Slavery And Freedom : An Interpretation Of The Old South

Frederick Douglass was an African American who rose from slavery to become a leading voice in the abolitionist movement; he was also known to be a public speaker and writer who published many works. Frederick Douglass then went on to write an autobiography titled “My Bondage and My Freedom”, discussing in great detail the struggles of being a slave. Throughout his autobiography, Douglass argues very boldly that slavery was in institution that victimized not only slaves, but also slave owners and non-slave owning whites. Frederick’s statement is true in the sense that slavery dehumanized slaves, it destroyed the natural good in slave owners, and slavery robbed non-slave owning whites.

James Oakes ' book, Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South, is a reflection of slavery and freedom that was closely associated with the ordinary life in the South. The book also hits on points of liberal capitalism that the slave-owner 's had. This book goes into immense detail on liberal capitalism as well as the lack of freedom that the slaves had in the Deep South. "...And this could only mean that southern slavery was defined as the denial of the assumptions of liberal capitalism" (xiii). That in essence makes the slave 's South connection to liberal capitalism closer and way more problematic.

Ophelia Settle Egypt, informally known as Ophie, was an African American woman ahead of her time. She attained the educational status of less than one percent of the American population, was liberal and accepting of others despite the criticism around her, fought to end racism, worked independently of her husband, and believed in limiting family growth. All of Egypt’s beliefs and lifetime achievements represent a new type of woman: a woman who refuses to assimilate to her gender stereotype of weak, inferior, and domestic. Egypt dedicated her life to social work through various activities. She worked as a sociologist, researcher, teacher, director of organizations, and social worker at different times in her life. Egypt’s book, The Unwritten History of Slavery (1968), and the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Southeast Washington D.C. named after her represent Egypt’s legacy and how one person is capable of social change.

The Civil War is widely regarded as the bloodiest war in US history. Roughly 620,000 soldiers died fighting both for and against the abolition of slavery. During this era, many advocates for the abolition of slavery gave speeches in order to convince the nation of the evils of the institution of slavery. One of the most important of these advocates was a former slave named Frederick Douglass who became literate while a slave and gave many speeches to many different audiences. In Frederick Douglass’ speech to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852, entitled ¨What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?¨, he presents his goals of abolishing slavery and enforcing equality between people of color and white people. Although legally it appears that his goals have been accomplished, the mindset and inequality of Douglass’ time still exists, and it is becoming more prevalent in the US.

Introduction - When I think about Slavery, I think about black people and the south, but there is a whole other side to the story of Slavery called the North.In 1860, 476,00 blacks were free. 221,000 of them lived in the North. How Free Were Free Blacks In The North. Blacks in the North were somewhat free in the years just before the Civil War.This can be shown by looking at the three areas of society: Political, Social, and Economical.

The introduction of slavery in the Southern colonies helped the development of their economy. The plantation owners had no choice but to turn to slaves because of the lack of colonial workers and indentured servants. Slaves increased the productivity and profits generated by the huge plantations in the South because they had advantages over indentured servants. It also caused the South grow and develop different from the North, which would later lead to conflict between the two.

What is slavery? Slavery is forced labor and this forced labor is what built America and made them become more developed. “Africans peoples were captured and transported to the Americas to work. Most European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th century through the 19th were dependant on enslaved African labor for their survival.” Many claim that enslavement was very necessary in order for America to thrive and not die off for it is now one of the best countries in the world. However, slavery was not necessary in the Americas it was just a mechanism that just stripped Africans of their human rights, giving the slave masters the “right” to abuse them. Slavery was not necessary in the Americas because without slavery America would

In the antebellum south, the Large Plantation – agricultural way of life dominated the whole society. Only 25% of white southerners owned slaves and most did not live in mansions but in dark, cramped, two-room cabins. Cotton was the crucial cash crop of the South, but it was not the only crop grown there. Corn, sugar, rice, and tobacco were also grown – but Cotton was king, and the most labor intensive of all these crops. Not only was the South reliant on cotton, but the northern factories relied on the raw material as well as England. The South was the world’s largest producer and from 1815 to 1860 it represented over ½ the U.S. exports.

In James Oakes book, Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South, talks about the relationships between slaves and master liberal capitalism in southern United States during the nineteenth century. Slaves was a name given to blacks because of their color and their freedom once taking away. Freedom and unfreedom are experienced most by human relationship between men and women. The relationship which they produce was to survive and live on to reproduce. Therefore work and society was largely shaped by how people organize their lives.

As United States citizens take a jump back into reasonably recent history, it is guaranteed that one will find elements of slavery in the southern states. Slavery, something many people frown on in this day an age, looked a little different back some 150 years ago. This was a major part of the southern colonies’ government and wasn’t the sure cause of the American Civil War. Moreover, slavery is how their entire economy ran, with black people working on mega plantations, picking cotton, making clothing, and even watching children of young ages. The aspect of slavery wasn’t something that southerners looked upon with a disapproving eye; it was something that people needed to survive and make money off of. Slavery made their world go around,

In the history of the United States, it is known that slavery originated during the colonization of the New World. As more western territories were acquired from the Louisiana Purchase, people began to expand west as it was justified by the Manifest Destiny. With the availability and desire to colonize the new lands, slaves became more of a necessity especially in the Southern territories. As slavery sparked controversy between the Northern and Southern states, there was no solution to be found that satisfied the nation and was unable to prevent secession of states. The establishment of slavery brought unforeseen consequences and can be argued as the principle cause of the Civil War.

So many people wanted slaves, especially in the South. They had more farms than they could handle on their own. Northern owners wanted them because they would have to do less work. Very few owners treated their slaves nicely and paid them to do work around the house. They would not be treated like family but would get treated a whole lot better than your “typical slave.” Those kinds of circumstances occurred more in the Northern states than the Southern states.

In the Confederacy, African-Americans are still slaves and they serve mostly in labor positions. Although, most slaves that serve are impressed as a slave labor force, others are brought by their masters to tend to their master’s needs. In some cases, these servants are entrusted with a masters personal affects if he is killed, and he is to return them to his family. There are several reports of servants or slaves that took their masters spot on the battlefield and were soon adopted into the regiment. Records also show us men that serve or served as color-bearers in militia units. Tens of thousands have and are serving, willingly or otherwise.

Oakes keeps the reader hooked at every turn of the page by switching back and forth between Abraham Lincoln’s (republican); who pledged to the democratic ethics of the Declaration of Independence, in trying to attain a more perfect union, and his central role in progressing the cause of slave freedom, first by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, following by giving full support to a constitutional amendment that would end slavery all together, and Fredrick Douglass (radical); who in turn began to temper his ethical tyranny with his own brand of hardheaded realism, concluding with their well-known meetings in the White

I would classify the Old South as a “slave society.” Our previous discussion refers to slave societies as “societies in which slavery is a dominant socio-economic factor.” During the 1850s slavery was lucrative and profitable in the south as a result of the production of cotton, tobacco, rice, indigo, and sugarcane all which made the plantations” dependent upon slavery. The most profitable cash crop of this period was cotton which was labor-intensive, thus causing the need for slaves. Slavery strengthened the economy of the old south, but caused separation and conflict within other states in the United States as well as with other southern states that did not believe in or support slavery as the old south had, especially after the Turner Rebellion.