruelty from the masters but most of the time, the aim was to weaken slaves’ will to rebel or escape from the plantations. Less shocking but maybe more important, slave owners did their best to prevent slaves to have access to any kind of knowledge. Even the most elementary knowledge that is to say their identity was taken away from them.
Why was it so important for slave owners that their slaves should remain ignorant and what strategies did they use to achieve this goal?
First of all, I will focus on the problem of the identity: how and why slaveholders deprived slaves of this self-knowledge that is necessary to man’s balance?
Secondly, I will turn to the issue of knowledge: Why was it so strictly forbidden to teach how to read or to write to a slave?
When reading testimonies and narratives written by fugitives, a problem often comes back: They know few or nothing about their identity. The first injustice that was committed against them was for the former slaves the uprooted ness from their original country. They probably had an important cultural background with a rich oral tradition. But slaves traders
Cited: -Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, written by himself (Boston 1845). -Equiano, Olaudah (Vassa, Gustavus). The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (London, 1789). -Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia, July 4, 1776)