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The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South by John W. Blassingame is considered to be one of the first novels that addressed the issue of slavery from the perspective of the slaves. Published in 1972, it analyzes the experiences of slaves in the Antebellum South during a time in history that was fraught with controversy and misunderstanding. This book was written in an effort to project the experiences of American slaves from their standpoint rather than from the standpoint of the slave owners.
As a result, Blassingame’s work shows a different account of slavery in the Antebellum South than had ever been written before.
John W. Blassingame was a black historian interested in the issue of slavery in America. He wrote The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South in order to give a voice to the slaves rather than a voice through slave owners. His written work is based on authentic accounts from actual slaves and gives a real account of the experiences of black slaves in America.
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Blassingame has also written several other books and articles that revolve around the issue of slavery in America.
The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South shows that slaves were not the obedient workers that previous authors had suggested they were. Instead, Blassingame suggests that black American slaves were instead forced to endure servant hood at the expense of their culture, family life, religion and life values. As slaves, these black people struggled to maintain and hold onto aspects of their culture and/or former life that were the most important to them.
However, they were forced to do this on their own time and when not being watched by white slave owners. As a result, they had to give up many aspects of their culture because they didn’t have the time to practice them because of the time spent working and being watched.
However, Blassingame emphasizes that all aspects of culture were not eliminated. Instead it “was much more resistant to the bludgeons that was slavery than historians have hitherto suspected” (Blassingame, 34 – 35). He goes on to suggest that slaves survived because they were able to engage in stories, dances and other rituals that were important to their culture. As a result, slaves were able to form relationships with one another that provided them with hope for the future and some measure of happiness despite current situations.
The book analyzes three main personality types of black slaves. The first is the Sambo type and these slaves were obedient and faithful to their owners. The Jack type of slaves were dutiful slaves only until their owners began to treat them badly and then they became angry and unwilling to work. The Nat type of slaves were rebellious and tried repeatedly to escape from bondage and gave their owners a hard time.
According to Blassingame, these personality types were important to white slave owners because obvioulsy they wanted the Sambo type of slave because they could be counted upon to perform their duties without causing problems. In addition, the white slave owners feared the Nat type of slaves because they were hard to control and work wasn’t completed. However, he goes to state that these personality types can be misleading based on “the extent to which slaves acted the way their masters expected them to behave” (Blassingame, 242 – 243).
The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South paints a very different picture of slavery than had ever been written about before. Blassingame portrays slaves in different ways than previous authors because he uses real life accounts of slavery experiences rather than second hand accounts from white slave owners. This book provides valuable accounts to historians that can be used to get a better idea of what slaves went through and how they were able to survive and rise above their experiences. However, this book wasn’t published without a certain amount of criticism.
Marian DeB. Kilson criticized The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South by saying that it “lacks a clear analytical perspective” (Kilson, 1132). He was also criticized by many for his use of slave accounts and not enough accounts by white slave owners. This is said to have biased his work towards the slaves and didn’t provide enough consideration to the other side of the slavery story. Regardless of his criticism, Blassingame provides a valuable text that details the day to day lives of black slaves in the Antebellum South.
Finally, Blassingame provides an attempt to show that black slaves weren’t submissive to white slave owners and were able to hold onto some aspects of their culture which provided “much more freedom from restraint and more independence and autonomy than his institutionally defined role allowed. Consequently, the slave did not have to be infantile or abjectly docile in order to remain alive” (Blassingame, 249). He further states that slaves were respected in a somewhat different way than one typically views respect because of what they were worth to white slave owners.
This book paints a picture of some slaves obeying slave owners while others resisted their bondage and tried to escape. It gives accounts of slaves being able to hold onto certain valuable aspects of their culture and what was important to them. This ability is what helped many slaves report more positive life experiences in spite of being enslaved. Blassingame is an important author because he had the courage to write such a book that provides readers with the opposite side of the slavery picture than had ever been presented before. Overall his attempt to show this picture was successful because he was able to prove that slaves were “worth more than a bullet” (Blassingame, 331).
Blassingame, John W. (1972). The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Kilson, Marian DeB. (1973). Review of The Slave Community. American Historical Review 78 (10):
1132–1133.
The Slave Community by John W. Blassingame. (2017, Mar 16). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-slave-community-by-john-w-blassingame-essay
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