Sunday, January 28, 2007
Thoughts on Southern Readings
In reading George Fitzhugh's piece From Southern Thought, it was interesting to me that the author stated, numerous times that any society without black slavery would become dependant upon white slavery. In fact white slavery had historically occurred for centuries. Britain, in fact had been using white slavery since before the 1500, but in order to maintain the social niceties calling it "indentured servitude" However, in this case slaves could buy their freedom after seven years {the length of their bought contract} and were not in many cases treated as badly and black slaves. This seems to me an astounding concept to me that a white man would propose this concept, especially in a generally published article. Also interesting to me was the number of times that he brought Bible teachings into the mix, either to prove himself or disprove a point. It was almost like he was feeling guilty or he was hiding behind the Bible and using it as a protection point to anyone who would challenge him because Fitzhugh was ready with a defense. He was refusing to take responsibility for what he wrote or the fallout. In reading further on, it was neat to read that he treated the South as an actually living breathing person, a woman. That alone paints a picture of softness, delicateness, taking care of the family and home as well as education. This woman controlled opinions in fashion, education, literature, crop production, and societal acceptance. This piece places alight on what southern writers and society thought about slavery and how the though society would do without it.
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4 comments:
George Fitzhugh talks about how the South would survive if there was no slavery and it seems as though it would completely fall apart. They would lose everything that they were used to. Their political structure would be lost and people would begin to rise up against everything. I think that this may be the reason for people from the south to be so protective about their past because they don't want anything to change because that is all that they're used to. I don't think a southern of this time period could survive in the ever-changing north...lol
I, too, was shocked that Fitzhugh was bold enough to make known his belief that white slavery should coexist alongside black slavery. I wonder what kind of reactions he got. Also, while I think you make a good point about indentured servitude, I do not think it can be called slavery. In the South, slaves were captured, stripped of their identities, and forced into a lifetime of labor without pay or compensation. Indentured servants were able to work with a goal in mind: in seven years, they would be free. And often, they either become indentured servants to pay back a debt (passage to the New World) or in order to gain land. So while there are similarities, in my opinion, the slavery of the South was far worse than the indentured servitude that existed in Europe.
I think that you make a lot of really good points and I was happy to see that you brought up the indentured servitude. And when Fitzhugh is talking about having slaves of all backgrounds including whites he was probably thinking of a system like indentured servitude where you could gain your freedom after a certain amount of time.
I totally agre with your opinion that the south is a woman, metaphorically. It always seems as though writers are referring to the south with female characteristics or, as Fitzhugh does, using the pronouns she or her. I also think your point about the Bible being used in this piece is important. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Smith cited the Bible at different points in their pieces, usually in defense of one of their own points in their respective articles. It seems this is common to writers of southern literature.
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