Legal Slavery

Study Guide: US Slavery System, 1520-1865 HIS 1110 G. J. Giddings, Ph.D.

What characterizes slavery as forced, codified/legal, resisted and contradictory?

Slavery is a part of U.S. history which makes many African Americans (and whites too) ashamed, a

feeling I used to have myself. However, this shame should dissipate if slavery is viewed from the

afrocentric (cultural and vindicationist) perspective, which helps us understand enslavement as a system

as well as a holocaust, quite frankly.

Maulana Karenga defines enslavement holocaust as a “moral and monstrous attack on human life,

culture and possibility.” This definition encourages us to view slavery as a comprehensive system which

made a lasting impact on its victims and the larger U.S. society!

Our related resources are designed to help us understand the enslavement as:

Forced. Any bondage is contrary to human aspirations; therefore slavery was maintained by the

exercise of power. Chattel slavery in U.S. is meant the enslaved was property and objects to be treated

as any other commodity. As such, an object can be shaped to the human/oppressor’s will. The practice

of enslavement in Africa was diverse and more humane.

Resisted. Because slavery is forced, it is natural resisted as a human reflex/impulse. Resistance was

exercised by such tactical categories as: day-to-day, cultural, escaping, and violent revolts.

Legal. Because slavery is forced and resisted, enslavers had to create and maintain a system of laws and

punishment against enslavers and their allies.

Contradictory. Because enslavement was unnatural and had to be propped up by laws, there were

bound to be many contradictions in the system. Many related laws (slave code) were not enforced

because not everyone agreed with slavery and for some it did not make financial sense to enforce these

laws. Also, the view of the enslaved as unintelligent chattel was contradicted by the expectation that

the enslaved do important work such as rice cultivation in South Carolina and Georgia, as well as the

need to keep the enslaved uneducated. Certainly, the U.S. founders hypocritically called their British

oppressors enslavers while they were oppressors to Blacks (enslaved and free). None of this was lost on

the enslaved, who protested and pointed out these contradictions in their petitions and other forms of

resistance.

In forums you will assess U.S. slavery as a system and argue the pros and cons of being African American

in antebellum (pre-Civil War) America, for answers to some of our questions about today’s

state/condition of African America.

Sources: M. Karenga. 2010. Introduction to Black Studies.