tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/slavery-4624/articles
Slavery – The Conversation
2024-03-12T11:38:46Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225212
2024-03-12T11:38:46Z
2024-03-12T11:38:46Z
The ‘Curse of Ham’: how people of faith used a story in Genesis to justify slavery
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580842/original/file-20240310-28-s4o2j8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1587%2C1034&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Drunkenness of Noah' by Giovanni Bellini.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drunkenness_of_Noah_bellini.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to a <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/church-commissioners-england-warmly-welcomes-oversight-groups-report">report by an independent oversight committee</a> released in March 2024, the Church of England should pay £1bn in reparations – 10 times the previously set amount – to the descendants of slavery.</p>
<p>The report was the start of a “multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement”, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/04/church-of-england-told-to-boost-size-of-fund-to-address-legacy-of-slavery">said Justin Welby</a>, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion of about 85 million Christians.</p>
<p>His words summon the shocking spectacle of the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Church of England owned vast plantations in the Caribbean, chiefly in Barbados, employing thousands of slaves. Slavery was thought to be entirely consistent with the Christian message of bringing the Gospel to the “savages”. The Christian leaders even branded “their” slaves “SPG” – the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.</p>
<h2>“Cursed be Canaan”</h2>
<p>The Anglican Church is not alone: all mainstream Christian denominations were deeply involved in the slave trade, as were the main branches of Islam.</p>
<p>How could this be possible? How had religions supposedly dedicated to propagating the word of a compassionate and loving God become so intricately involved in this “appalling evil”? The answer is rooted in a grotesque misuse of the very words of the Bible. Of the many ways that Christians have invoked the Bible to justify their actions, none has exceeded in cruelty and wilful ignorance their appropriation of the “Curse of Ham” to justify slavery.</p>
<p>Ham (no relation!) was the youngest son of the Biblical patriarch Noah. When Ham saw his father drunk and naked, Noah felt so humiliated that he put a curse on Ham’s son, Canaan, condemning his descendants to perpetual slavery. Here is the moment, as told in Genesis 9:24-25 (New King James Version):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him. Then he said: ‘Cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants he shall be to his brethren’.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The making of a ‘slave race’</h2>
<p>Since the 15th century, religious leaders have cited the passage as the justification for the enslavement of <em>all</em> African people. For almost 500 years, priests taught their flocks that a Hebrew prophet had condemned millions of Africans to slavery <em>because</em> they were descended from Ham’s son Canaan. The curse of Ham thus formed the core religious justification for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The curse of Ham entered Islamic thought in the 7th century, as a result of the influence of Christianity, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Ham-Slavery-Christianity-Christians/dp/0691123705">medieval Muslim scholars drew on Noah’s curse in their work</a>, as the historian David M. Goldenberg has shown. The Koran, however, makes no mention of the curse and Muhummad’s Farewell Address <a href="https://theconversation.com/islams-anti-racist-message-from-the-7th-century-still-resonates-today-141575">rejects the superiority of white people over black people</a>.</p>
<p>According to this reading of Genesis, God had not only mandated slavery, he had also <em>predestined</em> black people as a “slave race”. In fact, some Christian leaders argued that it was in the Africans’ interests to be enslaved, because their captivity would hasten their conversion, purifying and redeeming their souls in readiness for Judgement Day.</p>
<p>By manacling and herding millions of Africans onto ships bound for the colonies, slave traders and their enabling church leaders and governments had persuaded themselves that they were guiding the “Negroes” out of darkness and into salvation.</p>
<p>The historian Katie Cannon <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20487919">described the process another way</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Drunk with power and driven by grand delusions, government officials and officers of slave-trading companies… succumbed to the lies and manipulations that their soul salvation depended on the ceaseless replication of systemic violence.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The justification for African slavery in America</h2>
<p>The first written use of the Curse of Ham to justify slavery appeared in the 15th century, when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2953315">Gomes Eanes de Zurara</a>, a Portuguese historian, wrote that the enchained Africans he’d seen were in such a wretched state “because of the curse which, after the Deluge, Noah laid upon [Ham]… that his race should be subject to all the other races of the world”.</p>
<p>In 1627, an English author and defender of the slave trade wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This curse to be a servant was laid, first upon a disobedient sonne Cham [Ham], and wee see to this day, that the Moores, Chams posteritie, are sold like slaves yet.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the American colonies the Curse of Ham served as <em>the</em> ideological justification for African slavery. The Puritan colonisers of the New World bought slaves in large numbers to turn Providence, Rhode Island, into a Christian “city on a hill”. All were deemed the progeny of Canaan.</p>
<p>The moral obscenity of slavery was the root cause of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Both sides enrolled God’s authority in their cause. In the south this involved a literal reading of the Curse of Ham. Sulphuric southern preachers thundered that Noah’s condemnation of Canaan had condemned all Africans to slavery. An “almost universal opinion in the Christian world” held that “the sufferings and the slavery of the Negro race were the consequence of the curse of Noah”, asserted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Crummell">Alexander Crummell</a> (1819–1898), an African-American minister and Cambridge-educated academic, in 1862.</p>
<p>Benjamin M. Palmer (1818–1902), pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and Mississippi’s pre-eminent clergyman during the Civil War, raged in sermon after sermon that Noah’s curse was a prophetic blueprint of the destinies of the “white”, “black” and “red” races. While the white descendants of Shem and Japhet (Noah’s elder sons) would flourish and succeed, Palmer asserted that “[u]pon Ham was pronounced the doom of perpetual servitude…”.</p>
<h2>An important reference in the Civil War</h2>
<p>In the opening months of the Civil War, bigotry and rank superstition blanketed the south with a Biblical defence of slavery. Southern Catholics also eagerly cited the curse as a validation of slavery. On 21 August 1861, Bishop Augustus Marie Martin of Natchitoches, Louisiana, declared in a pastoral letter, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/though-their-skin-remains-brown-i-hope-their-souls-will-soon-be-white-slavery-french-missionaries-and-the-roman-catholic-priesthood-in-the-american-south-178918651/7E167009CBB9C2C2C41BAA756BA9D987">“On the occasion of the war of southern independence”</a>, that slavery was “the manifest will of God”, and that all Catholics must snatch “from the barbarity of their ferocious customs thousands of children of the race of Canaan”, the accursed progeny of Ham.</p>
<p>All this was Biblical balm to slave traders and owners who feared for the salvation of their souls. The religious justification of slavery erased those concerns.</p>
<p>Setting aside the theologians’ misuse of Genesis, even on its own terms the Curse of Ham made a vague and unpersuasive case for slavery. Nowhere in Genesis is there a curse on Africans or black-skinned people.</p>
<p>If slave traders needed an explicit Biblical endorsement of slavery, they might have turned to the New Testament, where we find Saint Peter telling slaves to “be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh”. Or Saint Paul, who urged slaves to “be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling”.</p>
<h2>Come abolitionism</h2>
<p>Abolitionists were not silent in the face of this grotesque rendering of Christendom’s most sacred text. In a <a href="https://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/teagle/texts/frederick-douglass-fifth-of-july-speech-1852/">5 July 1852 speech</a>, Frederick Douglass, the great anti-slavery activist and politician who had himself escaped his “owner”, delivered this response to those who peddled the Curse of Ham from their pulpits:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[The] church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters… They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God…”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And all based on a misinterpretation of Genesis 9:24-25 by the pro-slavery “Divines”, who thus transformed their religion into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty. It was a sham and a lie, and anything but what Christianity was held to stand for.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ham ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
For nearly 500 years, priests and imams justified slavery on the basis of a misunderstood passage of the Bible.
Paul Ham, Lecturer in narrative history, Sciences Po
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221086
2024-02-12T13:26:31Z
2024-02-12T13:26:31Z
AI ‘companions’ promise to combat loneliness, but history shows the dangers of one-way relationships
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574495/original/file-20240208-20-r5ul6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7000%2C4663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Would flattery from an AI set your heart aflutter?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/male-hand-reaching-out-from-computer-screen-holding-royalty-free-image/1682239343">quantic69/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States is in the grips of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/curing-americas-loneliness-epidemic-would-make-us-healthier-fitter-and-less-likely-to-abuse-drugs-206059">loneliness epidemic</a>: Since 2018, about <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">half the population</a> has reported that it has experienced loneliness. Loneliness can be as dangerous to your health <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">as smoking 15 cigarettes a day</a>, according to a 2023 surgeon general’s report. </p>
<p>It is not just individual lives that are at risk. Democracy <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/fivethirtyeight-political-consequences-of-loneliness">requires</a> the capacity to feel <a href="https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/loneliness-is-breaking-america-5329/">connected</a> to other citizens in order to work toward collective solutions. </p>
<p>In the face of this crisis, tech companies offer a technological cure: emotionally intelligent chatbots. These digital friends, they say, can help alleviate the loneliness that threatens individual and national health.</p>
<p>But as the pandemic showed, technology alone is not sufficient to address the complexities of public health. Science can produce miraculous vaccines, but if people are enmeshed in cultural and historical narratives that prevent them from taking the life-saving medicine, the cure sits on shelves and lives are lost. The humanities, with their expertise in human culture, history and literature, can play a key role in preparing society for the ways that AI might help – or harm – the capacity for meaningful human connection. </p>
<p>The power of stories to both predict and influence human behavior has long been validated by scientific research. Numerous studies demonstrate that the stories people embrace heavily influence the choices they make, ranging from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su6129387">vacations they plan</a>, to <a href="https://www.apha.org/Topics-and-Issues/Climate-Health-and-Equity/Storytelling">how people approach climate change</a> to the computer programming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2335356.2335364">choices security experts make</a>.</p>
<h2>Two tales</h2>
<p>There are two storylines that address people’s likely behaviors in the face of the unknown territory of depending on AI for emotional sustenance: one that promises love and connection, and a second that warns of dehumanizing subjugation. </p>
<p>The first story, typically told by software designers and AI companies, urges people to <a href="https://fptsoftware.com/resource-center/blogs/solving-the-modern-loneliness-epidemic-say-i-do-to-ai">say “I do” to AI</a> and embrace bespoke friendship programmed on your behalf. AI company <a href="https://replika.com/">Replika</a>, for instance, promises that it can provide everyone with a “companion who cares. Always here to listen and talk. Always on your side.”</p>
<p>There is a global appetite for such digital companionship. Microsoft’s digital chatbot <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/xiaoice-full-duplex/">Xiaoice</a> has a global <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/apac/features/much-more-than-a-chatbot-chinas-xiaoice-mixes-ai-with-emotions-and-wins-over-millions-of-fans/">fan base of over 660 million people</a>, many of whom consider the chatbot “a dear friend,” even a trusted confidante.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BFl6CGdaOuU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In the film “Her,” the protagonist develops a romantic relationship with a sophisticated AI chatbot.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In popular culture, films like “<a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/her">Her</a>” depict lonely people becoming deeply attached to their digital assistants. For many, having a “dear friend” programmed to avoid difficult questions and demands seems like a huge improvement over the messy, challenging, vulnerable work of engaging with a human partner, especially if you consider the misogynistic preference for <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1038691">submissive, sycophantic companions</a>.</p>
<p>To be sure, imagining a chummy relationship with a chatbot offers a sunnier set of possibilities than the apocalyptic narratives of slavery and subjugation that have dominated storytelling about a possible future among social robots. Blockbuster films like “<a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/matrix">The Matrix</a>” and the “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/">The Terminator</a>” have depicted hellscapes where humans are enslaved by sentient AI. Other narratives featured in films like “<a href="https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-creator">The Creator</a>” and “<a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/blade-runner">Blade Runner</a>” imagine the roles reversed and invite viewers to sympathize with AI beings who are oppressed by humans. </p>
<h2>One reality</h2>
<p>You could be forgiven for thinking that these two stories, one of friendship, the other of slavery, simply represent two extremes in human nature. From this perspective it seems like a good thing that marketing messages about AI are guiding people toward the sunny side of the futuristic street. But if you consider the work of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3299219">scholars</a> who have studied slavery in the U.S., it becomes frighteningly clear that these two stories – one of <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674024335">purchased friendship</a> and one of enslavement and exploitation – are not as far apart as you might imagine. </p>
<p>Chattel slavery in the U.S. was a brutal system designed to extract labor through violent and dehumanizing means. To sustain the system, however, an intricate emotional landscape was designed to keep the enslavers self-satisfied. “Gone with the Wind” is perhaps the most famous depiction of how enslavers saw themselves as benevolent patriarchs and forced enslaved people to reinforce this fiction through cheerful <a href="https://utc.iath.virginia.edu/uncletom/utfihbsa41t.html">professions of love</a>. </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/douglass.html">1845 autobiography</a>, Frederick Douglass described a tragic occasion when an enslaved man, asked about his situation, honestly replied that he was ill-treated. The plantation owner, confronted with testimony about the harm he was inflicting, sold the truth-teller down the river. Such cruelty, Douglass insisted, was the necessary penalty for someone who committed the sin “of telling the simple truth” to a man whose emotional calibration required constant reassurance. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="an old fashioned illustration of a black man seated next to a seated young white woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574450/original/file-20240208-16-jlk9nw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ a 19th-century blockbuster novel, featured an enslaved man who professed unwavering love for his enslavers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1976-0515-17">The British Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>History lesson</h2>
<p>To be clear, I am not evoking the emotional coercion that enslavement required in order to conflate lonely seniors with evil plantation owners, or worse still, to equate computer code with enslaved human beings. There is little danger that AI companions will courageously tell us truths that we would rather not hear. That is precisely the problem. My concern is not that people will harm sentient robots. I fear how humans will be damaged by the moral vacuum created when their primary social contacts are designed solely to serve the emotional needs of the “user.” </p>
<p>At a time when humanities scholarship can help guide society in the emerging age of AI, it is being <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077878538/legislation-restricts-what-teachers-can-discuss">suppressed</a> and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/12/11/discounted-tuition-major-devalues-humanities-letter">devalued</a>. Diminishing the humanities risks denying people access to their own history. That ignorance renders people ill-equipped to resist marketers’ assurances that there is no harm in buying “friends.” People are cut off from the wisdom that surfaces in stories that warn of the moral rot that accompanies unchecked power. </p>
<p>If you rid yourself of the vulnerability born of reaching out to another human whose response you cannot control, you lose the capacity to fully care for another and to know yourself. As we navigate the uncharted waters of AI and its role in our lives, it’s important not to forget the poetry, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674024106">philosophy</a> and <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/117647/beloved-by-toni-morrison/9780525659273">storytelling</a> that remind us that human connection is supposed to require something of us, and that it is worth the effort.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Mae Duane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Tech companies are offering AI companions as a convenient cure for the loneliness epidemic, but there have been other forms of faux relationships, and they tend to have more to do with ego than heart.
Anna Mae Duane, Director, University of Connecticut Humanities Institute; Professor of English, University of Connecticut
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220739
2024-02-01T14:24:22Z
2024-02-01T14:24:22Z
Slaves of God: Nigeria’s traditional Osu slavery practice was stopped, but the suffering continues
<p><em>There are global efforts to fight modern slavery, but a few traditional systems still hold strong in west Africa. These include Osu, Ohu and Trokosi.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo spoke to Michael Odijie who has <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-854">researched</a> one of the systems – Osu – and what can be done to finally put a stop to it.</em></p>
<h2>What is Osu?</h2>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2459907">Osu</a> is a traditional practice in the <a href="http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/%7Elegneref/igbo/igbo2.htm#:%7E:text=Most%20Igbo%20speakers%20are%20based,%2C%20Ebonyi%2C%20and%20Enugu%20States.">Igbo region</a>, in south-eastern Nigeria. In the past, Osu involved dedicating individuals to local deities, “transforming” them into slaves of the gods. Though such dedications no longer take place, the descendants of past Osu suffer from discrimination and social exclusion.</p>
<p>Historically, there were <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-854">several ways</a> a person could become an Osu. Some were purchased as slaves and then dedicated to local gods, either to atone for a crime committed by the purchaser or to seek assistance from the deity. An individual might attain the status of an Osu through birth if one of their parents was an Osu or through voluntarily seeking asylum, thus assuming the Osu status. For example, during the transatlantic slave trade, many chose this path: they would run to a shrine and dedicate themselves, to avoid being sold. Once dedicated as an Osu, they were generally ostracised from Igbo communities, yet simultaneously regarded with fear, seen as the slave of a deity.</p>
<p>Another common way to become an Osu was through marriage to an Osu, leading to persistent marriage discrimination even today.</p>
<p>The spread of Christianity, which occurred rapidly among the Igbos in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/colonialism-and-christianity-in-west-africa-the-igbo-case-190019151/A803DBB4AAF24CCEEA20597B37B5E649">20th century</a>, discouraged the practice of worshipping local deities. The historical practice of Osu has ended.</p>
<p>However, a new form of discrimination has taken its place, targeting the descendants of those historically identified as Osu. </p>
<p>One of the most significant forms of modern discrimination occurs in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-journal-of-postcolonial-literary-inquiry/article/abs/abolition-law-and-the-osu-marriage-novel/DDA6F8DDBB3D12D822EE42CC17FE165D">realm of marriage</a>. Freeborn individuals, who have no Osu lineage, are customarily prohibited from marrying someone of Osu lineage. Should they do so, both they and their offspring permanently become Osu, facing the same discrimination. This discrimination has a profound impact on the social and emotional lives of many Igbos of Osu lineage, particularly those of marriageable age. It can be challenging for them to find a spouse.</p>
<p>Another form of discrimination nowadays is social exclusion. In Igbo villages, Osu live in segregated quarters and are barred from social interactions with freeborn community members. They face barriers to accessing certain public amenities, attending community events and participating in communal decision-making processes. </p>
<p>Their descendants are also restricted from holding specific influential positions in the Igbo village power structure, such as the Okpara (the oldest man in the village) and the Onyishi.</p>
<h2>How prevalent is Osu and where is it practised?</h2>
<p>G. Ugo Nwokeji is an Igbo cultural historian who studied slavery in the Igbo region. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-descendants-of-slaves-in-nigeria-fight-for-equality">He estimated</a> that the Osu represented 5%-10% of the Igbo population. With an ethnic population of about 30 million <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199846733/obo-9780199846733-0143.xml">Igbos</a> in Nigeria, this suggests that between 1.5 and 3 million Igbos suffer from this discrimination. </p>
<p>The vast majority of Osu are found in Imo State, which has about 5.2 million people. But they are in every other Igbo-dominated state as well: Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Abia.</p>
<h2>Why has it been a challenge for governments to end the Osu practice?</h2>
<p>In 1956, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-0239">Nnamdi Azikiwe</a>, then the premier of Eastern Nigeria and later the first president of Nigeria, spearheaded the passage of a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/218649">law</a> aimed at abolishing Osu and its social disadvantages. </p>
<p>But the practice continued. No arrests were recorded. Osu is deeply rooted in tradition, making a purely legal approach insufficient.</p>
<p>One reason why eliminating discrimination has been difficult is that identifying an Osu is relatively straightforward for Igbos. They often reside in their own distinct quarters. Therefore, simply mentioning one’s village or family name can reveal one’s Osu status. This situation is a result of a combination of Igbo culture and colonial policy from the 1920s. During this period, individuals of slave origin began to assert themselves, and the British colonial response was to segregate them.</p>
<h2>What other approaches should be tried?</h2>
<p>A new abolition movement is gaining momentum in the Igbo region of Nigeria, fuelled by social media. This has enabled widespread awareness and advocacy, creating a more robust and inclusive dialogue about the Osu system.</p>
<p>One of the leading groups in this new movement is the <a href="https://ifetacsios.org.ng/">Initiative For the Eradication of Traditional and Cultural Stigmatisation in Our Society</a>, a network of campaigners led by Ogechukwu Stella Maduagwu. </p>
<p>Recognising that the Osu system is often viewed as having spiritual significance, the initiative places greater emphasis on the advice of cultural custodians, including traditional rulers. Consequently, it has developed a “model of abolition” that involves consultation with cultural figures, such as chief priests representing the deities, in Igbo villages. Using this model, the organisation successfully conducted an abolition ceremony in the <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2021/04/06/joy-celebration-as-nsukka-abolishes-osu-caste-system/">Nsukka region</a> of Enugu State.</p>
<p>Another leading campaigner is <a href="https://www.globalpeacechain.org/team_members/dr-nwaocha-ogechukwu/">Nwaocha Ogechukwu</a>, a scholar and researcher specialising in religious and cultural discrimination. He has established a platform named Marriage Without Borders to assist young people who face marriage discrimination due to being labelled as Osu. In collaboration with religious leaders, he provides counselling and support to those suffering from the adverse effects of this system.</p>
<p>A challenge for the emerging movement is its localised approach. Without a strategy that encompasses the entire Igbo region, campaigners are unable to collaborate effectively or engage in a unified, sustainable effort. This issue arises from the diverse genealogies of the Osu and the lack of a single traditional Igbo authority. </p>
<p>As a result, the movement has found it difficult to gain widespread traction. It continues to have a village-level focus.</p>
<p>We recommend that the movement align itself with broader human rights campaigns within Nigeria, across Africa and internationally. The Osu system bears resemblances to Ghana’s <a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=history-in-the-making">Trokosi system</a>. The campaign to abolish <a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-in-west-africa-offered-into-sexual-slavery-as-wives-of-gods-105400">Trokosi</a> achieved notable success because its message resonated on a national level, garnering support from international activists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie receives funding from UCL Knowledge Exchange </span></em></p>
Ending discrimination against the Osu has been difficult because identifying an Osu is relatively straightforward for Igbos.
Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214692
2024-01-08T13:35:06Z
2024-01-08T13:35:06Z
From South Asia to Mexico, from slave to spiritual icon, this woman’s life is a snapshot of Spain’s colonization – and the Pacific slave trade history that books often leave out
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567986/original/file-20240105-21-aftxx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C291%2C2583%2C3402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Catarina was revered in Puebla, Mexico – but devotion to her attracted Catholic authorities' disapproval after her death.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from the collections of the Biblioteca Nacional de España</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jan. 5, 2024, marked 336 years since the passing of an extraordinary woman you have probably never heard of: Catarina de San Juan.</p>
<p>Her life reads like an epic. Born in South Asia during the early 17th century, she was captured by the Portuguese at age 8 and sold to Spaniards in the Philippines. Spanish merchants then <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">traded her across the Pacific to Mexico</a>, where she became a free woman and a spiritual icon, famous in the city of Puebla for her devotion to Catholicism. As <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/history/people/faculty/diego-luis">a scholar of colonial Latin America</a>, I believe she deserves to become a household name for anyone with even a passing interest in Asian American history or the history of slavery.</p>
<p>Catarina was one of the first Asians in the Americas – a focus of <a href="https://facultyprofiles.tufts.edu/diego-luis/publications">my historical research</a>, and <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">the title of my recent book</a> – and arrived through a little-known slave trade that crossed the Pacific Ocean. In colonial Mexico, she lived in the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23055341?seq=1">nideaquínideallá</a>,” the “neither-from-here-nor-from-there”: a valley between acceptance and foreignness, an in-between state familiar to many migrants today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A faded brown and tan map showing the Americas, Pacific Ocean and East and Southeast Asia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568051/original/file-20240105-17-np0o2t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of ship routes across the Spanish Empire by 16th century cartographer Juan Lopez de Velasco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCBMAPS~1~1~1100~102700001:-Demarcacion-y-nauegaciones-de-Yndi?qvq=q:juan%20lopez%20de%20velasco;lc:JCBMAPS~1~1,JCB~3~3,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~3~3,JCBMAPS~2~2,JCB~1~1&mi=35&trs=56">Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Life of Catarina</h2>
<p>The particulars of Catarina’s journey are quite unfamiliar, even for those who study the history of slavery. </p>
<p>Most people have heard of the <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/">transatlantic slave trade</a>, which lasted from the early 16th century to the mid- to late 19th century. It was responsible for the violent displacement of some 12.5 million Africans to the Americas.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/asian-slaves-in-colonial-mexico/1136CF8D42E50A4F5BA6DF10C091F6ED">transpacific slave trade</a>, on the other hand, remains largely unknown. From the late 16th to early 18th centuries, Spaniards forced some <a href="https://libros.colmex.mx/tienda/la-migracion-asiatica-en-el-virreinato-de-la-nueva-espana-un-proceso-de-globalizacion-1565-1700/">8,000-10,000 captives</a> onto rickety galleons, where they would endure a six-month odyssey from the Philippines to Mexico. The enslaved captives came from South, Southeast and East Asia, as well as East Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded illustration of a green area by the sea, with a larger tree in the right foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567787/original/file-20240103-15-qqsxu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of Acapulco port in present-day Mexico, where many ships carrying slaves landed, in 1628.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puerto_de_Acapulco_Boot_1628.png">Adrian Boot/Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After her capture, Catarina – whose name at birth was Mirra – <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">was taken to Kochi, India</a>, where she was baptized and received her Christian name. Later, in Manila, a young Spaniard stabbed and beat her within an inch of her life when she refused his advances. In her words, “Only the divine majesty knows what I went through.”</p>
<p>She only ended up on a galleon destined for Mexico because Captain Miguel de Sosa desired the service of a “chinita,” or little Asian girl. Yet he quickly realized that Catarina had uncommon virtues when she showed little regard for money or objects of material value. Sosa freed Catarina in his will.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white stone church tower against an azure sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567782/original/file-20240103-29-y1kbqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catarina’s burial place in Puebla, Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/fa%C3%A7ade-tower-church-of-la-compania-puebla-mexico-royalty-free-image/1207400074?phrase=catarina+de+san+juan&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">bpperry/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the next six decades, she led a life of social isolation, abstinence, humility and rejection of material pleasures – what her admirers saw as an exemplary life of holy Catholic suffering. She lived entirely on charitable offerings and, according to <a href="https://repositorio.unam.mx/contenidos/compendio-de-la-vida-y-virtudes-de-la-venerable-catharina-de-san-juan-36?c=4yKEMp&d=false&q=*:*&i=1&v=1&t=search_0&as=0">one Jesuit observer</a>, wore only a “dark, wool dress” with “the crudest, the coarsest” cloak. Her modest lodgings were “filled with filthy critters.” </p>
<p>And she prayed. She prayed for water in drought, for Indigenous people dying of famine and disease, for ships lost at sea, for travelers braving the roads. She prayed for those who needed help the most.</p>
<p>Even as Catarina gained renown, some Spaniards questioned the sincerity of her devotion. Throughout Catarina’s life, detractors described her as a “trickster,” “a witch,” “untamed” and “unknowable,” while Spanish allies viewed her as evidence that all the world could be converted to Catholicism.</p>
<p>The Catholic priest who regularly heard her confessions was a Jesuit named Alonso Ramos. After Catarina died, he authored an enormous <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">three-volume biography</a> of her life, the longest text ever published in colonial Mexico. </p>
<p>Ramos turned an unlikely subject – a formerly enslaved South Asian woman – into a superhero of the colonial world. Catarina’s portrait, which appeared in Ramos’ first volume, became <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/25562">a popular relic</a>, and followers in Puebla converted her humble bedroom into an altar where Catholics could pray for her divine favor.</p>
<h2>Historical amnesia</h2>
<p>Why, then, do few people know about Catarina today?</p>
<p>The answer is twofold. First, <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">Ramos’ text</a> was considered controversial outside of Puebla because it depicted Catarina with powers reserved only for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He describes her announcing prophecies, performing miracles, traveling in her dreams and regularly conversing with Jesus, whom she considered her celestial husband. </p>
<p>In short, Ramos had committed blasphemy. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195157239.003.0003">Inquisitions of Spain and Mexico</a> censored and burned his volumes shortly after publication. Inquisitors ended all devotion to Catarina’s image and took down the makeshift altar in her room.</p>
<p>Over time, the memory of the real Catarina morphed into something entirely different. Spaniards sometimes called her a “china,” the word colonists in Mexico used to refer to <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271784">any Asian subject</a>. Today, though, the phrase “china poblana” – the Asian woman from Puebla – refers to <a href="https://theautry.org/exhibitions/story-china-poblana">a popular, coquettish style of Mexican dress</a>, with a patterned skirt, white blouse and shawl. </p>
<p>Virtually nothing about Catarina’s life has been preserved in the modern “china poblana,” which was invented in the 19th century. In fact, it connotes sexual confidence and national pride, two concepts that Catarina would have likely rejected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of three women in full, brightly colored skirts standing by a doorway, as a man leans over on the side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567775/original/file-20240103-25-yu1gq8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Poblanas,’ by Carl Nebel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poblanas.jpg">María del Carmen Vázquez Mantecón/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the field of Asian American history has been hesitant to peer south of the U.S. border, despite several <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807854488/at-americas-gates/">noteworthy efforts</a>. Many people in the U.S. remain unaware that many Asian people live in Latin America and the Caribbean – indeed, that they have lived there for centuries longer than in the United States. Asians had been <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/asians-were-visiting-the-west-coast-of-america-in-1587">coming and going from the Americas</a> for over 200 years by the time the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.</p>
<p>Today, significant Asian populations inhabit nearly all Latin American and Caribbean nations, mostly due to later waves of immigration <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199730414-0294">and indentured servitude</a>. Brazil hosts the largest number of Japanese and Japanese descendants outside of Japan at around <a href="https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/latin/brazil/data.html">2 million</a>, and <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469607139/chinese-cubans/">the Chinatown in Havana, Cuba</a>, was once the largest in the Americas. Indo-Caribbean people are the first- or second-largest group on many Caribbean islands, including Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.</p>
<p>Catarina de San Juan and the first Asians in the Americas challenge the traditional timeline and geography of Asian American history. Their stories also capture what many people who end up in the Americas have faced: the trauma of displacement.</p>
<p>As Catarina coped with the harsh realities of her new life, she once <a href="https://historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/publicadigital/libros/prodigios_catarina/tomo01.html">told Ramos</a> that she frequently saw her parents in her spiritual visions. Sometimes, they were in purgatory, where Catholics believe their souls are purified before they can enter heaven. However, she most often envisioned them coming “in the company of the ship from the Philippines to the port of Acapulco, from where, on their knees, they came into my presence.” </p>
<p>Her pain and longing for a stolen family, a lost youth and a hazily remembered homeland were those of generations of Asian captives taken to the Americas. I believe that her extraordinary life merits long-overdue recognition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Javier Luis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Accounts of Asian American history often stop at the US border, but Asians were living in Latin America for centuries before the Declaration of Independence.
Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216281
2023-12-27T11:11:04Z
2023-12-27T11:11:04Z
An African history of cannabis offers fascinating and heartbreaking insights – an expert explains
<p>When I tell people that I research cannabis, I sometimes receive a furtive gesture that implies and presumes: “We’re both stoners!”, as if two members of a secret society have met. </p>
<p>Other times, I receive looks of concern. “You don’t want to be known as the guy who studies marijuana,” a professional colleague once counselled. Lastly, some respond with blank stares: “Why do academics spend time on such frivolous topics?” </p>
<p>I’ve learned that all these attitudes reflect ignorance about the plant, which few people have learned about except through popular media or their own experiences with it.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-1-4780-0394-6_601.pdf">study cannabis</a>, but I’m more broadly interested in how people and plants interact. I’ve studied plants from perspectives ranging between ecology and cultural history, including <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=192935">obscure plants</a> and more widely known ones, such as the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01751.x">African baobab</a>. </p>
<p>Cannabis is in another category, being one of the world’s most famous and widespread plants. Yet it’s the one for which people most commonly question my research motivations.</p>
<p>Cannabis has a truly global history associated with a wide range of uses and meanings. The plant evolved in central Asia millions of years ago. Across Eurasia, humans began using cannabis seeds and fibre more than 12,000 years ago, and by 5,000 years ago, people in south Asia had learned to use cannabis as an edible drug. It arrived in east Africa over 1,000 years ago. </p>
<p>Cannabis has been under global prohibition for most of the last century, which has stunted understanding of the people-plant relationship. Africa, Africans and people of the African diaspora have had crucial roles in the plant’s history that are mostly forgotten. </p>
<p>I want people to learn about cannabis history for four reasons. First, understanding its historical uses can help identify potential new uses. Second, understanding why people have valued cannabis can improve how current societies manage it. Third, understanding how people have used cannabis illuminates African influences on global culture. Finally, understanding how people are profiting from cannabis exposes inequities within the global economy.</p>
<h2>Medicinal potential</h2>
<p>The African history of cannabis highlights its medicinal potential, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/cannabis-policy-changes-in-africa-are-welcome-but-small-producers-are-the-losers-179681">topic of growing interest</a>. </p>
<p>Advocates of medical cannabis often justify their interest by telling tales of the plant’s past. Yet the tales they tell – notably in medical journals – have been problematic. They are only about social <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1606635031000135604">elites</a> and are mostly untrue. </p>
<p>The African past is absent from this medical literature, even though historical observers reported how Africans used cannabis in contexts that justify current interest in its medicinal potential. </p>
<p>For instance, in the 1840s, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oYUVAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA437&dq=great+promoter+of+exhilaration+of+spirits,+and+a+sovereign+remedy+against+all+complaints&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi65on7l4WCAxX0KFkFHbwjBb4Q6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=exhilaration%20of%20spirits&f=false">a British physician reported</a> that central African people liberated from slave ships considered the plant drug </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a great promoter of exhilaration of spirits, and a sovereign remedy against all complaints. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These were emaciated, traumatised survivors. Their experience justifies <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/can.2020.0056">exploring cannabis as a potential treatment</a> for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and other conditions.</p>
<h2>Exploitative labour</h2>
<p>We need to understand why people value cannabis to identify and address <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395902000828">social processes that may produce drug use</a>. </p>
<p>Africans have <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-8822-5_10">valued cannabis</a> for centuries, though it’s difficult to know all the uses it had, because most weren’t documented. Despite its limits, the historical record clearly shows that people used cannabis as a stimulant and painkiller in association with hard labour. </p>
<p>Many European travellers observed their porters smoking cannabis before setting off each day. A <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IMwNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA257&dq=affirm+that+it+wakes+them+up+and+warms+their+bodies,+so+that+they+are+ready+to+start+up+with+alacrity&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlre3am4WCAxWVEGIAHfJZAmQQ6AF6BAgQEAI#v=onepage&q=alacrity&f=false">Portuguese in Angola stated</a> that the porters: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>affirm that it wakes them up and warms their bodies, so that they are ready to start up with alacrity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Because labourers valued cannabis, many overseers did too. </p>
<p>Cannabis drug use remains associated with social marginalisation in contexts from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332640.2017.1300972">Morocco</a> to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395918300124">Nigeria</a>. </p>
<p>The pan-African experience suggests using it is not a moral failing of users but is – at least in part – symptomatic of exploitation and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9566.13244">inequity</a>. </p>
<h2>Africa’s place in global culture</h2>
<p>I also study cannabis to understand how African knowledge has shaped global culture. Cannabis travelled as an <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2568024731?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">element of exploitative labour relationships</a> that carried people around the world, including chattel slavery, indentured service and wage slavery. There is strong evidence that <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-african-roots-of-marijuana">psychoactive cannabis crossed the Atlantic with Africans</a>. </p>
<p>Oral histories from Brazil, Jamaica, Liberia and Sierra Leone tell that enslaved central Africans carried cannabis. In 1840s Gabon, a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ewUBImRf6IMC&pg=PA420&dq=%22intending+to+plant+them+in+the+country+to+which+he+should+be+sold%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbzsOhn4WCAxW5F1kFHZw1Bv0Q6AF6BAgLEAI#v=onepage&q=%22intending%20to%20plant%20them%20in%20the%20country%20to%20which%20he%20should%20be%20sold%22&f=false">French-American traveller observed</a> a man </p>
<blockquote>
<p>carefully preserving (seeds), intending to plant them in the country to which he should be sold. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The people who transported seeds shaped our modern language. Around the Atlantic, many terms for cannabis trace to central Africa, including the global word marijuana, derived from Kimbundu <em>mariamba</em>. </p>
<p>Further, the most common modern use of cannabis – as a smoked drug – was an African innovation. Prehistoric people in eastern Africa <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/719224">invented smoking pipes</a>. After the plant arrived from south Asia, eastern Africans discovered that smoking was a more efficient way to consume cannabis compared with edible forms of the drug. Notably, all water pipes – hookahs, bongs, shishas and so on – trace ultimately to African precedents. </p>
<h2>Drug policy reforms</h2>
<p>Finally, understanding the plant’s African past illuminates inequities within the global economy. </p>
<p>Drug policy reforms worldwide have opened lucrative, legal markets for cannabis. Businesses are feverishly competing for wealth, and governments are eagerly seeking new revenue sources. The rush to profit has enabled businesses from wealthy countries <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/17599">to gain power in poorer countries</a>. </p>
<p>Most African countries that have enacted drug-policy reforms – notable exceptions being South Africa and Morocco – did so only after foreign businesses paid for cannabis farming licences. These had always been possible under existing laws, though the governments had never made them available. </p>
<p>These drug-policy reforms don’t meaningfully extend to citizens of African countries. Licensing fees are either unknown or unaffordable for most citizens of the countries that have allowed commercial farming, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Lesotho, Malawi, Eswatini and the Democratic Republic of Congo. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cannabis-policy-changes-in-africa-are-welcome-but-small-producers-are-the-losers-179681">Cannabis policy changes in Africa are welcome. But small producers are the losers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The countries that have allowed licensed production <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/southerneye/2014/03/30/binga-villagers-want-freedom-use-mbanje">still prohibit</a> traditional cannabis uses. Even as export markets grow, African citizens <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46288374">face criminal consequences</a> for domestic production. </p>
<p>Cannabis-policy reforms in Africa have mostly benefited investors and consumers in wealthy countries, not Africans, a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48519445">textbook example of neocolonialism</a>. Further, profitable industries in Europe and North America <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562576.2016.1138674">rely on seed taken from Africa</a>, where cannabis genetic diversity is high thanks to farmers’ plant-breeding skills. </p>
<p>Cannabis is the centre of industries that generate billions of dollars annually. Increasingly, this income is legal. History shows that African countries have competitive advantages for cannabis farming. Reforms should <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-8778-5_10">enable Africans to enjoy these advantages</a>.</p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>Globally, many societies are recognising that criminalising cannabis <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687637.2021.1972936">has produced problems and has not eliminated drug use</a>. Some African countries are <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/can.2021.0110">developing cannabis-policy reforms</a> that include decriminalisation and degrees of legalisation. African (and non-African) societies must address <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ediomo-Ubong-Nelson/publication/355507767_Between_Prohibition_and_Regulation_Narrative_Analysis_of_Cannabis_Policy_Debate_in_Africa/links/61767ccb0be8ec17a92a1ab6/Between-Prohibition-and-Regulation-Narrative-Analysis-of-Cannabis-Policy-Debate-in-Africa.pdf">complex questions in evaluating cannabis policies</a>. </p>
<p>In any case, the plant’s African past provides insight into both long-term and emerging issues in humanity’s interactions with cannabis. This is why I study African cannabis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris S. Duvall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The plant’s African past provides insight into emerging issues in humanity’s interactions with cannabis.
Chris S. Duvall, Professor of Geography, University of New Mexico
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218878
2023-12-11T13:13:40Z
2023-12-11T13:13:40Z
The Napoléon that Ridley Scott and Hollywood won’t let you see
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564552/original/file-20231208-29-g15j8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C6%2C1388%2C1023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 1802 Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot was part of Napoléon's effort to retake Haiti − then known as Saint-Domingue − and reestablish slavery in the colony.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Haitian_Revolution.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Critics have been raking Ridley Scott’s new movie about Napoléon Bonaparte over the coals for its many <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/heres-why-historians-are-not-a-fan-of-ridley-scotts-napoleon/articleshow/105540885.cms">historical inaccuracies</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar of French colonialism and slavery who studies <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tropics-of-haiti-9781781381854">historical fiction</a>, or the fictionalization of real events, I was much less bothered by most of the liberties taken in “Napoleon” – although shooting cannons at the pyramids <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/science/napoleon-movie-ridley-scott-egypt-pyramid.html">did seem like one indulgence too far</a>. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5292/">argued elsewhere</a> that historical fictions need not necessarily be judged by adherence to facts. Instead, inventiveness, creativity, ideology and, ultimately, storytelling power are what matter most.</p>
<p>But in lieu of offering a fresh and imaginative take on Napoléon, Scott’s film rehearsed the well-known <a href="https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/12/04/battle-of-austerlitz-reenactment-draws-record-numbers-of-participants">battles of Austerlitz</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wagram">Wagram</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/world/europe/200-years-after-battle-some-hard-feelings-remain.html">Waterloo</a>, while erasing perhaps the most momentous – and consequential – of Bonaparte’s military campaigns. </p>
<p>As with <a href="https://collider.com/great-napoleon-movies/#39-love-and-death-39-1975">every other Napoléon movie</a>, Scott’s version will leave viewers with no understanding of the <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/all-devils-are-here">genocidal war to restore slavery</a> that Bonaparte waged against Black revolutionaries in the French colony of Saint-Domingue – what’s known as Haiti today. </p>
<p>To me, leaving out this history is akin to making a movie about Hitler without mentioning the Holocaust. </p>
<h2>‘I am for the whites, because I am white’</h2>
<p>France’s seemingly eternal on-again, off-again war with Great Britain did not change the immediate boundaries of either country. These wars were often fought over land in the American hemisphere and included a historic contest over Martinique, a small island in the Caribbean, whose fate had far-reaching repercussions for slavery.</p>
<p>In 1794, following three years of slave rebellions in Saint-Domingue – events now known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-kingdom-of-haiti-the-wakanda-of-the-western-hemisphere-108250">the Haitian Revolution</a> – the French government <a href="https://revolution.chnm.org/d/291">abolished slavery</a> in all French overseas territories. </p>
<p>Martinique, however, was not included: The French had recently lost the island to the British <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/martinique-british-occupation-1794-1802">in battle</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/L_Europe_pendant_le_consulat_et_l_empire/9MROAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA234&printsec=frontcover">a 1799 speech to the French government</a>, Bonaparte explained that if he had been in Martinique at the time the French lost the colony, he would have been on the side of the British – because they never dared to abolish slavery. </p>
<p>“I am for the whites, because I am white,” Bonaparte said. “I have no other reason, and this is the right one. How could anyone have granted freedom to Africans, to men who had no civilization.” </p>
<p>Once he rose to power, Bonaparte signed the 1802 <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/treaty-amiens">Treaty of Amiens</a> with the British, which returned Martinique to French rule. Afterward, he passed a law permitting slavery to continue in Martinique. And in <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9tablissement_de_l%27esclavage_par_Napol%C3%A9on_Bonaparte">July 1802</a>, Bonaparte formally reinstated slavery on Guadeloupe, another French colony in the Caribbean. Slavery then persisted in France’s overseas empire until 1848, long after his death in 1821.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Saint-Domingue, Bonaparte <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62963447/f210.item">authorized</a> his <a href="https://unsansculotte.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/repression_revolt_and_racial_politics_ma.pdf">generals</a> to <a href="http://www.manioc.org/gsdl/collect/patrimon/tmp/NAN13043.html">eliminate the majority</a> of the adult Black population, and he signed a law to <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62963462/f457.image">reinstate the slave trade</a> to the island.</p>
<h2>A Black general’s rise</h2>
<p>For the mission to succeed, Bonaparte’s troops would have to contend with a formerly enslaved man called <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/loverture-toussaint-1743-1803/">Toussaint Louverture</a>, who had become a prominent leader during the early years of the Haitian Revolution. </p>
<p>After general emancipation, when the Black population had become citizens – rather than slaves – of France, Louverture joined the French army. He went on to play a key role in helping France combat and eventually defeat Spanish and British forces, who had since invaded the colony in an attempt to take it over.</p>
<p>Recognizing his military prowess, the French consistently promoted Louverture until he became the second Black general in a French army – after <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/dumas-thomas-alexandre-1762-1806/">General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas</a>, father of the famous French novelist Alexandre Dumas. (Thomas-Alexandre Dumas incidentally appears in the film as a character with a nonspeaking part.) </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of Black man dressed in military regalia opposite a man in religious garb. They are surrounded by soldiers and citizens, and a god-like figure looks over them from the clouds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564546/original/file-20231208-18-oomc5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A print of Toussaint Louverture holding a copy of the Constitution of 1801.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.31021/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1801, as a testament to his growing authority, Louverture issued a <a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/haiti/1801/constitution.htm">famous constitution</a> that appointed him governor-general of the whole island. Yet he still professed fealty to France even as the colony became semi-autonomous. </p>
<p>By then, however, Bonaparte had assumed power as first consul of France – and had made it his mission to “<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62963462/f330.image">annihilate the government of the Blacks</a>” in Saint-Domingue so he could bring back slavery.</p>
<p>In January 1802, Bonaparte sent his brother-in-law Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc to Saint-Domingue with tens of thousands of French troops. </p>
<p><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62963462/f424.image">Bonaparte’s instructions</a>? </p>
<p>Arrest Louverture and reinstate slavery. </p>
<h2>The fall of Louverture</h2>
<p>One of the film’s writers, <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/awards/consider-this/ridley-scott-napoleon-writer-david-scarpa-true-false-1234931486/#:%7E:text=There's%20a%20dangerous%20allure%20to,affair%20with%20his%20wife%2C%20right%3F">David Scarpa</a>, said Napoléon represents for him “the classic example of the benevolent dictator.” </p>
<p>If that Napoléon ever did exist, Louverture never met him.</p>
<p>In June 1802, Napoléon’s army arrested Louverture and deported him to France. As Louverture wasted away in a French prison, Bonaparte refused to put Louverture on trial. Throughout his incarceration, the guards at the jail denied Louverture food, water, heat and medical care. Louverture subsequently <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/wrongful-death-toussaint-louverture#:%7E:text=On%20the%20morning%20of%207,captive%20for%20nearly%20eight%20months.">starved and froze to death</a>.</p>
<p>With Louverture gone, Napoléon’s army operated with more bloodlust than ever before. In addition to conventional weapons, his troops fought the freedom fighters with <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Historical_Account_of_the_Black_Empir/CTpAAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22assumed+a+complexion+more+sanguinary+and+terrible+than+can+be+conceived+among+civilized+people%22&pg=PA326&printsec=frontcover">floating gas chambers</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Literary_Magazine_and_American_Regis/9BwAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%E2%80%9CSeven+or+eight+hundred+blacks,+and+men+of+colour,+were+seized+upon+in+the+streets,+in+the+public+places,+in+the+very+houses%22&pg=PA447&printsec=frontcover">mass drownings</a> and <a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ecavitch/pdf-library/Johnson_dogs_and_torture.pdf">dog attacks</a> – all in the name of restoring slavery.</p>
<p>The Black freedom fighters, now calling themselves the armée indigène, led by Haiti’s founder <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-haitis-founding-father-whose-black-revolution-was-too-radical-for-thomas-jefferson-101963">General Jean-Jacques Dessalines</a>, definitively defeated French forces in the historic <a href="https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/the-battle-of-vertieres/">Battle of Vertières</a> on Nov. 18, 1803. On Jan. 1, 1804, they <a href="https://haitidoi.com/doi/#:%7E:text=IT%20is%20not%20enough%20to,act%20of%20national%20authority%2C%20to">officially declared independence</a> from France and changed the name of the island to Haiti.</p>
<h2>‘A fatal move’</h2>
<p>If the filmmakers had included Napoléon’s failed mission to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue, it could have served as a propitious moment to tie the movie back to one of its only coherent arcs: Napoléon’s undying love for <a href="https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-josephine-bonaparte-love-story-marriage-divorce">Joséphine de Beauharnais</a>, his first wife.</p>
<p>In one memorable scene in the film, Joséphine tells Bonaparte that he is nothing without her, and he agrees.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Painting of woman with short brown hair wearing two necklackes and a white ruffled blouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564547/original/file-20231208-29-3a2n46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joséphine de Beauharnais advised Napoléon to let Saint-Domingue operate as a semi-autonomous colony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Jos%C3%A9phine_de_Beauharnais_vers_1809_Gros.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, Joséphine’s posthumously published memoir suggests that Bonaparte disregarded his wife’s most prescient counsel. Joséphine wrote that she urged her husband not to send an expedition to Saint-Domingue, prophesying this as a “fatal move” that “would forever take this beautiful colony away from France.” She <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9636609r/f112.image">advised Bonaparte</a>, alternatively, to “keep Toussaint Louverture there. That is the man required to govern the Blacks.” </p>
<p>She subsequently asked him, “What complaints could you have against this leader of the Blacks? He has always maintained correspondence with you; he has done even more, he has given you, in some sense, his children for hostages.” </p>
<p>Louverture’s children had attended Paris’ storied <a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/dhs_0070-6760_2000_num_32_1_2364">Collège de la Marche</a>, alongside the children of other prominent Black Saint-Domingue officials. Although Bonaparte ended up sending Louverture’s children back to the colony with Leclerc, another Black general from Saint-Domingue who fought to oppose slavery’s reinstatement was not so lucky. </p>
<p>Just before Bonaparte’s troops began their genocidal war in the name of restoring slavery, Haiti’s future king, <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-king-of-haiti-and-the-dilemmas-of-freedom-in-a-colonised-world">General Henry Christophe</a>, sent his son, François Ferdinand, to the Collège de la Marche. </p>
<p>After the Haitian revolutionaries defeated France and declared the island independent in 1804, Bonaparte ordered the school closed. Many of its Black students, like young Ferdinand, were then thrown into orphanages. The abandoned child <a href="https://archive.org/details/rflexionspolitiq00vast/page/6/mode/2up?q=Ferdinand">died alone in July 1805</a> at the age of 11.</p>
<p>Only at the end of his life, during his second exile on the remote island of St. Helena, did Napoléon express remorse for any of this. </p>
<p>“I can only reproach myself for the attempt on that colony,” the <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4710580&seq=533&q1=Toussaint">defunct emperor</a> said. “I should have contented myself with governing it through Toussaint.”</p>
<h2>A missed opportunity</h2>
<p>By including some of this rich material, Ridley Scott could have made a truly original film with historical and contemporary relevance. </p>
<p>After all, Napoléon’s history of trying to stop the Haitian Revolution – the most significant revolution for freedom the modern world has ever seen – has never been depicted on a Hollywood screen.</p>
<p>Instead, hiding behind beautiful cinematography, magnificent costuming and Vanessa Kirby’s masterful portrayal of Joséphine, Scott ultimately produced an unimaginative film about the already well-trodden military successes and failures of the man depicted as having literally crowned himself France’s emperor.</p>
<p>If “Napoleon” doesn’t exactly glorify its main subject, its creators certainly seemed to sympathize with the man whose wars were responsible for more than 3,000,000 deaths, as the film’s final caption reads. </p>
<p>The film did not say whether that number includes the tens of thousands of Black people Napoléon’s army killed in Saint-Domingue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marlene Daut does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Leaving out the history of Napoléon’s brutal subjugation of Haiti is akin to making a movie about Hitler without mentioning the Holocaust.
Marlene Daut, Professor of French and African American Studies, Yale University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213419
2023-10-13T16:31:25Z
2023-10-13T16:31:25Z
Cardinal Newman: pro-slavery views of prominent 19th-century cleric raise questions about his educational legacy
<p>One of the comforting stories the British told themselves in the 19th and 20th centuries was that they were implacably opposed to slavery.</p>
<p>Britons had decided “that the disgrace of slavery should not be suffered to remain part of our national system”, or so Lord Stanley, the colonial secretary at the moment of abolition, maintained. It was a claim willingly accepted by later generations. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/slavery-abolition-act-1833">1833 Act</a> that abolished slavery in Britain’s Atlantic empire reflected the undivided national will.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/439452/the-interest-by-michael-taylor/9781529110982">recent scholarship</a> casts doubt on that verdict. The West Indian planters, who held hundreds of thousands in bondage, were well-connected and influential. The freeing of their captive workers did not seem to them inevitable. Many abolitionists thought the same, despairing at the entrenched power of the slave masters. </p>
<p>When slavery went, it went because a series of political crises in Britain splintered the pro-slavery Tory coalition that had dominated politics for decades. It ended too because <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674984301">resistance by the enslaved</a> in the Caribbean convinced legislators in London that slavery was no longer sustainable. But not all commentators were persuaded that slavery had to go. </p>
<h2>Newman and the Oxford Movement</h2>
<p>One of them was <a href="https://www.universitychurch.ox.ac.uk/content/st-john-henry-newman">John Henry Newman</a> (1801-1890), fellow of Oriel College Oxford and the vicar of St Mary’s, Oxford’s university church. </p>
<p>Newman was one of the most significant churchmen of the age. Eventually received into the Roman Catholic church in 1845, he became the most influential English Catholic of the 19th century. He was made a cardinal in 1879, and in 2019 he was canonised. For that reason, Newman’s name is attached to dozens of Roman Catholic schools and colleges in Britain, as well as a university in the West Midlands.</p>
<p>But before his conversion, he was a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, a high church group that wanted to renew the institutional authority of Anglicanism by emphasising its rootedness in the early church. Appealing to scripture, the path favoured by Evangelical Anglicans, was dismissed as insufficient. </p>
<p>There were political consequences. Evangelicals of the time tended towards anti-slavery. The clergymen who made up the Oxford Movement did not. Indeed, notes prepared by John Henry Newman for a <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/display/10.1093/actrade/9780199200900.book.1/actrade-9780199200900-book-1">sermon at Oxford in 1835</a> reveal that he was profoundly hostile to the idea of emancipation.</p>
<h2>Preaching against emancipation</h2>
<p>Abolitionist rhetoric about human brotherhood was brushed aside. “It is a very easy thing,” Newman told his congregation, “to talk of loving all men”. But could his congregation, were they to be whisked from their cloistered lives in Oxford to the West Indies, do so in practice? Newman thought not:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is said to be one of the most difficult tasks of our Ministers to persuade white men to receive the Holy Communion with blacks. I do not say such reluctance is a light sin – it is a serious one – yet perhaps we should feel strongly tempted to it if we lived in the countries where they are to be found. I do not doubt we should.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An aversion to communing with black people was, Newman suggested, quite understandable. It would require white people to hurdle an insurmountable racial barrier.</p>
<p>Having established, in his own mind at least, that racial repulsion was instinctual, Newman turned to the matter of slavery. As was usual with clerical defenders of slavery, Newman reached for the epistles of St Paul. Taking <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Letter-of-Paul-to-the-Corinthians">Paul’s</a> first letter to the Corinthians as his text, the vicar of St Mary’s came to this conclusion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now we find in these words a doctrine stated, very startlingly and unpalatable to men of this day, but which is most clear and certain and contained in other parts of Scripture – viz that slavery is a condition of life ordained by God…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Contemporary abolitionists who drew upon the gospel when criticising slavery did so without warrant. They were guilty of uttering “idle and false words”. Warming to his theme, Newman went on to rail against reformers more generally. Their talk of “liberty, equality, rights, privileges, and the like” was offensive to God.</p>
<h2>Assessing Newman</h2>
<p>Historical figures, it is often said, need to be assessed by the standards of their own time. Yet John Henry Newman’s venomous sermon, coming little more than a year after the end of slavery in the British sugar islands, reminds us that the “standards of the time” were plural. </p>
<p>Many Britons of the 1830s gloried in abolition, but there were many others who were content with slavery and racial subjugation. And there were some, like Newman, who were willing to say so in provocative ways.</p>
<p>Newman’s words from 1835 have been forgotten, but John Henry Newman has not. Students and educators at those institutions that bear his name might want to consider whether it should continue to be so attached.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Many Catholic schools in Britain retain the name John Henry Newman, despite his opposition to abolishing slavery.
Chris Evans, Professor of History, University of South Wales
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215413
2023-10-12T15:42:16Z
2023-10-12T15:42:16Z
Detangling the roots and health risks of hair relaxers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553298/original/file-20231011-17-pt1c1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C16%2C1573%2C1029&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sinclair Daniel plays Nella in 'The Other Black Girl', a horror-satire about the dangers of Black women's hair care products — something this week's podcast guest knows a lot about</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wilfred Harwood/Hulu)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/e1cedb4b-f913-4e16-99f9-79aaed19a961?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>In this reflective and personal episode of <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/detangling-the-roots-and-health-risks-of-hair-relaxers"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, Prof. Cheryl Thompson of Toronto Metropolitan University and author of <a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/B/Beauty-in-a-Box"><em>Beauty in a Box</em></a> untangles the wending history of hair relaxers for Black women — and the health risks now linked to them.</p>
<p>For decades, Black women have been using hair relaxers to help them “fit into” global mainstream workplaces and the European standards of beauty that <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/the-crown-act-september-2020-cover-story">continue to dominate them</a>. More recently, research has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djac165">linked these relaxers to cancer</a> and reproductive health issues — and a spate of <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/hair-straightener-relaxers-cancer.html">lawsuits across the United States</a>, and at least <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/black-hair-class-action-lawsuit-loreal-1.6721662">one in Canada</a>, have been brought by Black women against the makers of these relaxants.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The ad shows a Black woman in a red suit jacket, holding a phone: 'Was it her resume or Raveen.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553319/original/file-20231011-27-nefrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vintage magazine ad for the ‘Raveen hair relaxer system,’ circa 1990.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Prof. Thompson and I get into it: including her own relationship to using relaxers as a Black woman, the lawsuits and the wending history and relationship between these relaxants and Black women. We also — for obvious reasons — dip into <em>The Other Black Girl</em>, the novel that is also now a horror-satire streaming series about mind-controlling hair products. </p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-canadian-women-artists-detangle-the-roots-of-black-beauty-109560">Black Canadian women artists detangle the roots of Black beauty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kinky-curly-hair-a-tool-of-resistance-across-the-african-diaspora-65692">Kinky, curly hair: a tool of resistance across the African diaspora</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jada-pinkett-smith-and-black-womens-hair-history-of-disrespect-leads-to-the-crown-act-180631">Jada Pinkett Smith and Black women's hair: History of disrespect leads to the CROWN Act</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-word-how-to-confront-150-years-of-racial-stereotypes-dont-call-me-resilient-153790">What's in a word? How to confront 150 years of racial stereotypes: Don't Call Me Resilient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553325/original/file-20231011-25-arojsy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vintage magazine ad for Ultra Sheen, a hair product made by the Black-owned Johnson Products to cater to Black consumers, circa 1963.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djac165">Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer</a> (<em>Journal of the National Cancer Institute</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/27/loreal-lawsuit-hair-straightener-relaxer/">“She was diagnosed with cancer at 28. Her lawsuit blames hair relaxers”</a> (<em>Washington Post</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/B/Beauty-in-a-Box"><em>Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture</em></a> by Cheryl Thompson</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/black-brazilians-are-ditching-hair-straighteners-and-white-standards-of-beauty/2018/06/18/25499a0e-6d8c-11e8-b4d8-eaf78d4c544c_story.html">“Black Brazilians are ditching hair straighteners and white standards of beauty”</a> (<em>Washington Post</em>)</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7gmYkNE0wYw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for ‘The Other Black Girl’ (Hulu/Disney)</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In this episode, Cheryl Thompson, author of ‘Beauty in a Box,’ untangles the roots of hair relaxers for Black women and discusses their potential health dangers and resulting hundreds of lawsuits.
Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient
Dannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The Conversation
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206706
2023-09-01T12:42:46Z
2023-09-01T12:42:46Z
White men have controlled women’s reproductive rights throughout American history – the post-Dobbs era is no different
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545354/original/file-20230829-23-mvx2g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5964%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, after participating in an abortion rights sit-in on July 19, 2022, in Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rep-cori-bush-leaves-a-processing-area-after-being-arrested-news-photo/1409761529?adppopup=true">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than a year after the Supreme Court ended federal protection for abortion rights in the United States, disagreements over abortion bans continue to reverberate around the country. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_brdDBHOT5E">Candidates sparred over the idea of a federal abortion ban</a> during the Aug. 23, 2023, Republican presidential debate. And abortion is likely to figure prominently in the November 2023 <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/27/pennsylvania-supreme-court-abortion-00113074">contest for a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court</a>.</p>
<p>When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392">Roe v. Wade</a> in June 2022, removing women’s federal constitutional right to get abortions and giving states the power to pass laws about the legality of the procedure, the 6-3 vote was by a four white men, one Black man and a white woman majority.</p>
<p>Since that decision – <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</a> – more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2023/jun/22/abortion-ban-politicians-who-voted-for-restrictions-who-are-they-men-women">1,500 state legislators, who are overwhelmingly white men</a>, have voted for full or partial abortion bans. </p>
<p>This is not the first period in U.S. history when white men have exercised control over women’s right to bear – or not bear – children, including during slavery. Then, it was a matter of numbers. The more people they enslaved, the more money white male enslavers could earn either from <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/16/20806069/slavery-economy-capitalism-violence-cotton-edward-baptist">selling the enslaved or from the forced labor</a> of the enslaved. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.430">White men controlled people’s reproductive rights during the 20th century</a>, too, with the <a href="https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism">American eugenics movement</a>. </p>
<p>From the late 1800s until the 2000s, white proponents of eugenics – the selective breeding of people – tried to determine who was fit or unfit to have children. While the American eugenics movement affected people of other races and ethnic backgrounds, as well as men, it was particularly harmful to Black women who, data from 1950 to 1966 shows, were sterilized at “<a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-sterilization-policies-in-the-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-with-disabilities-and-lasted-into-the-21st-century-143144">three times the rate of white women and more than 12 times the rate of white men</a>.” </p>
<p>During both periods, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2017.0045">Black women and their health bore the brunt of the consequences</a> of white men’s control.</p>
<p>As a researcher who specializes in the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=566DVVQAAAAJ&hl=en">history of race and racism in the U.S.</a>, I study historical issues related to race, gender and social justice.</p>
<h2>Enslaved women forced to reproduce</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45129363">African midwives</a>, imported and enslaved as early as the 1600s, attended to the birthing needs of the <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674008526">enslaved and enslavers</a> until the beginning of the 19th century.</p>
<p>But, after 1808, enslavers in the United States <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/slave-trade.html">could no longer legally import</a> enslaved people. With this shift, enslavers stepped up the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Slave_Coast/iwCKCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=slave+masters+forced+breeding+of+slaves+1808&pg=PT11&printsec=frontcover">forced breeding of enslaved women</a>. White men raped the Black women and <a href="https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/hidden-voices/enslaved-women-and-slaveholder/sexual-violence">girls they enslaved</a>, and then enslaved the children born from those rapes. White men also <a href="https://notchesblog.com/2020/10/27/the-rape-of-rufus-sexual-violence-against-enslaved-men/">forced the Black women and Black men they enslaved to have sex </a> with one another to generate more babies, who would be born into slavery.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/736-how-capitalism-underdeveloped-black-america">This was a systemic way </a> of ensuring enslaved women <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/155575/killing-the-black-body-by-dorothy-roberts/">bore more children, which would increase profits</a> for their enslavers. </p>
<p>Because <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/More_Than_Chattel/td2yIa7X6H4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=midwives">the Black midwives and enslaved women often were blamed for or suspected</a> of using birth control and abortions to resist forced pregnancy and the enslavement of their offspring, enslavers turned increasingly away from midwives and to <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Birthing_a_Slave/ZussEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover">white male doctors</a> to figure out why nearly half of enslaved infants were stillborn or died within their first year of life and why so many enslaved women were infertile. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305243">These doctors also helped with difficult births</a>. </p>
<p>In the two decades after 1810, the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716878/">population growth rate of the enslaved averaged about 30%</a>, despite the ban on slave importation. This was just under the 1800 to 1809 average of 31.6% which was a century high. </p>
<p>In the 1800s, as the slave population increased, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/16/20806069/slavery-economy-capitalism-violence-cotton-edward-baptist">profits in cotton did too</a>. And after the legal importation of slaves ended, the <a href="https://ir.vanderbilt.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1803/15814/vu06-w24.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">value of Black women of childbearing age increased</a> significantly. The forced breeding of these enslaved women was <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol7/iss1/4">linked to the profitability of southern economies</a>. </p>
<h2>Eugenics and control over women’s bodies</h2>
<p>Eugenicists believed that <a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-sterilization-policies-in-the-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-with-disabilities-and-lasted-into-the-21st-century-143144">increased breeding by white people</a>, whom they assumed had high IQs, would benefit American society. But people who did not embody their idea of racial perfection, such as Black people, Native Americans, certain immigrants, poor white people and people with disabilities, should be sterilized – typically via <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/fit-to-be-tied/9780813578910">tubal ligation and vasectomy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black woman, surrounded by large plants, sits with both hands resting on her crossed legs as she stares ahead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545356/original/file-20230829-17-nfjc7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elaine Riddick, pictured at her home in Marietta, Ga., on July 15, 2022, was sterilized without her consent when she was 14, in North Carolina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/elaine-riddick-at-her-home-in-marietta-georgia-on-july-15-news-photo/1242045819?adppopup=true">Tami Chappell for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this <a href="https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism">debunked pseudo-science</a>, eugenicists often <a href="https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1270&context=law-review">used intelligence tests</a> to determine who was fit or unfit to reproduce and to predict who would commit crimes, end up in poverty or have children who were mentally ill or intellectually disabled. And they worked to incorporate their ideas into state laws. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1098360021025909">Thirty-two states</a>, between 1907 and 1937, enacted forced sterilization mandates to prevent births by people eugenicists considered socially inadequate. </p>
<p>State-mandated procedures resulted in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-sterilization-policies-in-the-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-with-disabilities-and-lasted-into-the-21st-century-143144">coerced sterilization of women</a>, particularly <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bioe.12977">African American, Native American and Hispanic American women</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/gyn.2021.0102">those from Southern and Eastern Europe</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/blackrights/desegregation">Beginning in 1948</a> with President Harry Truman’s executive order to integrate the military, which extended to other areas, including education, employment and commerce, <a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-sterilization-policies-in-the-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-with-disabilities-and-lasted-into-the-21st-century-143144">sterilization rates for Black women increased</a>. For example, in North Carolina, which had the country’s third-highest sterilization rate, far more women than men were forcibly sterilized. And in the 1960s, <a href="https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BreedingOutVol15No1-1.pdf">Black women in the state made up 65% of the women sterilized</a>, while only making up 25% of the population. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="With people standing around her, a woman wearing a shirt that reads, " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545359/original/file-20230829-23-1c4xtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abortion-rights activists counter-demonstrate as anti-abortion demonstrators gather for a rally in Federal Building Plaza on June 24, 2023, in Chicago to mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/abortion-rights-activists-counter-demonstrate-as-anti-news-photo/1501196070?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2020/11/04/americas-forgotten-history-of-forced-sterilization/">Between 1930 and 1970</a>, close to 33% of the women in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, were forcibly sterilized. In California, between 1997 and 2003, 1,400 female inmates, <a href="https://www.insider.com/inside-forced-sterilizations-california-womens-prisons-documentary-2020-11">mostly Black, were forcibly sterilized</a>. </p>
<h2>The post-Dobbs era</h2>
<p>White nationalists and some right-wing politicians in the U.S. see the nation’s demographic changes as dangerous. The Census Bureau <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.pdf">projects that in the 2040s</a>, non-Hispanic white people will no longer make up a majority of the U.S. population. The nation’s racial and ethnic makeup will then be what some call “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/opinion/us-census-majority-minority.html">majority-minority</a>.” Those projections scare racists, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-twisted-logic-behind-the-rights-great-replacement-arguments/">who believe in a conspiracy about white people being destroyed</a>, which they label the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2077654">great replacement theory</a> because they fear losing social, political and economic power.</p>
<p>There is no way to know if this theory factored into the majority’s votes in the Dobbs decision, but the argument that <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-fight-to-ban-abortion-is-rooted-in-the-great-replacement-theory/">not enough white people are being born</a> has been a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/23/body-politics">common historical thread</a> in the American anti-abortion movement.</p>
<p>But, while believers in the great replacement conspiracy want white women to have more babies, actual anti-abortion decisions like the Dobbs ruling <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/roe-v-wade-ruling-disproportionately-hurts-black-women-experts-say-2022-06-27/">harm Black women more</a> than any other group. <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-after-supreme-courts-dobbs-decision-black-women-still-struggle-for-access-to-reproductive-health-care-206369">Black women represent 39% of the country’s abortion patients</a>, but many live in communities that have limited access to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X2100009X">family planning clinics</a>. And they have <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/">disproportionately</a> higher rates of complications during pregnancy.</p>
<p>As a result, Black women – who experience <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2020.8868">higher maternal complications</a> and mortality rates – <a href="https://www.whijournal.com/article/S1049-3867(23)00098-1/fulltext">will be forced to give birth to more babies</a>. </p>
<p>This is another period in the country in which the reproductive health decisions made by mostly white men will harm Black women.</p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney Coates does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the US, white men have long had the power to make decisions about women’s reproductive health care. Those decisions have often been especially harmful to Black women.
Rodney Coates, Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Miami University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212128
2023-08-24T12:32:32Z
2023-08-24T12:32:32Z
Slavery stole Africans’ ideas as well as their bodies: reparations should reflect this
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544349/original/file-20230823-19-h76ser.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C25%2C5606%2C3534&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jamaican hero: a statue to Sam Sharpe, who led the Baptist War slave rebellion in 1831.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Debbie Ann Powell/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a speech to mark Unesco’s campaign for the <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/days/slave-trade-remembrance">Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition</a>, UN secretary-general António Guterres <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-03-27/secretary-generals-remarks-the-general-assembly-event-marking-the-international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade">told the United Nations general assembly</a> earlier this year that the inequalities created by 400 years of the transatlantic chattel trade persist to this day. “We can draw a straight line from the centuries of colonial exploitation to the social and economic inequalities of today,” he said.</p>
<p>Guterres’ words were echoed by Judge Patrick Robinson of the international court of justice, who has called for the UK to recognise the need to pay reparations for its part in the slave trade, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/uk-cannot-ignore-calls-for-slavery-reparations-says-leading-un-judge-patrick-robinson">telling The Guardian</a> on August 22 that: “Reparations have been paid for other wrongs and obviously far more quickly, far more speedily than reparations for what I consider the greatest atrocity and crime in the history of mankind: transatlantic chattel slavery.”</p>
<p>Investment into the trafficking of African people in the Caribbean created a lucrative economic system that helped Britain develop into a global economic superpower. The consequences continue to be felt today – not only in vast inequities in the distribution of wealth and resources, but also in the denial and effacement of the people of African descent whose skills and knowledge helped power that industrial and societal transformation. </p>
<p>This year marks the 240th anniversary of arguably one of the biggest thefts in the history of intellectual property. The so-called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Cort">“Cort process”</a>, patented by the financier Henry Cort between 1783 and 1784, has been called one of the most important innovations of the British industrial revolution. Yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2023.2220991">recently published findings</a> show the process was first developed by 76 black metallurgists, many of them enslaved, in an 18th-century foundry in Jamaica. </p>
<p>The foundry was forcibly shut down for presenting too much of a threat to Britain’s economic and political domination. We know some of these black metallurgists’ names: Devonshire, Mingo, Mingo’s son, Friday, Captain Jack, Matt, George, Jemmy, Jackson, Will, Bob, Guy, Kofi and Kwasi.</p>
<h2>Stolen heritage</h2>
<p>African enslavement may be considered one of the quintessential depictions of global theft and destruction in human history. In 2018, <a href="https://www.about-africa.de/images/sonstiges/2018/sarr_savoy_en.pdf">Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy’s report</a> on the restitution of cultural heritage pointed out that 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural heritage is held outside the continent. From the kidnapping of Africans from their homelands, the eradication of native populations, to the forced loss of African culture, history and identity, the damage that chattel enslavement has done continues to permeate development and economic discourse the world over. </p>
<p>But as the <a href="https://caricom.org/caricom-ten-point-plan-for-reparatory-justice/">global reparations movement</a> gains traction it opens a new discourse about the debt owed for that which was stolen. It also highlights the need to create a robust educational system aimed at highlighting the realities of slavery and colonialism. The history of the black metallurgists is just one example of the contributions of people of African descent to the wealth of European and US societies today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Temperate House at Kew Gardens in London" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544351/original/file-20230823-23-pubp4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Large-scale iron production, such as Temperate House at Kew Gardens in London, was made possible by innovations developed by ironworkers in Jamaica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/temperate-house-1859-designed-by-architect-249074416">Kiev.Victor/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For much of recent history, institutions in the global north have dominated the narrative of where and who drives innovation. But history – and history taught in schools – must also recognise and name enslaved Africans as true innovators of their times. In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/22/desantis-slavery-curriculum/">Florida</a>, the governor and Republican presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-florida-standards-teach-black-people-benefited-slavery-taught-usef-rcna95418">introduced new educational standards</a> which teach that some enslaved people benefited from slavery. History must challenge this constant narrative of black bodies merely being machines.</p>
<h2>Truth and reparation</h2>
<p>In the search for truth and reparation, truth of brutalities inflicted alone is not enough. There must also be truth about the pioneers and innovators of colonised and enslaved societies – such as the 76 black metallurgists – whose ideas changed the trajectory of civilisation and who laid the building blocks for growth, change and development. </p>
<p>The simultaneous theft and denial of black innovation has served a purpose for the global north. The Caricom Reparations Commission, notes that one of the <a href="https://caricomreparations.org/caricom/caricoms-10-point-reparation-plan/">main policies of the European colonisers</a> was that there should be “not a nail to be made in the colonies”. A fundamental part of the global north’s accumulation has been to create captive markets and maintain those markets post-independence. Colonies and post-independence states alike have been actively deprived of the developmental apparatus to create a thriving society. </p>
<p>Resource extraction during this period was not merely centred on sugar, tobacco and cotton. It also drew on intellect and innovation which was stolen from the colonies and used to help build the prosperous nations of the global north. </p>
<p>Reparation is not only about money. It is also about recognition. Alongside the names of freedom fighters such as <a href="https://jis.gov.jm/information/heroes/samuel-sharpe/">Sam Sharpe</a> and <a href="https://jis.gov.jm/information/heroes/nanny-of-the-maroons/">Queen Nanny</a>, children must learn the names of black innovators. Part of truth and reconciliation must be this re-centring of black identity as part of a decolonised education system across former colonial and colonising states. </p>
<p>It must be a curriculum which includes the names and identities of enslaved African people whose skill and knowledge both challenged and transformed the global industrial and economic system. Through this, descendants will gain an understanding of the importance of their own history and ancestral cultures and all it contributed.</p>
<p>Recognition of the theft of black intellectual property provides a starting point for quantifying the harms that were done and continue to resonate to this day. This is necessary for any process of truth and reconciliation. </p>
<p>Quantification and monetary reparation, while necessary, are not in themselves enough. They must be combined with institutional recognition through an education system that acknowledges the role of enslaved African people in both challenging and driving forward the economies, scientific innovations and cultures of European enslavers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Britain’s industrial revolution was built on slavery: both black labour and intellectual property.
Jenny Bulstrode, Lecturer in History of Science and Technology, UCL
Sheray Warmington, Honorary Research Associate, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211882
2023-08-21T21:52:21Z
2023-08-21T21:52:21Z
Ron DeSantis shows how ‘ugly freedoms’ are being used to fuel authoritarianism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543728/original/file-20230821-23-xfr6rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers a speech in Iowa City, Iowa, on Aug. 10, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/ron-desantis-shows-how-ugly-freedoms-are-being-used-to-fuel-authoritarianism" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>At a time when conspiracy theories and far-right nationalist groups are gaining strength, it’s crucial to understand how authoritarians are using the rhetoric of freedom to undermine crucial notions of justice and liberty. </p>
<p>In the United States, under the banner of right-wing demagoguery, “freedom” is being touted as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/banned-books-list-increased-schools-ban-critical-race-theory-sexuality-pen-america-report/">an excuse to ban books</a> by people of colour, Indigenous people and members of the LGBTQ community. </p>
<p>For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law the <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/education/floridas-governor-to-sign-critical-race-theory-education-bill-into-law">Individual Freedom bill, which bans educators from teaching topics relating mostly to race</a>. </p>
<p>This regressive notion of freedom is used to advance a right-wing education agenda in the name of what DeSantis calls the “war on woke,” which is code for attacking educators and others who refuse to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/03/28/desantis-wokeism-racism-marginalized/">whitewash history and address a range of systemic injustices</a>.</p>
<p>In Canada, the “universal” concept of freedom has failed to include the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples and has often served as a cloak for <a href="https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/canadafailingindigenouspeoples">maintaining illegitimate relations of power</a>.</p>
<p>In Canada as well as in the U.S., freedom has historically been shaped by what American historian <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/opinion/freedom-liberty-racial-hierarchies.html">Tyler Stovall has called “white freedom”</a> — the belief and practice “that freedom is central to white identity, and that only white people can or should be free.”</p>
<p>Freedom in this context has given Canada and the U.S. the right to dominate, colonize and exploit.</p>
<h2>‘Ugly’ freedoms</h2>
<p>The presence of what U.S. academic Elisabeth Anker calls <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/opinion/ugly-freedom-discrimination-racism-sexism.html">“ugly freedoms”</a> is not new. Its history is repeating itself with a politics that is as cruel as it is dangerous and widespread.</p>
<p>Central to this history has been a struggle over the meaning of freedom and which vision of freedom society should adopt. Those holding up the importance of freedom are no longer just advocates of social justice but also emerging authoritarians.</p>
<p>The appeal to these “ugly” freedoms is being used to legitimize and promote censorship, systemic racism and naked forms of political opportunism. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the state of Florida.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dark-haired man speaks at a podium with American flags behind him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543729/original/file-20230821-14265-g9dtmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference at the Celebrate Freedom Foundation Hangar in West Columbia, S.C., in July 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Sean Rayford)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>DeSantis’s ‘freedom’ fixation</h2>
<p>DeSantis has hijacked the notion of freedom.</p>
<p>His political career is marked by an obsessive appropriation and relentless defence of freedoms that are false and illusory. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/desantis-disney-lawsuit-free-speech-florida/673903/">He defines himself as “governor of the free state of Florida”</a> and fills his public appearances with self-congratulatory references to freedom.</p>
<p>As a member of U.S. Congress before he became governor, <a href="https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/05/23/ron-desantis-time-in-congress-represented-volusia-flagler/70169117007/">he was one of the founders of the far-right Freedom Caucus</a>. </p>
<p>He <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/02/27/heres-what-we-know-about-ron-desantis-book-as-it-hits-the-shelves/?sh=4fc52c012328">launched his presidential campaign with a tour promoting his book titled <em>Courage to Be Free</em></a>. In naming Florida as the freest state in the nation, DeSantis claims he is engaged in a movement for freedom.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1630730107957518338"}"></div></p>
<p>In doing so, <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2023/04/13/summit-county-republicans-hear-florida-gov--ron-desantis-talk-successes-in-education--immigration--the-economy">he states repeatedly</a> that in Florida: “We’re No. 1 in economic freedom, No. 1 in education freedom, No. 1 for parental involvement in education … and we’re No. 1 for public higher education. So we lead in Florida, not merely with words.” </p>
<p>Ironically, DeSantis has become the sneering face <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/03/ron-desantis-war-on-freedom/">for the suppression of freedom</a> while proclaiming to be its foremost advocate. </p>
<h2>Authoritarian values</h2>
<p>Freedom for DeSantis is divorced from civic culture and isolated in the regressive discourse of authoritarian values, manufactured ignorance and nefarious power relations. </p>
<p>In the name of individual freedom, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/16/florida-ron-desantis-academic-freedom">he bans books from classrooms and libraries. He also passes legislation forbidding teachers from teaching about slavery and racial injustice</a> while <a href="https://apnews.com/article/desantis-slavery-election-2024-1fb51d663e6051051aa23b71421b9479">defending his attacks</a> on diverse and inclusive forms of education with the spurious notion of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/us/florida-education-critical-race-theory-bill/index.html">protecting young people from feeling uncomfortable</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692114810807243064"}"></div></p>
<p>Echoing the rise of past and emerging forms of authoritarianism, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/05/us-education-state-school-laws.html">he bans teachers</a> from addressing Black history, critical ideas and issues related to gender, sexuality and systemic racism. </p>
<p>Amid the wave of repressive policies that make up <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/new-poll-ron-desantis-anti-woke-backfire-rcna74350">DeSantis’s so-called anti-woke agenda</a>, his anti-democratic model of governance is in direct contradiction of his claim that Florida is the freest state in the union.</p>
<p>He has used state power to punish both his critics and individuals and groups he suggests are unworthy of citizenship. He has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/ron-desantis-transgender-education-laws-florida-woke-act">waged a vicious attack against the civil rights of women, gay, transgender and queer youth.</a> </p>
<p>He’s also signed <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/07/ron-desantis-freedom-branding-rights-education-abortion">a six-week abortion ban</a>, restricted transgender bathroom access, banned gender-affirming care for minors, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/desantis-florida-lgbtq-education-health-c68a7e5fe5cf22ab8cca324b00644119">signed bills that target drag shows</a> and attacked businesses like Disney that disagree with his policies. </p>
<p>He’s also <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/6/2/23742508/ron-desantis-florida-higher-education-ideological-war">waged a vicious assault on public and higher education</a>, creating a culture that requires teachers to function as agents of state indoctrination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/florida-republicans-row-with-mickey-mouse-highlights-widening-gap-between-historical-bffs-gop-and-corporate-america-182401">Florida Republicans' row with Mickey Mouse highlights widening gap between historical BFFs GOP and corporate America</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Remembering what freedom really is</h2>
<p>What can be done to preserve freedom as a crucial element in the struggle for democracy in Florida and around the world? </p>
<p>Educators, parents, young people and other stakeholders need to rediscover freedom as an emancipatory force. This requires language that enables people to fight against the ideological and economic conditions that strip them of their liberties and rights.</p>
<p>It’s also essential for the public to develop strategies capable of organizing a mass multicultural struggle in support of a fundamentally democratic conception of freedom — one that enables people to reject “ugly” freedoms that reinforce the scourge of domination and prevents them from living meaningful and just lives.</p>
<p>Genuine freedom must be used in the fight for justice and equality. It should address staggering, ongoing levels of inequality in wealth and power, the poisonous legacy of systemic racism and an anti-intellectual culture that rejects reason.</p>
<p>The hijacking of freedom by far-right politicians like DeSantis not only raises crucial questions about whose freedom is at stake in a time of tyranny, but also how to fight for a version of freedom that is expansive and just. </p>
<p>True freedom furthers rather than destroys the promise of democracy. In an era of rising authoritarianism, a return to a concept of truly democratic freedom is urgently needed, as is collective resistance that makes it possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Giroux does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The hijacking of freedom by far-right politicians like Florida’s Ron DeSantis raises crucial questions about whose freedom is truly at stake in a time of tyranny.
Henry Giroux, Chaired professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210774
2023-08-14T12:26:30Z
2023-08-14T12:26:30Z
Florida’s academic standards distort the contributions that enslaved Africans made to American society
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541753/original/file-20230808-23-3nwz2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C70%2C996%2C726&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Enslaved Africans built landmarks like the White House, the U.S. Capitol and New York's Wall Street. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-freed-african-american-slaves-along-a-wharf-during-news-photo/515185532?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The state of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/01/kamala-harris-ron-desantis-black-history-00109170">Florida ignited a controversy</a> when it released a <a href="https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/20653/urlt/6-4.pdf">set of 2023 academic standards</a> that require fifth graders to be taught that enslaved Black people in the U.S. “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their benefit.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=566DVVQAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">researcher</a> specializing in the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=566DVVQAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=566DVVQAAAAJ:u-x6o8ySG0sC">history of race and racism in the U.S.</a>, I – like a <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/education/critics-call-floridas-new-standards-for-teaching-african-american-history-insulting/">growing chorus of critics</a> – see that education standard as flawed and misleading.</p>
<p>Whereas Florida would have students believe that enslaved Black people “benefited” by developing skills during slavery, the reality is that enslaved Africans contributed to the nation’s social, cultural and economic well-being by using skills they had already developed before captivity. What follows are examples of the skills the Africans brought with them as they entered the Americas as enslaved:</p>
<h2>1. As farmers</h2>
<p>During the period between 1750 and 1775, the majority of the enslaved Africans that landed in the Carolinas came from the traditional <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210307-how-rice-shaped-the-american-south">rice-growing regions in Africa</a> known as the Rice Coast.</p>
<p>Subsequently, rice joined cotton as one of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210307-how-rice-shaped-the-american-south">most profitable agricultural products</a>, not only in North Carolina and South Carolina but in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.115.1.125">Virginia and Georgia</a> as well.</p>
<p>Other African food staples, such as <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674008342">black rice</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/7200344">okra</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/a-new-years-tradition-born-from-slavery/2011/12/21/gIQA63UfKP_story.html">black-eyed peas</a>, yams, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/7200344">peanuts</a> and watermelon, made their way into North America via slave ship cargoes.</p>
<p>Ship captains <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/759158601">relied on African agricultural products</a> to feed the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-middle-passage.htm">12 million</a> enslaved Africans transported to the Americas through a brutal voyage known as the Middle Passage. In some cases the <a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol15/iss1/10">Africans stowed away food</a> as they boarded the ships. These foods were essential for the enslaved to survive the harsh conditions of their trans-Atlantic trip in the hulls of ships.</p>
<p>Once on plantations in the land now known as the United States, enslaved people occasionally were able to <a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1264&context=history-in-the-making">cultivate small gardens</a>. In these gardens, reflecting a small amount of freedom, enslaved men and women grew their own food. Some of the crops consisted of produce originating in Africa. From these they <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-enslaved-chefs-helped-shape-american-cuisine-180969697/">added unique ingredients</a>, such as hot peppers, peanuts, okra and greens, to adapt West African stews into gumbo or jambalaya, which took rice, spices and heavily seasoned vegetables and meat. These dishes soon became staples in what would become known as <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-enslaved-chefs-helped-shape-american-cuisine-180969697/">down-home cooking</a>. Crop surpluses from the communal gardens were sometimes sold in local markets, thus providing income that some enslaved people used to purchase freedom. Some of these African-derived crops became central to Southern cuisine.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A farmer displays a handful of peanuts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541757/original/file-20230808-29-qn6cof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">African crops like peanuts and okra became central to Southern cuisine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sudanese-farmer-displays-a-handful-of-peanuts-harvested-on-news-photo/1227995255?adppopup=true">Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. As cooks and chefs</h2>
<p>The culinary skills that the West Africans brought with them served to enhance, transform and produce unique eating habits and culinary practices in the South. Although enslaved Africans were forced to cook for families that held them as property, they also cooked for themselves, typically using a large pot that they had been given for the purpose.</p>
<p>Using skills from various West African cultures, these cooks often worked together to prepare communal meals for their fellow enslaved people. The different cooking styles produced a range of popular meals centering on <a href="https://www.pulse.com.gh/ece-frontpage/what-africas-slaves-brought-to-american-cuisine/2rkxxvd">one-pot cooking</a> to include stews or gumbos, or layering meat with greens. The meals comprised a high proportion of corn meal, animal fat and bits of meat or vegetables. Communal gardens, maintained by the enslaved, might supplement the meager supplies and what was available from hunting or fishing. Some of the cooks who emerged from these conditions <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2952566?casa_token=662izW38zxAAAAAA%3Alz9N4OhwxS2VuzmWJcdxKenY8Uk5dWP_U4XSXQKwe379BFbCbFdPSF9iVGfIHwRg3M-d1sgcw5AAxSZ58KeasDHCuSN-st0ed01jn11FMqk9WiDRra4">became some of the highest regarded and valued</a> among the enslaved in the regions.</p>
<p>Enslaved chefs blended African, Native American and European traditions to create <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220201-hercules-posey-george-washingtons-unsung-enslaved-chef">unique Southern cuisines</a> that featured roasted beef, veal, turkey, duck, fowl and ham. Desserts and puddings featured jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, figs and raisins. Stews and soups changed, given the season, sometimes featuring oysters or fish.</p>
<h2>3. As artisans and builders</h2>
<p>Slave ship manifests reveal that enslaved Africans included some who were <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Workers_on_Arrival/D2hyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=enslaved+wood+workers+and+craftsmen&pg=PR11&printsec=frontcover">woodcarvers and metalworkers</a>. Others were skilled in various traditional crafts, including pottery making, weaving, basketry and wood carving. These crafts were instrumental in filling the perpetual <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1845390?casa_token=7qITcPXFjl0AAAAA%3Axy1lL9AsdasmaJCcYcc-FoIFMczQCDWCM3MqcF1QybJ8ojJ9j0IHXefJUVblkASDA5ZXwUPOhC3tb749l73WuFG14Kn-1xync8CxBBODA6MxkvhNbv4&seq=3">scarcity of skilled labor on plantations</a>.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatauctionsale00does">planters and traders</a> considered purchasing an enslaved Black person, one of the key factors influencing their decision and the price was their skills. Slave auction sales included carpenters, blacksmiths and shoemakers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Another_s_Country/yO2Cwx6AkH0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=enslaved+african+builders&pg=PA30&printsec=frontcover">Architectural designs showing West African</a> influences have been identified in structures excavated from some colonial plantations in various areas of the <a href="https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/discover-the-lowcountry">South Carolina Lowcountry</a>. These buildings, with clay-walled architecture, demonstrate that the West Africans came with building skills. <a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/300-years-of-african-american-invention-and-innovation/">Excavated clay pipes in the Chesapeake</a> region reveal West African pottery decorative techniques.</p>
<p>Across the nation, <a href="https://ibw21.org/editors-choice/15-american-landmarks-that-were-built-by-slaves/">multiple landmarks were built by the enslaved</a>. These include the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, Fraunces Tavern and Wall Street in New York, and Fort Sumter in South Carolina.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of enslaved African women and a man sit on the steps of a porch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541754/original/file-20230808-17-sfs7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Enslaved African women brought new medical practices and skills to the U.S. from their native lands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-women-and-a-man-presumably-enslaved-sit-on-the-news-photo/53265526?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. As midwives, herbalists and healers</h2>
<p>As Africans entered the Americas, they brought <a href="https://collegeofphysicians.org/programs/education-blog/medicinal-practices-enslaved-peoples">knowledge of medicinal plants</a>. Some enslaved women were midwives who used medical practices and skills from their native lands. In many cases, while many of these plants were unavailable in the Americas, enslaved Africans’ knowledge, and that gleaned from Native Americans, helped them to identify a range of plants that could be beneficial to treat a wide range of illnesses among both the enslaved and the enslavers. <a href="https://collegeofphysicians.org/programs/education-blog/medicinal-practices-enslaved-peoples">Enslaved midwives</a> delivered babies and, in some cases, provided the means for either avoiding pregnancies or performing abortions. They also treated respiratory illnesses. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1376&context=undergrad_rev">practices and knowledge grew</a> as they began incorporating techniques from Native American and European sources. They employed an interesting array of these practices to identify herbs, produce devices and to facilitate <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-significance-doulas-and-midwives">childbirth</a> and <a href="https://collegeofphysicians.org/programs/education-blog/medicinal-practices-enslaved-peoples">maternal health and well-being</a>. They utilized several <a href="https://midwiferyinearlyamerica.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/childbirth-and-the-antebellum-american-south/">herbal remedies</a> such as cedar berries, tansy and cotton seeds to end pregnancies.</p>
<p>In 1721, of the <a href="https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/contagion/feature/the-boston-smallpox-epidemic-1721">5,880 Bostonians who contracted smallpox, 844 died</a>. Even more would have died had it not been for a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/smallpox-epidemic-boston-onesimus-african-indigenous/">radical technique introduced by an enslaved person named Onesimus</a>, who is credited with helping a small portion of the population survive.</p>
<p>Onesimus, purchased by Cotton Mather in 1706, was being groomed to be a domestic servant. In 1716, Onesimus informed Mather that he had survived smallpox and no longer feared contagion. He described a practice known as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d42859-020-00006-7">variolation</a> derived by West Africans to fight various infections. </p>
<p>This was a method of intentionally infecting an individual by rubbing pus from an infected person into an open wound. Onesimus explained how this treatment resulted in significantly milder symptoms, eliminating the likelihood of contracting the disease. As physicians began to wonder about this mysterious method to prevent smallpox, they developed the technique known as vaccinations. Smallpox today has been eradicated worldwide primarily because of the medical advice rendered by Onesimus.</p>
<p>Regardless of how Florida’s education standards misrepresent history, the reality is that the Africans forced to come to America brought an enormous range of skills. They were farmers, cooks, chefs, artisans, builders, midwives, herbalists and healers. Our country is richer because of their skills, techniques and knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney Coates does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While a Florida curriculum implies that enslaved Africans ‘benefited’ from skills acquired through slavery, history shows they brought knowledge and skills to the US that predate their captivity.
Rodney Coates, Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Miami University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208275
2023-08-08T12:28:52Z
2023-08-08T12:28:52Z
When Confederate-glorifying monuments went up in the South, voting in Black areas went down
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541540/original/file-20230807-32816-6usu56.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4556%2C3136&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators hold Confederate flags near the monument for Confederacy President Jefferson Davis on June 25, 2015, in Richmond, Va., after it was spray-painted with the phrase 'Black Lives Matter.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DavisStatueVandalized/ebf030ed819f4497a47fa322218756f4/photo?Query=Confederate%20monuments&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1935&currentItemNo=139">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Confederate monuments <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/09/421531368/south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-to-sign-confederate-flag-bill-into-law">burst into public consciousness in 2015</a> when a shooting at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, instigated the first broad calls for their removal. The shooter intended to start a race war and had posed with Confederate imagery in photos posted online.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/16/us/confederate-monuments-removed.html">Monument removal efforts grew in 2017</a> after a counterprotester was killed at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacist groups defended the preservation of Confederate monuments. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970610428/nearly-100-confederate-monuments-removed-in-2020-report-says-more-than-700-remai">Removal movements saw widespread success in 2020</a> following George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police.</p>
<p>These events <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/us/racist-statues-controversial-monuments-in-america-robert-lee-columbus/index.html">linked Confederate monuments to modern racist beliefs</a> and acts. But whether monuments carry inherent racism or are merely misinterpreted requires further exploration.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20211067">Research by economist Jhacova A. Williams has shown</a> that Black Americans who live in areas that have a relatively higher number of streets named after prominent Confederate generals “are less likely to be employed, are more likely to be employed in low-status occupations, and have lower wages compared to Whites.” </p>
<p><a href="https://alexntaylor.github.io">I study economic and political history</a> and have researched the effects of <a href="http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4451402">Confederate monuments in the post-Civil War South</a>. I found that these symbols helped solidify the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law">Jim Crow era</a>, which established segregation across the South and lasted from the 1880s until the 1960s. These symbols were accompanied by increases in the vote share of the <a href="https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/blackrights/jimcrow">Democratic Party – the racist party</a> that had supported slavery and, after the Civil War, supported segregation for another century. The building of these monuments was also accompanied by reductions in voter turnout. Further research I conducted shows that these political effects disproportionately occurred in areas with a larger share of Black residents. </p>
<p>In other words, as these monuments were erected, the vote increased for members of the then-racist Democratic Party, and people turned out to vote in lower numbers in predominantly Black areas.</p>
<p>These findings demonstrate that a connection existed between racism and these monuments from their inception – and provide context for modern monument debates.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People hold a large tarpaulin beneath a statue of a man riding a horse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541554/original/file-20230807-25-tgnnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Richmond, Va., city workers prepare to drape a tarp over a statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ConfederateMonumentsProtest/31b060bdbdd84f349a5bc96319bcccc3/photo">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Monumental history</h2>
<p>The South saw almost no monument dedications during the Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_whose_heritage_timeline_print.pdf">Monuments first appeared during the Reconstruction era</a> – 1865 to 1877 – when Southern states were occupied by the North and integrated back into the Union. </p>
<p>Reconstruction-era monuments in general <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ghosts-of-the-confederacy-9780195054200?cc=be&lang=en&#">did not glorify the Confederacy</a>. These monuments largely honored the dead and were placed in cemeteries and spaces distant from daily life. They compartmentalized the trauma of the war, commemorating lives but not placing the Confederacy at the center of Southern identity.</p>
<p>As Reconstruction neared its end in 1875, a <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2015651796/">Stonewall Jackson monument erected in Richmond, Virginia</a>, foreshadowed the different monuments to come. </p>
<p>The monument’s dedication drew 50,000 spectators and included a military-style parade. The potential presence of a local all-Black militia <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674008199">proved to be controversial</a>. To avoid accusations of race mixing, organizers planned to place the militia and any other Black participants in the back of the parade. </p>
<p>The militia did not attend, likely in anticipation of the controversy, and the only Black Southerners present in the parade were formerly enslaved people who had served in the <a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/stonewall-brigade/">Confederacy’s Stonewall Brigade</a>. This stark picture of Southern race relations served as a preview of political developments to come.</p>
<p>This trend continued after Reconstruction, which ended with the <a href="https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/struggle_president.html">Compromise of 1877</a>. This compromise settled the disputed 1876 presidential election, giving Republicans the presidency and <a href="https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813108131/the-life-and-death-of-the-solid-south/">Democrats, then a pro-segregation party</a>, full political control of the South. Democrats subsequently established what would become known as <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312302412/americannightmare">Jim Crow laws</a> across the South, an array of restrictive and discriminatory laws that disenfranchised Black Southerners and made them second-class citizens.</p>
<p>Monuments played a cultural role in establishing the Jim Crow South. Unlike Reconstruction monuments, post-Reconstruction monuments were erected in prominent public spaces, and their focus shifted toward the portrayal and glorification of famous Confederates. Monument dedication ceremonies were particularly popular around the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/whose-heritage">peaking in 1911</a>.</p>
<p>Additional Confederate monuments have been dedicated since that period, but those numbers pale in comparison to the monument-building spree of 1878 to 1912.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two flags fly near a monument to a soldier." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541556/original/file-20230807-32733-ogjdti.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Mississippi state and U.S. flags fly near the Rankin County Confederate Monument in the downtown square of Brandon, Miss., on March 3, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ConfederateMemorialDay/337ff60bdb974c22ab9798576adc1d15/photo">AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Monumental effects</h2>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4451402">My research</a> investigates the political effects of Confederate monuments in the Reconstruction and early post-Reconstruction – 1877-1912 – eras, namely their effects on Democratic Party vote share and voter turnout.</p>
<p>I expected monuments’ potential effects to be directly related to their centrality to everyday life and glorification of the Confederacy. This is the primary difference between soldier-memorializing Reconstruction and Confederate-glorifying post-Reconstruction monuments. </p>
<p>I expected to find little political effect from soldier-memorializing Reconstruction monuments, but some pro-Jim Crow effects from Confederate-glorifying post-Reconstruction monuments. As monuments moved from cemeteries into central public spaces such as parks and squares, I expected them to affect voters’ decisions.</p>
<p>That is precisely what I found. </p>
<p>During Reconstruction, counties that dedicated Confederate monuments saw no change in voter turnout or Democratic Party vote share in biennial congressional elections. These symbols were soldier-memorializing and physically separate from public life and did not influence voter decision-making.</p>
<p>However, when monuments began to glorify the Confederacy and shifted into public life, political effects emerged. </p>
<p>Counties that dedicated monuments in the early post-Reconstruction period saw, on average, a 5.5 percentage point increase in Democratic Party vote share and a 2.2 percentage point decrease in voter turnout compared with other counties.</p>
<p>As monuments changed, so did their effect on the public. Glorifying public monuments communicated to the public that the Confederacy was worth preserving, thus strengthening Democratic majorities and lowering participation in the political process.</p>
<p>Larger Democratic majorities alongside lower voter turnout already suggests Black Southerners, who almost exclusively voted for Republicans at that time, were voting less in areas with monuments. I conducted further exploration and found that these political effects disproportionately occurred in counties with larger Black populations. This suggests that Black voters were more responsive to Confederate monuments, which suppressed their political activity by signaling they were not accepted by the local community.</p>
<p>The effects of post-Reconstruction monuments suggest that they played a role in continued racism throughout the South into the early 20th century. </p>
<p>Their controversy today demonstrates the values still conveyed by their presence in society. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjad014">Recent research</a> has demonstrated the long-run effects of the spread of Southern white culture and prejudices across the United States post-Civil War, connecting it to higher levels of modern-day Republican Party voting and conservative values. </p>
<p>It is thus no wonder Confederate monuments, as prominent symbols of pro-Confederate, Southern white culture, continue to be – and are likely to remain – cultural flashpoints.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander N. Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The drive to remove Confederate monuments links those monuments to modern racism. An economic historian shows that the intent and effect of those monuments from inception was to perpetuate racism.
Alexander N. Taylor, PhD Candidate in Economics, George Mason University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202706
2023-08-03T12:25:29Z
2023-08-03T12:25:29Z
Many global corporations will soon have to police up and down their supply chains as EU human rights ‘due diligence’ law nears enactment
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538609/original/file-20230720-27-c0f2jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C142%2C7809%2C5154&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forced and child labor has been reported in mines in the Congo, which produces over 70% of the world's cobalt. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/artisanal-miners-carry-sacks-of-ore-at-the-shabara-news-photo/1244417469">Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The European Union <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/eu-lawmakers-back-human-rights-environmental-checks-big-companies-2023-04-25/">will soon require thousands of large companies</a> to actively look for and reduce human rights abuses and environmental damage in their supply chains. And although it’s an EU law, it will also cover foreign businesses – including American ones – that have operations in the region.</p>
<p>The European Parliament <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2023-0209_EN.html">approved a draft of the new rules in June 2023</a>, and now EU member states and the European Commission will negotiate to finalize the law, which is expected to begin rolling out in phases a few years from now. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.business.uconn.edu/person/rachel-chambers/">We study</a> the <a href="https://peoplefinder.lsbu.ac.uk/researcher/8xxx0/dr-david-birchall">impacts of human rights</a> disclosure and due diligence laws on businesses. In the past, governments have generally asked only that companies voluntarily comply with efforts to advance human rights. The EU law would be the biggest attempt yet to legally mandate compliance – with major implications for human rights and businesses around the world. </p>
<h2>Human rights and big business</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/what-are-human-rights">Human rights are those fundamental rights</a> that all individuals hold simply by virtue of being human, such as rights to life and freedom of thought.</p>
<p>Human rights usually inform laws that limit what governments can do – for example, by obliging them to refrain from torturing people. Increasingly, however, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/business-and-human-rights-requirements-are-rise-2023">they are also informing business regulations</a>, because powerful companies can have serious impacts on individuals’ human rights. </p>
<p>Businesses have a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Business-and-Human-Rights-History-Law-and-Policy---Bridging-the-Accountability/Bernaz/p/book/9781138683006">long history of human rights abuses</a>, from the British East India Co.’s pivotal role in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/taboo-the-east-india-company-and-the-true-horrors-of-empire-73616">slave trade</a> and IBM’s complicity in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/29/humanities.highereducation">the Holocaust</a> to more recent deadly environmental disasters involving <a href="https://www.leighday.co.uk/latest-updates/news/2021-news/legal-claim-by-more-than-2-500-zambian-villagers-in-a-case-against-vedanta-resources-limited/">oil and mining companies</a>.</p>
<p>More contemporary examples of this are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara">children in the Democratic Republic of Congo mining cobalt</a> destined for cellphones or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/business/cotton-xinjiang-forced-labor-retailers.html">forced labor being used in the production of cotton</a> in China’s heavily Muslim Xinjiang region.</p>
<p>In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council took a step toward policing these abuses by unanimously adopting “guiding principles” on business and human rights. These principles <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf">urge governments to compel</a> companies in their jurisdictions to respect human rights wherever they operate. Such an approach stands in contrast to more common voluntary standards, such as <a href="https://ecovadis.com/glossary/supplier-code-conduct/#:%7E:text=What%20is%20a%20Supplier%20code,of%20employees%2C%20and%20ethical%20practices.">supplier codes of conduct</a>, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-apparel-brands-efforts-to-police-their-supply-chains-arent-working-136821">some observers have suggested have been ineffective</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, France <a href="https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2021/03/human-rights-due-diligence-legislation-in-europe#">became the first country</a> to actually mandate that companies police their supply chains for human rights abuses. </p>
<p>The EU’s human rights due diligence law, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1145">first drafted in 2022</a>, builds on the French version – but goes a few steps further. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="protesters march in streets holding signs in front of apple logo on a building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539098/original/file-20230724-21-tniwth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apple is among the U.S.-based companies that would likely have to comply with the EU rules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hongkongers-tibetans-uyghur-muslims-and-their-supporters-news-photo/1245513825">Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Doing your due diligence</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-business/corporate-human-rights-due-diligence-identifying-and-leveraging-emerging-practices">Human rights due diligence</a> is a process by which companies are meant to map out, understand and address all potential human rights abuses that occur throughout their operations. </p>
<p>The term “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/duediligence.asp">due diligence</a>” is borrowed from the common business practice of financial due diligence, wherein financial risks are investigated before any large investment. So just as businesses evaluate financial risks, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Business/ExecutiveSummaryA73163.pdf">human rights advocates argue</a> companies should put similar effort into investigating the risk that an activity might violate someone’s human rights.</p>
<p>The EU law would mandate that all large companies that operate in the bloc conduct human rights due diligence among their suppliers – by, for example, making sure child or forced labor wasn’t involved – but also on how their products are used by consumers – such as when a piece of technology is used to surveil citizens. </p>
<p>The law would cover most human rights, including labor rights and environmental rights, past or present. In practice, that would mean companies would have to map any harmful impacts that have occurred or could occur and take action to remedy or prevent them.</p>
<p>The rules would also include provisions for enforcement and penalties for noncompliance through fines and other sanctions. And victims of abuse would be able to seek damages.</p>
<p>In its current form, the law would cover EU companies with at least 500 workers and 150 million euros US$162 million) in net revenue, but those thresholds fall to 250 workers and 40 million euros ($44.5 million) in sectors with a higher risk of abuse, such as clothing, footwear and agriculture. Non-European companies must comply if they have EU revenues that meet those thresholds. An estimated 13,000 EU companies and 4,000 based outside of Europe – including household names like Apple, Amazon and Nike – <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/european-union-releases-draft-mandatory-human-rights-and-environmental-due-diligence">would be subject to the law</a>. </p>
<p>If it works as intended, the EU law <a href="http://corporatejustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/asi_eccj_report_final.pdf">could be transformative</a> in protecting human rights, including worker health and safety and workers’ free speech, around the world. According to a recent report by human rights scholars, it could be “<a href="https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/TraffLabReport_March23.pdf">particularly valuable</a> in the context of transnational supply chains, where the fragmented nature of production has long presented formidable legal and practical barriers to efforts to secure greater corporate accountability for labor rights violations and poor working conditions.”</p>
<h2>Bad for business?</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://www.ioe-emp.org/fileadmin/ioe_documents/publications/Policy%20Areas/business_and_human_rights/EN/_2015-03-16__Economist_Intelligence_Unit_Report_-_Today_s_Challenges_for_Business_in_Respecting_Human_Rights.pdf">many companies</a> <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/big-issues/mandatory-due-diligence/companies-investors-in-support-of-mhrdd/">have already endorsed mandatory due diligence</a> rules, others worry this kind of government mandate <a href="http://corporatejustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/debating-mhrdd-legislation-a-reality-check.pdf">would be too onerous</a>.</p>
<p>A full map of risks in a company’s value chain – from raw materials to consumers – is difficult to establish when suppliers are separate companies operating on the other side of the world and global supply chains are frequently large and complex. </p>
<p>Some companies also <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-416_i4dj.pdf">strongly resist</a> the idea of being held responsible for human rights violations that take place in their supply chains overseas. </p>
<h2>Ripe for US rules</h2>
<p>For this reason, the U.S. <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/nyujolbu18&div=17&id=&page=">has so far preferred voluntary rules</a> when it comes to pushing companies to respect human rights. </p>
<p>But that’s slowly beginning to change.</p>
<p>In 2012, California implemented the <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/SB657">Supply Chain Transparency Act</a>, which requires companies operating in the state to disclose their “efforts to eradicate human trafficking and slavery” in their global supply chains. And in 2021, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA">Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act</a>, which bans the importation of goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China – home of the Uyghur people, who have been <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/whats-happened-to-chinas-uyghur-camps-12881984">subjected to an intense program of state suppression since 2017</a>. </p>
<p>Between these rules there is a clear trend developing of an increasing number of U.S. companies being obligated to implement some form of human rights due diligence. But these rules, unlike the developing European approach, are very narrowly tailored and don’t require companies to routinely undertake due diligence.</p>
<p>As a result, the U.S. companies that would be subject to the EU rules would be at a competitive disadvantage to many of their domestic rivals. </p>
<p>That’s why we believe the time may be ripe for Congress to consider its own more comprehensive human rights due diligence law, which would let the U.S. take the lead on the issue and have more of a say in these global standards. We believe that such a move would also be a major boon to protecting the human rights of marginalized groups across the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Chambers and David Birchall received a small grant from Universitas 21 for the research project that this article forms part of.</span></em></p>
A new EU law would require thousands of multinational companies, including many based in the US, to look for signs of human rights abuses in their supply chains.
Rachel Chambers, Assistant Professor of Business Law, University of Connecticut
David Birchall, Senior Lecturer in Law, London South Bank University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205801
2023-08-03T12:24:31Z
2023-08-03T12:24:31Z
Dismantling the myth that ancient slavery ‘wasn’t that bad’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540252/original/file-20230731-27-oenyer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C6%2C2101%2C1403&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A relief depicting a row of captives, carved into the Sun Temple at Abu Simbel in Egypt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/relief-depicting-a-row-of-captives-sun-temple-abu-royalty-free-image/630961225?phrase=ancient+slave&adppopup=true">Richard Maschmeyer/ Design Pics via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As someone who researches <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9b5HSS4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">slavery in the ancient Mediterranean world</a>, especially in the Bible, I often hear remarks like, “Slavery was totally different back then, right?” “Well, it couldn’t have been that bad.” “Couldn’t slaves buy their freedom?”</p>
<p>Most people in the United States or Europe in the 21st century are more knowledgeable about the transatlantic slave trade, and live in societies <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/monstrous-intimacies">deeply shaped by it</a>. People can see the effects of modern enslavement everywhere from <a href="https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.12512.30723">mass incarceration</a> and <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/the-color-of-law/">housing segregation</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/686631">voting habits</a>.</p>
<p>The effects of ancient slavery, on the other hand, aren’t as tangible today – and most Americans have only a vague idea of what it looked like. Some people might think of biblical stories, such as Joseph’s jealous brothers <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2037%3A18-36&version=NLT">selling him into slavery</a>. Others might picture movies like “Spartacus,” or the myth that enslaved people <a href="https://www.britannica.com/video/226777/did-enslaved-people-build-the-pyramids#">built the Egyptian pyramids</a>.</p>
<p>Because these kinds of slavery took place so long ago and weren’t based on modern racism, some people have the impression that <a href="https://answersingenesis.org/bible-history/the-bible-and-slavery/">they weren’t as harsh or violent</a>. That impression makes room for public figures like Christian theologian and analytic philosopher William Lane Craig to argue that <a href="https://youtu.be/hL-zJzE5clA?t=2989">ancient slavery was actually beneficial</a> for enslaved people.</p>
<p>Modern factors <a href="https://www.pennpress.org/9780812224177/slaverys-capitalism/">like capitalism</a> and <a href="https://library.harvard.edu/confronting-anti-black-racism/scientific-racism">racist pseudoscience</a> did shape the transatlantic slave trade in uniquely harrowing and enduring ways. Enslaved labor, for example, <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/why-the-original-laissez-faire-economists-loved-slavery">shaped economists’ theories</a> about the “free market” and global trade.</p>
<p>But to understand slavery from that era – or to combat slavery today – we also need to understand the longer history of involuntary labor. As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9b5HSS4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a scholar of ancient slavery and early Christian history</a>, I often encounter three myths that stand in the way of understanding ancient slavery and how systems of enslavement have evolved over time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue shows a man and woman clutching hands, with a child, whose head has fallen off the relief, standing between them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538185/original/file-20230719-23-djqajf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Roman funerary relief of the Decii, a family of formerly enslaved people from the 2nd century. Husband and wife clasp their hands while their son, holding a dove, stands between them. The inscription names them as A. Decius Spinther, Decia Spendusa and A Decius Felicio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/funerary-relief-of-the-decii-a-family-of-freed-slaves-news-photo/525482317?adppopup=true">Werner Forman/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Myth #1: There is one kind of ‘biblical slavery’</h2>
<p>The collection of texts that ended up in the Bible represent centuries of different writers from across the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, often in very different circumstances, making it hard to generalize about how slavery worked in “biblical” societies. Most importantly, <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300171921/how-the-bible-became-holy/">the Hebrew Bible</a> – what Christians call “the Old Testament” – emerged primarily in the ancient Near East, while the New Testament emerged in the early Roman Empire.</p>
<p>Forms of enslavement and involuntary labor in the ancient Near East, for example – areas such as Egypt, Syria and Iran – were not always chattel slavery, in which enslaved people were considered property. Rather, some people were temporarily enslaved <a href="https://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Richardson-ANE-Today-October-2021.pdf">to pay off their debts</a>. </p>
<p>However, this was not the case for all people enslaved in the ancient Near East, and certainly not <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/classical-studies/classical-studies-general/slavery-roman-world?format=PB&isbn=9780521535014">under the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire</a>, where millions were trafficked and forced to labor in domestic, urban and agricultural settings. </p>
<p>Because of the range of periods and cultures involved in the production of biblical literature, there is no such thing as a single “biblical slavery.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting shows a group of men in robe-like outfits with wavy hair pointing to a smaller blond child among them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538182/original/file-20230719-29-vcvvoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph sold by his brothers, 1636-1641. Found in the collection of the Musei Capitolini, Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/joseph-sold-by-his-brothers-1636-1641-found-in-the-news-photo/464428495?adppopup=true">Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor is there a single “biblical perspective” on slavery. The most anyone can say is that no biblical texts or writers explicitly condemn the institution of enslavement or the practice of chattel slavery. More robust challenges to slavery by Christians started to emerge in the fourth century C.E., in the writings of figures like St. <a href="https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2019/01/24/a-fuller-extract-from-gregory-of-nyssa-on-the-evils-of-slavery/">Gregory of Nyssa</a>, a theologian who lived in Cappadocia, in present-day Turkey.</p>
<h2>Myth #2: Ancient slavery was not as cruel</h2>
<p>Like Myth #1, this myth often comes from conflating some Near Eastern and Egyptian practices of involuntary labor, such as debt slavery, with Greek and Roman chattel slavery. By focusing on other forms of involuntary labor in specific ancient cultures, it is easy to overlook the widespread practice of chattel slavery and its harshness.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Part of a stone relief shows two people shaking hands while another crouches beneath them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538184/original/file-20230719-17-drknta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Roman relief portraying an enslaved person being freed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/roman-civilization-relief-portraying-a-slave-being-freed-news-photo/122222025?adppopup=true">DEA/A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, across the ancient Mediterranean, there is evidence of a variety of horrific practices: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/03075133221130094">branding</a>, whipping, bodily disfiguration, <a href="https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=mjgl">sexual assault</a>, torture during legal trials, incarceration, crucifixion and more. In fact, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-dialogues-d-histoire-ancienne-2015-1-page-149.htm">a Latin inscription from Puteoli</a>, an ancient city near Naples, Italy, recounts what enslavers could pay undertakers to whip or crucify enslaved people.</p>
<p>Christians were not exempt from participating in this cruelty. Archaeologists have found collars from Italy and North Africa that enslavers <a href="https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.120.3.0447">placed upon their enslaved people</a>, offering a price for their return if they fled. Some of these collars bear Christian symbols like the chi-rho (☧), which combines the first two letters of Jesus’ name in Greek. One collar mentions that the enslaved person needs to be returned to their enslaver, “<a href="https://urbsandpolis.com/greco-roman-slavery/">Felix the archdeacon</a>.”</p>
<p>It’s difficult to apply contemporary moral standards to earlier eras, not least societies thousands of years ago. But even in an ancient world in which slavery <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/uniquely-bad-but-not-uniquely-american">was ever present</a>, it is clear not everyone bought into the ideology of the elite enslavers. There are records of multiple slave rebellions in Greece and Italy – most famously, that of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12161-5">escaped gladiator Spartacus</a>.</p>
<h2>Myth #3: Ancient slavery wasn’t discriminatory</h2>
<p>Slavery in the ancient Mediterranean wasn’t based on race or skin color in the same way as the transatlantic slave trade, but this doesn’t mean ancient systems of enslavement weren’t discriminatory. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A relief shows rows of men lugging heavy items as they plod up a hill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538186/original/file-20230719-22-wx31ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Enslaved people in a stone quarry, detail from an Assyrian relief in the British Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/slaves-in-a-stone-quarry-detail-from-a-relief-assyrian-news-photo/475592661?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much of the history of Greek and Roman slavery involves enslaving people <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/300734">from other groups</a>: Athenians enslaving non-Athenians, Spartans enslaving non-Spartans, Romans enslaving non-Romans. Often captured or defeated through warfare, such enslaved people were either forcibly migrated to a new area or were kept on their ancestral land and compelled to do farmwork or be domestic workers for their conquerors. Roman law required a slave’s “natio,” or place of origin, to be <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/perspectives-global-african-history/roman-slavery-and-question-race/">announced during auctions</a>.</p>
<p>Ancient Mediterranean enslavers prioritized the purchase of people from different parts of the world on account of stereotypes about their various characteristics. Varro, a scholar who wrote about <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/varro/de_re_rustica/1*.html">the management of agriculture</a>, argued that an enslaver shouldn’t have too many enslaved people who were from the same nation or who could speak the same language, because they might organize and rebel. </p>
<p>Ancient slavery still depended on categorizing some groups of people as “others,” treating them as though they were wholly different from those who enslaved them. </p>
<p>The picture of slavery that most Americans are familiar with was deeply shaped by its time, particularly modern racism and capitalism. But other forms of slavery throughout human history were no less “real.” Understanding them and their causes may help challenge slavery today and in the future – especially at a time when some politicians are again claiming transatlantic slavery actually <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/22/desantis-slavery-curriculum/">benefited enslaved people</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chance Bonar works at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University, and is affiliated with their ongoing Slavery, Colonialism, and Their Legacies at Tufts University project.</span></em></p>
There was no one type of slavery in ‘biblical’ or ‘ancient’ societies, given how varied they were. But much of what historians know about slavery during those eras is horrific.
Chance Bonar, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Humanities, Tufts University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209139
2023-07-24T04:52:17Z
2023-07-24T04:52:17Z
‘I’m really stuck’: how visa conditions prevent survivors of modern slavery from getting help
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538882/original/file-20230724-23-c3qhzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5920%2C3937&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern slavery is back in the spotlight, after fresh <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/brought-to-australia-as-a-student-henry-was-made-into-a-slave-20230718-p5dp4v.html">media reports</a> of migrants allegedly being brought to Australia as students but being forced to work long hours under harsh conditions with minimal pay.</p>
<p>In Australia, more than half of modern slavery survivors are <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/globalassets/cms/migration-support/support-for-trafficked-people/support-for-trafficked-people-data-snapshot-2009-2019.pdf">migrants</a>. </p>
<p>Across our <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=Nz217WoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">research</a> on modern slavery, survivors (and the caseworkers and service providers who support them) consistently say issues with Australia’s visa system prevent people from getting the help they need.</p>
<p>In other words, the current design of the system helps replicate and reproduce the shameful inequalities at the heart of modern slavery in Australia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1682897209749303296"}"></div></p>
<h2>The system increases risk of exploitation</h2>
<p>Australia’s temporary visa system <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news-commentary/temporary-workers">promotes</a> insecurity for migrants that can cause or contribute to exploitation.</p>
<p>For example, perpetrators can use a person’s insecure visa status to coerce victims to work for low pay or put up with poor conditions.</p>
<p>One survivor told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You need to have a visa to be in Australia, so you are going to do whatever is required.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/new-protections-herald-hope-migrant-worker-exploitation">response</a> to years of advocacy from migrant-led organisations, researchers and human rights experts, the Albanese government recently introduced new <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/albanese-govt-to-tackle-worker-exploitation.aspx">measures</a> to protect migrant workers at risk of exploitation.</p>
<p>This is a welcome first step. But our research has found Australia’s visa system continues to harm migrants once they have experienced exploitation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1665463317706739713"}"></div></p>
<h2>How visas make it hard to seek help</h2>
<p>Visa fears can prevent people from seeking help. <a href="https://consultations.ag.gov.au/crime/modern-slavery-act-review/consultation/download_public_attachment?sqId=pasted-question-1684896770-4-75672-publishablefilesubquestion-1685505026-94&uuId=1008725617">One survivor told us</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes you’re afraid to report, because you might be going to lose the job. You might be going to lose your visa and everything you know.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This situation is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353397634_The_Impact_of_Covid-19_on_the_Identification_of_Victims_of_Modern_Slavery_and_their_Access_to_Support_Services_in_Australia">exacerbated</a> by requirements for survivors of modern slavery to report to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to access key services. </p>
<p>One caseworker told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People that have faced any type of exploitation may fear of authority and will be reluctant to go to the police to initiate any type of support, or they might be having a lot of fear in terms of the consequences of an insecure or unknown immigration status.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Australia’s modern slavery visa framework</h2>
<p>The federal government’s <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/women/programs-services/reducing-violence/anti-people-trafficking-strategy/support-for-trafficked-people-program">human trafficking visa framework</a> enables migrants assessed by the AFP as victims of slavery to get a visa. </p>
<p>Under this framework, only those willing to give evidence against their alleged perpetrator(s) are granted long-term visas.</p>
<p>However, even these visas are still “temporary”. Survivors remain on them for the duration of a criminal justice process, which can last for years.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/globalassets/cms/migration-support/support-for-trafficked-people/barriers-in-accommodating-survivors-of-modern-slavery.pdf">half</a> the survivors formally identified by the AFP are on temporary visas.</p>
<p>In other words, survivors often remain burdened by the insecurity that comes with temporary visas long after they’ve sought help.</p>
<h2>Survivors locked out of mainstream services</h2>
<p>Some temporary visa conditions can <a href="https://unisa.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61USOUTHAUS_INST/12272458810001831">limit</a> survivors’ access to support services such as Medicare and Centrelink.</p>
<p>One caseworker explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Your] visa in Australia determines access to services. If it’s health, if it’s education, anything, it determines what happens next. The outcomes are not as good for people on temporary visas where they cannot access those payments.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Survivors described being left destitute, desperate and in a state of limbo without any access to services.</p>
<p>Temporary visa status can also make it impossible for survivors to find suitable and <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/globalassets/cms/migration-support/support-for-trafficked-people/barriers-in-accommodating-survivors-of-modern-slavery.pdf">secure housing</a>.</p>
<p>The combination of insecure visa status and insecure housing can prevent many survivors from regaining their independence and moving forward with their lives.</p>
<h2>Risks of further harm</h2>
<p>For survivors on temporary visas, not being able to access vital supports means many face risks of re-exploitation. </p>
<p>Survivors with children are particularly <a href="https://unisa.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61USOUTHAUS_INST/12272458810001831">susceptible</a> to experiencing further harm when temporary visas prevent them from supporting their families. </p>
<p>Caseworkers we <a href="https://unisa.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61USOUTHAUS_INST/12272458810001831">interviewed</a> told us survivors may </p>
<blockquote>
<p>end up thinking, ‘well, I’m just going to have to try and get money anyway anyhow’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another caseworker said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve seen clients engaging with high-risk industries like sex work or fruit picking – where their work rights are not being met – in order to try and send something back to their children. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The human impact</h2>
<p>The experience of Grace*, who participated in our <a href="https://unisa.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61USOUTHAUS_INST/12272458810001831">research</a>, shows how these elements conspire to produce exploitative conditions, hinder help-seeking and hamper recovery from slavery.</p>
<p>Grace met her former partner while in Australia and applied for a temporary partner visa when her existing visa expired. She was granted a bridging visa while her application was being processed.</p>
<p>Shortly after giving birth to their child, Grace and her child were trafficked out of Australia, allegedly by her partner.</p>
<p>Grace’s bridging visa was immediately cancelled, leaving her unable to return to Australia to support her child, who is an Australian citizen.</p>
<p>While overseas, Grace tried many times to seek support from Australian authorities but was constantly hindered by her lack of visa or residency.</p>
<p>When her case eventually came to the attention of the AFP, they facilitated her return to Australia, and she was granted a temporary visa through the government’s human trafficking visa framework.</p>
<p>Throughout her recovery from exploitation, Grace has constantly faced barriers to supporting herself and her child due to the temporary status of this visa, saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>With the bridging visa, you can stay, you can work, but you can’t do much around it. You can’t go to school. I want to study, but I can’t afford it. And I’m really stuck with that. Even when I look for job, there’s some jobs that required to be a permanent resident or citizen. Every job I applied for asked about residency status. I felt uneasy to explain my case and the reason why I had that visa. Same issue regarding applying for rental. I can’t get over it. So, it’s just hard for the visa.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Protecting the system rather than the people</h2>
<p>As modern slavery survivor and advocate Sophie Otiende <a href="https://www.sophieotiende.com/blog/what-makes-you-uncomfortable">puts it</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Care cannot exist when we focus on protecting the system rather than the people at all costs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australia’s visa system is entrenched within the problem of modern slavery, and future changes to it must refocus on caring for those who are most vulnerable to exploitation. </p>
<p>Migrant workers need further protections from exploitation caused by temporary visas, such as those recently proposed by government.</p>
<p>To support their recovery from exploitation, migrant survivors of modern slavery need:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>guaranteed access to mainstream supports</p></li>
<li><p>swifter access to permanent visas and</p></li>
<li><p>clearer pathways to residency. </p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>*Names have been changed to protect identities. If you or someone you know needs help, contact the Australian Red Cross Support for Trafficked People Program on 03 9345 1800 or email national_stpp@redcross.org.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nerida Chazal has received funding Department of Social Services. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyla Raby works for the Australian Red Cross who has received funding from the Department of Social Services to undertake research discussed in this article.</span></em></p>
Our research found Australia’s visa system continues to harm migrants once they’ve experienced exploitation. Survivors described being left destitute and desperate without access to services.
Nerida Chazal, Lecturer in Criminal Justice and Sociology, University of South Australia
Kyla Raby, Anti-slavery researcher and practitioner, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204530
2023-07-12T20:03:56Z
2023-07-12T20:03:56Z
French botanist Théodore Leschenault travelled to Australia in 1800-1803. His recently recovered journal contains a wealth of intriguing information
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526088/original/file-20230515-27-ummfq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=141%2C28%2C3626%2C2274&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, Leschenault aboard the Géographe. Pencil on paper. Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Le Havre, inv. 13033.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Content warning: this article describes outdated and potentially offensive terminology when referring to First Nations people.</em></p>
<p>In the storeroom of a square-towered château in Burgundy, my genial hosts gestured towards a large, wooden chest of drawers. I pulled open a compartment and began sorting through bundles of old papers – house records from the 18th and 19th centuries. I was there, in 2015, on the trail of Théodore Leschenault, a botanist who had travelled to Australia in the years 1800 to 1803 with the expedition of discovery led by Nicolas Baudin. </p>
<p>The château belonged to Leschenault’s descendants, who had invited me to explore the family archives. There was a register detailing his divorce from his young wife Marguerite due to their “incompatible temperaments”. There were shells and rocks bearing faded ink labels. And there was a printed invitation to a funeral service held for him at the Madeleine church in Paris in 1826 after he died of a stroke. </p>
<p>All this was valuable research material but I felt a slight sense of disappointment. The original manuscript journal of his voyage to Australia was not there.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-voyage-of-nicolas-baudin-and-art-in-the-service-of-science-62038">Friday essay: the voyage of Nicolas Baudin and 'art in the service of science'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526109/original/file-20230515-2440-9gqh6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Langlumé, portrait of Théodore Leschenault.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Private Collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Prior to this I had been working on a translation of the only version of the journal thought to exist, an incomplete copy made for the navy by an unknown hand. But then, in late 2016, out of the blue, the original journal in Leschenault’s own handwriting was put up for auction in Royan on the west coast of France. Where the journal had been for the previous 200 years was not revealed.</p>
<p>After bidding closed at €110,000 ($A180,500), the French government stepped in, seizing the journal as its own property, on the grounds that it had funded the original expedition. The journal was deposited with the National Archives of France, which in 2020 provided me with scans to use as the basis for <a href="https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-french-collector-journal-and-letters-of-theodore-leschenault">a new translation</a> that appears in my book The French Collector.</p>
<p>This journal contains a store of fascinating new information. Two previously unknown chapters describe the first part of Leschenault’s journey from Paris to Le Havre and onward via the Canary Islands and Mauritius to the west Australian coast. They offer much else besides, including insights into his fears and ambitions, an array of scientific observations, and impassioned discussions of slavery and the treatment of Indigenous peoples.</p>
<h2>A collecting frenzy</h2>
<p>Leschenault was 26 when he set out from France with the Baudin expedition to explore the “unknown coasts” of New Holland. Sociable by nature, with a head of blond curls, he came from a wealthy legal family and had been imprisoned during the French Revolution. A child of the Enlightenment, with an anti-religious and empirical cast of mind, he hoped to forge a career as a botanist.</p>
<p>When Leschenault went ashore for the first time on the Australian coastline in June 1801, at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographe_Bay">Geographe Bay</a> in the south-west, he immediately went into a collecting frenzy, picking up so many shells, pebbles and plants he couldn’t carry them all back to the boat. </p>
<p>Here he saw grass trees and <a href="https://www.bushlandperth.org.au/campaigns/celebrating-tuart-woodlands/">tuart trees</a>, black swans and a dingo, and had a much anticipated first encounter with some Wardandi Noongar men. Over the next two years, Leschenault collected thousands of plant and animal specimens as the expedition explored three sides of the continent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535240/original/file-20230703-27-5yd59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In June 1801, Leschenault saw grass trees for the first time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-rare-bird-how-europeans-got-the-black-swan-so-wrong-161654">Friday essay: a rare bird — how Europeans got the black swan so wrong</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>All the officers and scientists on the voyage were required to keep a record of their experiences. Some are terse maritime affairs – lists of bearings, wind directions and similar data. Leschenault’s is among the most eloquent and wide-ranging. These writings all supplement the official record of the expedition, the <em>Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes</em>, published by François Péron and Louis Freycinet between 1807 and 1816.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526110/original/file-20230515-27-p8ikxd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Journal of Théodore Leschenault, 1800-1802.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Archives Nationales (France): MAR/5JJ/56/B.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leschenault’s original journal is a battered-looking object, a large notebook with torn cloth covers, muddy-brown in colour, with the words “private journal” written on the front. Inside, the paper is well preserved and his handwriting spills in neat, brown ink along hand-ruled lines.</p>
<p>The two previously unknown chapters contain an invaluable ragbag of materials about the voyage. Into these chapters he copied a whole sheaf of loose-leaf jottings he had done earlier: private letters, interviews with travellers, short essays on different phenomena (atmospheric humidity, sea temperatures and phosphorescence), philosophical reflections, descriptions of plants and animals, alongside a more conventional daily narrative.</p>
<p>The emotional register of these early chapters shifts according to his imagined audience. When he sees the sea for the first time at Le Havre, for example, he describes for friends and family his terror at the thought that he might drown beneath the waves. But his language becomes more austere when detailing natural phenomena for scientific readers.</p>
<h2>Colonisation and slavery</h2>
<p>Some of the most unexpected passages in the new chapters relate to slavery and the effects of colonisation. In Australia, he quickly came to the conclusion that the local peoples, “far from a state of civilisation” and prone to treachery, disproved the idea of the “noble savage”. But the early chapters reveal that he arrived with sympathetic preconceptions.</p>
<p>While on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, he learnt about the fate of the island’s original Guanche inhabitants – which gave him reason for concern. Spanish invaders had come with firearms and confronted a peaceful community of farmers. “Oppression and despair drove this people to extinction,” he writes. “Now we are setting out to visit unknown peoples; perhaps the moment of their discovery will be the start of their misfortune”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-myth-of-the-noble-savage-55316">Explainer: the myth of the Noble Savage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Leschenault contemplates the bleakest of fates for Indigenous Australians, before changing his mind: “But no, that can’t be true, today governments are more enlightened, they will be just […]”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526111/original/file-20230515-19-i2fvqh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inside the journal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Archives Nationales (France): MAR/5JJ/56/B.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leschenault also takes an interest in a marginal figure among the scientific staff, the teenage assistant gardener and former slave who was referred to by the derisive nickname Merlot (“little blackbird”). He sympathetically recovers the youth’s original name, Bognam-Nonen-Derega (meaning “everlasting happiness”), copies down details about life in his home village (in what is perhaps now eastern Nigeria) and records the story of how he was kidnapped at the age of 12 and sold to English slavers. Later, on Mauritius, Leschenault directly addresses moral questions around slavery. </p>
<p>It is, he declares, “an outrage against nature” but he understands why, for economic reasons, it cannot be abolished immediately. His sympathies are prone to fluctuation though: when he interviews an albino Mauritian slave girl, his manner seems much less compassionate.</p>
<p>The recently recovered journal traces Leschenault’s travels over the course of two years but comes to an abrupt end in Sydney, at the half-way point of the expedition. What happened afterwards – did he start to write a second volume, now lost? </p>
<p>When he abandoned the expedition due to illness at Timor in June 1803, he gave all his papers to Baudin: drawings, botanical notebooks, possibly even a sequel to the journal. But the whole bundle of papers disappeared without a trace. Perhaps they linger in some storeroom, awaiting their moment to re-emerge into the light …</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Gibbard has received funding for his research from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Two previously unknown chapters of a 19th century French botanist’s journal offer insights into his fears and ambitions, scientific observations, and discussions of the effects of colonisation.
Paul Gibbard, Senior Lecturer in French Studies, The University of Western Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208596
2023-07-06T20:21:23Z
2023-07-06T20:21:23Z
Friday essay: we knew we were Bundjalung – but I was shocked to discover a pardoned convict slave trader among my ancestors
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535722/original/file-20230705-23-3ss8n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’re a superstitious mob, but I don’t think it’s an exclusively Aboriginal reaction to instantly think <em>Who’s died?</em> when the phone unexpectedly rings late at night. </p>
<p>That night in 2008, my trepidation rose quickly when I heard it was my Uncle Gerry from Sydney who was on the line. But instead of sounding mournful, he sounded strangely … incredulous. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve just been on the phone with a Bostock woman, a “white” Bostock woman from A.J.’s side of the family. You won’t believe what she told me about the white side of the family!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Immediately I knew he was referring to Augustus John Bostock, my non-Indigenous great-great-grandfather, whom Uncle Gerry had long ago nicknamed “AJ”. Uncle Gerry explained the elderly caller’s name was Thelma Birrell, but her family name, like ours, was Bostock. </p>
<p>He told me Thelma was an avid genealogist who had been researching the Bostock family tree for over 30 years. She told him she knew of her family’s rumour that her great-grandfather’s cousin, Augustus John Bostock, had taken up with an Aboriginal woman in the 1800s, but she didn’t know if there were any descendants from that union.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/he-was-horrific-nearly-two-thirds-of-family-historians-are-distressed-by-what-they-find-should-dna-kits-come-with-warnings-207430">'He was horrific!': Nearly two thirds of family historians are distressed by what they find – should DNA kits come with warnings?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘They were slave traders!’</h2>
<p>Incredibly, after seeing <a href="https://www.fnawn.com.au/members/gerry-bostock-1942-2014/">Uncle Gerry</a>’s photograph online, an obviously Aboriginal man with the Bostock family name, she somehow tracked him down. Uncle Gerry was a writer and film producer who participated in the political struggle surrounding the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra and helped establish the Black Theatre in Sydney. In their long conversation, Thelma told him she had traced the Bostock family line back to the 1600s in England.</p>
<p>“Guess who our white ancestors were?” Chuckling to himself, Uncle deliberately paused for dramatic effect before he blurted out: “They were slave traders! A couple of generations of slave traders! Can you believe it? Imagine that!” </p>
<p>A deep, loud belly laugh erupted down the line, and he snorted as he added, “Those white ancestors of ours must be rolling in their graves knowing we turned out to be a mob of blackfellas!”</p>
<p>Up until that time, Augustus John Bostock was known to us only as “the whitefella who gave us our family name”, but on hearing this new information about his family history, a burning desire to find out more was suddenly ignited in me. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535298/original/file-20230703-257464-edbjvx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A late night phone call sparked Shauna Bostock’s desire to learn more about her family history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thelma had given Uncle Gerry her phone number, and I was surprised to find she lived only a little over an hour’s drive away from me on the Sunshine Coast. When I rang Thelma we chatted easily on the phone. And by the end of the call, she kindly invited me to come and visit her next time I was up that way.</p>
<p>Thelma was a lovely elderly lady who, years earlier with her husband Matthew, had travelled to England and to Australia’s southern states many times to collect her treasure trove of historical, archival and church records. </p>
<p>We spoke on the phone many times, and I enjoyed my face-to-face meetings with her over several cups of tea and delicious sweet treats. She was thrilled that I was interested in her work, and so proud to gift me a copy of her self-published book <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Mariners_Merchants_Then_Pioneers.html?id=SdIOtwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Merchants, Mariners … then Pioneers</a>.</p>
<p>Thelma thoroughly enjoyed telling me all about the history of the non-Indigenous Bostock family prior to Augustus John’s birth. </p>
<p>She had been able to trace the Bostocks back to an ironmonger called Jonathan Bostock who lived in Chester in late 17th-century England. Jonathan Bostock was the father of Peter, Peter was the father of Robert, and Robert Snr was the father of Robert Jnr. The two “Roberts” were the slave traders.</p>
<p>Thelma explained that after slave trading was abolished, the British government arrested Robert Bostock Jnr and his business partner John McQueen, and sentenced them to “transportation” to the colony for 14 years. </p>
<p>She was quick to tell me that not long after they arrived here, “Governor Lachlan Macquarie pardoned them”. I had never heard of “pardons from the Governor” in Australian history, until Thelma showed me her transcription of the colonial secretary’s documents, in which the last sentence of the pardon declared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>By virtue of the power and authority Given and Granted unto me the Governor in Chief of the said Territory of New South Wales under such Warrant and conformally to the tenor thereof I do hereby order and direct that Robert Bostock therein named be forthwith discharged out of custody accordingly and he is hereby […] restored to all rights and privileges of a free subject. Signed, L. Macquarie, 1st January 1816.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Confused by the pardon, I remember asking Thelma for confirmation. “But Robert Bostock really was a slave trader, right?” She patted my hand and answered in a hushed voice, “Ooh yes, he was a very naughty boy.” </p>
<p>Silently, Thelma handed me the pretty floral matching teacup and saucer and busied herself pouring us more tea. Then once seated, she enthusiastically told me tales of Robert Bostock’s exploits after he arrived in Australia – about how he became an excellent merchant in Sydney, married a beautiful maiden, then moved to Van Diemen’s Land and expanded his business interests in Hobart, became a very wealthy landowner and lived in a grand mansion.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535300/original/file-20230703-274753-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pardoned slave trader Robert Bostock became a wealthy landowner in Hobart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most precious to Thelma were the stories about his children, who left Van Diemen’s Land and settled in southern Victoria. She was so proud of the white Bostocks’ narrative of dashing pioneers and nation-building settlers – but I wanted to pause the story and go back to understand more about the two “Roberts” who were slave traders. </p>
<p>I had so many questions, but her reluctance to discuss them was palpable. </p>
<p>In her book, she explained that even though Robert Snr had a number of ships and was successful to some degree, he was regarded as a small operator. Thelma wrote that “he exhorted his captains to treat the slaves well at all times” and she pointed out that “Robert [Snr] died 20 years before slave trading was actually abolished”, and that “trading in slaves continued up to the 1860s in different parts of the world”.</p>
<h2>Befriending a slave-trade historian</h2>
<p>Thelma’s writing moved on to present her outstanding genealogical research, and her proud narrative of the pioneering lives of the non-Indigenous Bostocks. </p>
<p>After the initial excitement of finding Uncle Gerry and connecting with me over cups of tea, Thelma and I continued to chat on the phone every now and then, but unfortunately a year or so later contact between us gradually faded away. </p>
<p>But before we lost touch, she introduced me to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-caribbean-to-queensland-re-examining-australias-blackbirding-past-and-its-roots-in-the-global-slave-trade-158530">slave-trade historian Emma Christopher</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535455/original/file-20230704-27-eqh5ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Emma Christopher's book includes the story of the Bostock slave traders</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Emma’s field of expertise is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/african-leaders-in-sierra-leone-played-a-key-role-in-ending-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-207382">transatlantic slave trade</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-caribbean-to-queensland-re-examining-australias-blackbirding-past-and-its-roots-in-the-global-slave-trade-158530">Pacific Islander labour</a>, West African and historical slavery, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/behind-the-boko-haram-headlines-slavery-in-africa-is-the-real-crisis-26379">modern slavery</a>. When a fellow historian told her that a mansion built by a convict transported for slave trading still existed in Tasmania, Emma was astonished. After years of extensive research, she had never heard of any slave traders in Australia.</p>
<p>Her response was like mine: she was gripped by the need to know more about the two Roberts. As the Australian expert on Bostock genealogies, Thelma was a major contributor to a website for Bostock descendants all over the world, and that is how Emma found her.</p>
<p>Being a spiritual person, I paid close attention to the intriguing way we all connected with each other. Seemingly out of the blue, Thelma found Uncle Gerry on the internet, then Uncle Gerry contacted me, and this led to my contact with Thelma. Emma was told about Robert Bostock, then found Thelma on the internet, and this led to her contact with me. My intuition was telling me this synchronicity was somehow orchestrated, that it was all part of God’s plan that I met Thelma and Emma.</p>
<p>Back then, I was focused on filling in the gaps in my family tree chart and finding out how Robert was related to my great-great-grandfather, <a href="https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/bostock-john-augustus-135">Augustus John Bostock</a>, whereas Emma, an established PhD historian and a published author, wanted to know all about the global legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. </p>
<p>Despite our contrasting levels of academic knowledge at that time, our common interest in the history of the Bostocks quickly led to us becoming good friends. She helped me to see how interesting history can be when you push through the surface level and delve more deeply.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-caribbean-to-queensland-re-examining-australias-blackbirding-past-and-its-roots-in-the-global-slave-trade-158530">From the Caribbean to Queensland: re-examining Australia's 'blackbirding' past and its roots in the global slave trade</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘I feel numb about it’</h2>
<p>When Emma and I met, she was compiling research for a book about Robert Bostock Jnr and his business partner John McQueen, who were the only two convicted slave traders to have ever been transported to Australia. Emma was surprised when Thelma told her about the Aboriginal branches of the Bostock family. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535449/original/file-20230704-17-gd7xns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uncle Gerry (left) with George Bostock, 1961.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I say the plural “branches” because George Bostock, the cousin of my great-great-grandfather Augustus John Bostock, lived in the Northern Territory of Australia and had children with a Jingili woman, who, in the historical record, was only recorded as “unknown F/B” (“F/B” meaning “full-blood”; a child with traditional Aboriginal parents). So, it turned out that my family are not the only Indigenous descendants of Robert Bostock.</p>
<p>In 2018, Emma’s book <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/125/1/204/5721711?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Freedom in Black and White: A lost story of the illegal slave trade and its global legacy</a> was published. It is a meticulous examination of the lives of the two Roberts, their tragic human merchandise and their captive African workers. As with Thelma’s book, I devoured every word. </p>
<p>The fates of the African captives who worked for Robert Bostock Jnr, and his Aboriginal descendants, are essential to Emma’s final discussion on the global legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.</p>
<p>Out of the blue, Emma said, “It must be a shock to be an Aboriginal Australian, a woman of colour, and find out that your ancestors were slave traders.” After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time, I realised I simply did not have the words to describe how I felt. Frowning, I lamely said, “I don’t know what to say … I feel numb about it – I just wish I had better words to say.”</p>
<p>That was over 12 years ago. After advancing my education, and undertaking intense study and archival research, it is only now that I am in the position to be able to present my research and provide answers to complex questions such as the one Emma posed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535301/original/file-20230703-187037-sofqxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This group photograph (circa 1920) of the people who lived at Box Ridge Aborigines Reserve includes the author’s great-grandmother Mabel Yuke, and other extended family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the beginning of my research journey, I imagined my future book would be exclusively limited to my Aboriginal family history and would not include any of the non-Indigenous side of the family. </p>
<p>It was only when I was completing my PhD, and had read Emma’s extraordinary book, that I realised how integral my slave-trading ancestors are to the conclusion of this history of my multi-generational Aboriginal family.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-didnt-we-know-is-no-excuse-non-indigenous-australians-must-listen-to-the-difficult-historical-truths-told-by-first-nations-people-208780">'Why didn't we know?' is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our ‘mob of blackfellas’</h2>
<p>It is not known when Augustus John Bostock travelled north to Bundjalung Country, but at around 27 years of age he married my great-great-grandmother, an Aboriginal woman called One My. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535303/original/file-20230703-268117-ub4u9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I know this because on his death certificate, in the section marked “Marriages: Where, at what age and to whom deceased was married”, the corresponding details recorded were “Tweed River … about 27, One My otherwise Clara Wolumbin”. Her name, this record and other archival documents (which name her), as well as confirmation from Bundjalung Elders, indicate that she was a traditional Aboriginal woman from the Wollumbin/Mount Warning people. </p>
<p>Finding One My was incredibly exciting for me, because I actually had the name of one of the traditional Aboriginal ancestors from whom our “mob of blackfellas” is descended.</p>
<p>We always knew we were Bundjalung, and my father had frequently told us, “Our mob are from the Tweed”, but he didn’t know much else. Now I had a starting point.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Shauna-Bostock-Reaching-Through-Time-9781761067983/">Reaching Through Time</a> by Shauna Bostock (Allen & Unwin, $34.99).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Bostock-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When Shauna Bostock began researching a book on her family, she thought it would be limited to her Aboriginal ancestry. But then a late-night phone call led her down a surprising path.
Shauna Bostock-Smith, ANU PhD, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208425
2023-06-28T13:02:55Z
2023-06-28T13:02:55Z
Americans in former Confederate states more likely to say violent protest against government is justified, 160 years after Gettysburg
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534090/original/file-20230626-15-oruqz8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C9%2C3283%2C2461&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dead soldiers lie on the battlefield at Gettysburg in July of 1863. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dead-soldiers-lie-on-the-battlefield-at-gettysburg-where-23-news-photo/615314046?adppopup=true">Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the July Fourth long weekend, people will pour into the small town of <a href="https://www.gettysburgpa.gov/history/slideshows/battle-history">Gettysburg, Pennsylvania</a>, to commemorate the 160th anniversary of one of the <a href="https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2013/07/02/gettysburg-americas-bloodiest-battle/#:%7E:text=Lasting%20three%20days%20in%201863,dead%20and%20another%2030%2C000%20wounded.">deadliest battles</a> in U.S. history.</p>
<p>The three-day battle left over 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead, wounded or missing and cemented Gettysburg’s place in American history as the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm">turning point of the Civil War</a>.</p>
<p>A few months after the battle, President Abraham Lincoln visited the town for the dedication of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/soldiers-national-cemetery.htm">Soldiers’ National Cemetery</a>. There, he delivered his <a href="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/good_cause/transcript.htm">famed Gettysburg Address</a>. Lincoln called on Americans to dedicate themselves to the “unfinished work” for which so many at Gettysburg had died: the preservation of the United States and a “new birth of freedom” for the nation.</p>
<p>I have researched Americans’ <a href="https://osf.io/753cb/">support for political violence</a> in my work as a political scientist at <a href="https://www.networkscienceinstitute.org/people/alauna-safarpour">Northeastern</a> and <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/alaunasafarpour">Harvard</a> Universities. As an incoming professor at Gettysburg College, which <a href="https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=books">was attacked by Confederate soldiers</a> and served as a <a href="https://www.gettysburg.edu/news/stories?id=dee02b07-33e7-4ce6-985e-eed77423d127">makeshift hospital</a> during the battle, I wanted to see whether the legacies of the Civil War still affected Americans’ support for political violence today.</p>
<p>I found that, overall, Americans living in the Confederate states that violently rebelled against the United States during the Civil War express significantly greater support for the notion that it can be justifiable to violently protest against the government. </p>
<p>Residents of what are known as the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-border-states.htm">Border States</a>, the slave states that did not secede from the Union, are also more likely than residents of Union states to say it can be justifiable to violently protest against the government. Confederate and Border State support are not statistically different from each other. </p>
<p>Residents of states belonging to the Confederacy are also significantly more likely than Americans living in Union or Border States to say it is justifiable to engage in violent protest against the government right now.</p>
<p><iframe id="EGesv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EGesv/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>‘Greater support for political violence’</h2>
<p>From Dec. 22, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023, my colleagues and I at <a href="https://www.covidstates.org/">The COVID States Project</a>, a multi-university team polling Americans in all 50 U.S. states, surveyed over 20,000 Americans about their support for violent protest against the U.S. government. Our survey asked whether they felt violence is ever justifiable, and whether violence is justifiable right now. </p>
<p>I then analyzed the responses by state residence, grouping survey respondents by their <a href="https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm">state’s allegiance</a> in the Civil War: Union, Confederacy or Border State. Americans living in states that did not exist during the Civil War are excluded from the analysis.</p>
<p>Confederate state residents are about 2 percentage points more likely than Union state residents to say it is “definitely” or “probably” justifiable to engage in violent protest against the government. Border State residents are about 3 points more likely than Union residents to say violence can be justified. </p>
<p>When asked whether it is justifiable to engage in violent protest against the government right now, 12% of Confederate state residents say “yes” – which is 2 percentage points higher than the share who say “yes” in Border States and 3 points higher than those in Union states.</p>
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<p>To ensure that these results do not reflect underlying social and demographic differences in the residents of these states, I used a statistical technique known as multiple regression. This technique allows researchers to determine the effect of a variable – in this case state residency – on an outcome – support for political violence – after accounting for differences attributable to other factors. </p>
<p>This analysis reveals that even after accounting for partisanship, race, gender, education, age, income, ideology and attitudes toward Black people, residents of Confederate states still express significantly greater support for political violence than do residents of Union or Border states.</p>
<p>Before you start fortifying your homes against a second Civil War, keep in mind that support for political violence – even among residents of the old Confederacy – remains low. </p>
<p>Nowhere close to a majority of Americans are ready to take up arms to overthrow the government. However, as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/">Jan. 6 attack</a> on the U.S. Capitol demonstrated, even a small minority of people intent on violence can cause serious harm to the nation.</p>
<h2>History matters</h2>
<p>Overall, these results point to the importance of historical factors in understanding modern support for political violence. </p>
<p>Political scientists have <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176741/deep-roots">traced the importance of slavery</a> on modern political attitudes, demonstrating that institutions long since eradicated still shape politics today. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.gsu.edu/research-magazine/rewriting-history-civil-war-textbooks">Research</a> has also shown that Southern myths about the Civil War, including the “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lost-Cause">Lost Cause” narrative of the Confederacy</a> – which casts the Confederate cause as glorious and honorable rather than aimed at maintaining slavery – dominated history textbooks after 1877. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three cannons in front of a stone monument topped with a bronze figure sitting on a horse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534144/original/file-20230626-17-2qu1vz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee mounted on his horse sits atop a ridge held by Confederate troops in Gettysburg, Pa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CivilWarGettysburg/0d0e148cfdd24433b4065ecc00ded418/photo?Query=Gettysburg&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=666&currentItemNo=NaN&vs=true">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/nation-world/2017/08/22/how-civil-war-taught-school-depends-where-you-live/15766977007/#:%7E:text=Some%20schools%20emphasize%20states%27%20rights,commanders%20alongside%20their%20Union%20counterparts.">These distortions affect</a> how modern Americans think about history. As recently as 2017, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history">polling by the Southern Poverty Law Center</a> found that just 8% of American 12th graders could correctly identify slavery as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-really-started-the-american-civil-war-205281">the central cause</a> of the Civil War. </p>
<p>Distorted portrayals of the Civil War as a glorious fight for independence by Southern states may contribute to the significantly greater support for political violence among these states’ residents today. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/17/us/teaching-critical-race-theory.html">current political debate</a> over how history can be taught in public schools highlights the importance of such decisions.</p>
<h2>Lincoln: ‘These dead shall not have died in vain’</h2>
<p>On this grim anniversary, perhaps Americans can spend time contemplating <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=take+increased+devotion+to+the+cause&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#:%7E:text=Gettysburg%20address%20delivered,resource%20%E2%80%BA%20rbpe.24404500">Lincoln’s famous words</a> to “take increased devotion to that cause” for which these honored dead “gave the last full measure of devotion.” </p>
<p>The Civil War was essentially the largest instance of homegrown violence against the government in U.S. history. Now, at a time of <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/03/31/rise-in-political-violence-in-united-states-and-damage-to-our-democracy-pub-87584#:%7E:text=A%20poll%20by%20the%20National,in%20the%20last%20few%20years.&text=Threats%20of%20violence%20against%20election,election%20officials%20had%20experienced%20threats.">increasing political violence</a> in the nation, I believe it is more important than ever to reflect on the Battle of Gettysburg – and the terrible toll wrought by the violence there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alauna Safarpour is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Northeastern and Harvard Universities. Beginning in August 2023, she will be an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College. Gettysburg College was attacked by Confederate forces during the Battle of Gettysburg.</span></em></p>
On the 160th anniversary of the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg, a political scientist finds that residents of formerly Confederate states express greater support for political violence than others.
Alauna Safarpour, Postdoctoral Fellow, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206056
2023-06-16T18:31:32Z
2023-06-16T18:31:32Z
Juneteenth offers new ways to teach about slavery, Black perseverance and American history
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532406/original/file-20230616-23-carmc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C126%2C5982%2C3874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Freedom is a key concept to study.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/school-children-writing-in-books-with-pencils-in-royalty-free-image/1049282154?phrase=black+teacher+classroom&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever I tell high school students in classes I visit that I appreciated learning about slavery as a child growing up in the Caribbean, they often look confused.</p>
<p>Why, they ask, did I like learning about slavery given that it was so horrible and harsh? How could I value being taught about something that caused so much hurt and harm?</p>
<p>That’s when I tell them that my teachers in St. Thomas – and <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED266055">my fourth grade history textbook</a> – didn’t focus just on the harsh conditions of slavery. Rather, they also focused on Black freedom fighters, such as Moses Gottlieb, perhaps better known as General Buddhoe, who is <a href="http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/opinion/did-buddhoe-lead-the-revolt-known-as-emancipation-day-we-may-never-know/article_d33e4bfb-828f-56ce-9c63-82a9a6d4408e.html">credited with leading a nonviolent revolt</a> that led to the abolishment of slavery in the Danish-ruled West Indies on July 3, 1848. The historic date is now <a href="https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/us-virgin-islands/vi-emancipation-day">observed</a> and <a href="https://stthomassource.com/content/2018/07/04/st-thomas-emancipation-day-honoring-tradition-and-heroes/">celebrated</a> in the United States Virgin Islands as <a href="https://nationaltoday.com/v-i-emancipation-day/">Emancipation Day</a>.</p>
<p>The holiday – and the lessons I learned about it – instilled in me a sense of cultural pride and gave me a better appreciation for the sacrifices that Black people made for freedom. It also encouraged me to always push on when faced with challenges.</p>
<p>The reason I bring this up is because I believe Juneteenth – which commemorates the date in 1865 when Union troops <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/juneteenth-day-celebration.html">notified the last remaining slaves in Texas that they were free</a> – holds similar promise for Black students throughout the United States. </p>
<p>Students often tell me that they’re not learning much about slavery beyond the suffering and harsh conditions that it involved. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bzvpMh4AAAAJ&hl=en">historian</a> who specializes in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=bzvpMh4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=bzvpMh4AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C">how slavery is taught in K-12 classrooms</a>, I believe there are several ways educators can incorporate Juneteenth into their instruction that will give students a broader understanding of how Black people resisted slavery and persevered in spite of it. Below are just a few.</p>
<h2>Start early, but keep it positive</h2>
<p>As early childhood experts assembled by the National Museum of African American History point out in a <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/sites/default/files/files/nmaahc_kids_-_juneteenth_resource.pdf">guide they created to help develop lessons about Juneteenth</a>, children in the U.S. will probably hear about slavery by age 5. But lessons about slavery at that age should avoid the pain and trauma of slavery. Instead, the lessons should celebrate and teach stories of Black culture, leadership, inventions, beauty and accomplishments. This, the authors of the guide say, will better equip children to later hear about, understand and emotionally process the terrible truths about slavery.</p>
<p>“Juneteenth events can be wonderful opportunities to introduce the concepts of slavery with a focus on resilience and within an environment of love, trust, and joy,” the guide states.</p>
<h2>Focus on Black resistance</h2>
<p>Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice. As <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-black-history-is-about-more-than-oppression/2021/01">Black history education professor LaGarett King puts it</a>, Black people have always “acted, made their own decisions based on their interests, and fought back against oppressive structures.” Stressing this can help students to see that although Black people were victimized by slavery, they were not just helpless victims. </p>
<p>Juneteenth provides opportunities to acknowledge and examine the legacies of Black freedom fighters during the time of slavery. These freedom fighters include – but are not necessarily limited to – <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html">Frederick Douglass</a>, <a href="https://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/deathliberty/gabriel/index.htm">Gabriel Prosser</a>, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/denmark-vesey.htm">Denmark Vesey</a>, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html">Harriet Tubman</a>, <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/nat-turners-rebellion">Nat Turner</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html">Sojourner Truth</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black man holding a knife faces a white man holding a gun." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532428/original/file-20230616-23-ev4t9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration of 1831 slave revolt leader Nat Turner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/discovery-of-nat-turner-royalty-free-illustration/1178318392?phrase=nat+turner&adppopup=true">Scan by ivan-96 via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Connect Juneteenth to current events</h2>
<p>Juneteenth can also be a way for educators to help students better understand contemporary demands for racial justice. That’s what George Patterson, a former Brooklyn middle school principal, did a few years back at the height of protests that took place under the mantra of Black Lives Matter.</p>
<p>Patterson has said he believes that when students study Juneteenth, they are “<a href="https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/18/21296042/at-our-middle-school-teaching-about-juneteenth-means-getting-creative">better equipped to understand</a> the historical underpinnings of what’s going on in the streets and to put the demands being made in context.”</p>
<p>Teachers need not wait for Juneteenth to be included in textbooks in order to draw lessons from the holiday.</p>
<p>“If it’s not in the textbook, then we need to introduce it, we need to teach it,” Odessa Pickett, a teacher at the Barack Obama Learning Academy in Markham, Illinois, <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/juneteenth-2021-lessons-school/10799306/">stated during an interview</a> about teachers infusing Juneteenth into their lessons. “We need to bring it to the forefront.”</p>
<p>Educators can make Juneteenth about so much more than the end of slavery. Teaching lessons about the holiday offers an abundance of opportunities about what it means to fight for freedom and maintain a sense of self-determination in the face of oppression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raphael E. Rogers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Many students say they aren’t learning much about slavery beyond its harsh conditions. A historian explores how Juneteenth offers opportunities to change that reality.
Raphael E. Rogers, Professor of Practice in Education, Clark University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205251
2023-06-13T16:18:40Z
2023-06-13T16:18:40Z
South African activist Frank Anthony wrote a novel that has been forgotten: why it shouldn’t have been
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526767/original/file-20230517-11985-ieafwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Detail of a photo of Frank Anthony (front left) on Robben Island with Walter Sisulu (front right).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Unknown/Courtesy Nelson Mandela Foundation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How does it come about that a man who dedicated the greater part of his life to a vision of a just South Africa, and sacrificed his family and personal relationships to do so, disappears from the annals of the country’s history?</p>
<p>How does a writer with consummate command of two of South Africa’s national languages – English and Afrikaans – and whose work in poetry and prose reflects deep insights into world politics, literature and culture come to be virtually totally forgotten?</p>
<p>This is what happened to Frank Anthony, a South African author and activist who lived a life committed to ending racial, economic and gender injustice in apartheid South Africa. Anthony was born in 1940 and died in 1993.</p>
<p>He is the author of an Afrikaans poetry collection <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Robbeneiland.html?id=rgniAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Robbeneiland: My Kruis, My Huis</a> (Robben Island: My Cross, My Home) and the novel <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/The_Journey.html?id=nUIgAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">The Journey: The Revolutionary Anguish of Comrade B</a>. Both works draw on his six-year incarceration on <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/robben-island">Robben Island</a>, and the impact of being restricted within the Kraaifontein district of Cape Town for five years after his release.</p>
<p>I have studied his works, and his life, over the past three years, and have distilled my findings in a recently published <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v50i1.4">article</a> on his novel The Journey.</p>
<p>The novel is set in the 1980s. Yet it seems to speak to the betrayal and crisis of leadership experienced in South Africa at the present time. I am also interested in the ways the novel seems to exclude personal relationships, especially romantic love, in its political vision. </p>
<p>Investigating Anthony’s life and work, I discovered that his political and literary contributions had not been recognised. Almost <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/frank-anthony-1">no information</a> is available about him online. Both his publications are out of print, so not easily available to the general reading public, and his work has completely fallen out of view in South African literary studies.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526770/original/file-20230517-15-sjf3sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kampen</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In my view this is because of his implicit criticism of the leadership of the political organisation to which he belonged, the <a href="https://www.apdusa.org.za/about-us/">African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa</a>, which has expunged his presence and his political contribution from their website. Another factor was the racialised way in which his poetry and fiction were viewed. Reviews of his poetry collection at the time of its publication, for example, focus on the racial identity of the poet rather than on the literary sophistication of his collection. </p>
<p>For me, Anthony’s experience amounts to censorship and “banning”. This was something many South African writers experienced at the hands of a number of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> laws and censorship boards. </p>
<p>It also echoes the experience of dissident writers in Africa such as <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/nuruddin-farah.html">Nuruddin Farah</a>, as well as international writers like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/18/vaclav-havel">Václav Havel</a> who challenged authoritarian regimes through their life work and writing.</p>
<h2>The times</h2>
<p>Anthony was born in Stellenbosch in 1940. Stellenbosch is a town in the Cape winelands, steeped in colonial history. It is still home to the descendants of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-slavery-and-early-colonisation-south-africa">enslaved people</a> brought by the Dutch to the Cape from the mid-17th century.</p>
<p>Apartheid segregation and discrimination were layered onto this history by the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/national-party-np">National Party</a>, which came into power in 1948. This was the society into which Anthony was born, and the context that influenced his political allegiances.</p>
<p>He joined the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/non-european-unity-movement-neum">Non-European Unity Movement</a>, and later its affiliate, the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/african-peoples-democratic-union-southern-africa-apdusa">African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa</a>. </p>
<p>In 1972, Anthony was arrested and convicted on four counts under the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/1967-terrorism-act-no-83-1967">Terrorism Act</a>. The act gave the apartheid government the legal power to clamp down on resistance movements.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photograph of two prison guards standing supervising three men with gardening implements - a man on the left looking directly to camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526771/original/file-20230517-15-mjxdxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frank Anthony (left).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Unknown/ Courtesy Nelson Mandela Foundation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anthony was imprisoned for six years on Robben Island. Leaders like <a href="https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography">Nelson Mandela</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/walter-ulyate-sisulu">Walter Sisulu</a> of the African National Congress were serving their sentences there at the time.</p>
<p>On his release in 1978 Anthony was put under a banning order. This meant that he was physically restricted to the Kraaifontein area, a semi-rural district of Cape Town. He worked at a supermarket in the area even though he was a qualified economics lecturer.</p>
<p>After his banning order was lifted, Anthony again become involved in clandestine anti-apartheid operations. </p>
<h2>Contributions to literature</h2>
<p>Anthony was one of a number of significant writers of his time who acknowledged that literature and culture reflected – and were affected by – politics. Other celebrated South African writers, including <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/mongane-wally-serote-1944">Mongane Wally Serote</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/epitaph-for-a-baobab-remembering-south-african-poet-and-activist-don-mattera-187654">Don Mattera</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nadine-gordimer">Nadine Gordimer</a>, also believed that literature had the power to transform hearts, minds and the world. </p>
<p>Anthony’s Afrikaans poetry collection, Robbeneiland: My Kruis, My Huis, was published in 1983. It was titled after the extended poem where he reflects on his prison experience. This poem was also published in the well-known resistance literary magazine, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/staffrider-vol5-no2-1982">Staffrider</a>. </p>
<p>The collection was the first example of Afrikaans prison literature, and an exemplar of how Afrikaans could be an African language of resistance rather than “the oppressor’s tongue” as it had been seen, following the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising">1976 Soweto youth uprising</a>, when Afrikaans was imposed in black schools.</p>
<p>But the poetry collection has not been studied for its literary qualities and its creative exposition of debates and philosophies. Rather it has simply become a footnote in Afrikaans literary scholarship. </p>
<p>Anthony’s 1991 novel, written in English, has been almost completely elided from history, despite receiving good reviews in the South African press when it was published.</p>
<p>The highly satirical novel allegorically tells the story of the journey of Comrade B through South Africa to a neighbouring country where his political leaders are exiled. The organisation is never named in the novel. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/epitaph-for-a-baobab-remembering-south-african-poet-and-activist-don-mattera-187654">Epitaph for a baobab: remembering South African poet and activist Don Mattera</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The novel uses well-known literary allusions to foreground the idea of betrayal, especially by leaders who seem to have lost touch with realities on the ground.</p>
<p>The organisation Anthony was still close to read the novel narrowly and defensively. The leadership saw it as an autobiography rather than as a novel, presenting a non-fictional critique of organisational and leadership failings.</p>
<p>In its response to the novel in newsletters and other correspondence, references were made to the “mental instability” of its author. </p>
<h2>Importance</h2>
<p>In my view the novel is important for a number of reasons. </p>
<p>Firstly, it highlights the idea of betrayal of ethical and political principles. Current disillusionment with political parties is not new.</p>
<p>Secondly, the narrative seems, by omission, to be highlighting how personal lives and relationships, especially <a href="https://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/8992">romantic love</a>, might be a politically radical concept. The novel, following dominant Marxist theory, regards love as a bourgeois preoccupation. Contemporary leftist and radical black debates, by contrast, have re-evaluated the importance of love in political struggle.</p>
<p>Today the novel is available only at the Library of Parliament, the National Library of South Africa, and a handful of university libraries. Its disappearance impoverishes our understanding of activists and resistance movements, and their missteps and misapprehensions, in the South African context, as well as worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Fiona Moolla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The activist and writer has been erased from South Africa’s history - but new academic work seeks to restore his voice.
F. Fiona Moolla, Senior Lecturer in English, University of the Western Cape
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205266
2023-06-09T13:34:23Z
2023-06-09T13:34:23Z
6 books that explain the history and meaning of Juneteenth
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530978/original/file-20230608-20480-a4sqhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C52%2C5850%2C3835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Juneteenth celebration in Prospect Park in New York City in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-take-part-in-a-celebration-of-juneteenth-in-prospect-news-photo/1241425742?adppopup=true">Michael Nagle/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>After decades of being celebrated at mostly the local level, Juneteenth – the long-standing holiday that commemorates the arrival of <a href="https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/juneteenth-original-document">news of emancipation and freedom</a> to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 – <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/475">became a federal holiday</a> in 2021. In honor of this year’s Juneteenth, The Conversation reached out to Wake Forest University humanities professor <a href="https://english.wfu.edu/meet-corey-db-walker/">Corey D. B. Walker</a> for a list of readings that can help people better understand the history and meaning of the observance. Below, Walker recommends six books.</em></p>
<h2>‘On Juneteenth’</h2>
<p>Combining history and memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631498831">On Juneteenth</a>” offers a moving history of African American life and culture through the prism of Juneteenth. The award-winning <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/annette-gordon-reed/">Harvard historian</a> presents an intimate portrait of the experiences of her family and her memories of life as an African American girl growing up in segregated Texas. The essays in her book invite readers to enter a world shaped by the forces of freedom and slavery.</p>
<p>Reed’s exploration of the history and legacy of Juneteenth is a poignant reminder of the hard history all Americans face.</p>
<h2>‘O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations’</h2>
<p>William H. Wiggins Jr.’s “<a href="https://utpress.org/title/o-freedom/">O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations</a>” is the historical standard for African American emancipation celebrations. It offers an accessible and well-researched account of the emergence and evolution of Juneteenth.</p>
<p>Wiggins brings together oral history with archival research to share the stories of how African Americans celebrated emancipation. It explains how Juneteenth is part of the tapestry of emancipation celebrations. These celebrations included such dates as <a href="https://www.ncpedia.org/emancipation-day">January 1</a>, in North Carolina, <a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/4684hpr-1a40a372231de4c/#:%7E:text=A%20large%20crowd%20of%20Black,of%20Richmond%2C%20the%20Confederate%20capital.">April 3</a>, in Richmond, Virginia, and <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/april-16/#:%7E:text=On%20April%2016%2C%201862%2C%20President,and%20enfranchisement%20for%20African%20Americans.">April 16</a>, in Washington, D.C.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three women hug or gesture." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530980/original/file-20230608-26-z8tztt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Juneteenth celebration in 2022 in San Francisco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-take-part-in-a-celebration-of-juneteenth-in-san-news-photo/1241425569?adppopup=true">Liu Yilin/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What began as a local holiday has evolved into a national celebration.</p>
<p>Juneteenth celebrations are known for the variety of programs and events that highlight African American history and culture. In the 1960s, students at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, informed faculty that classes would not be held on Juneteenth. In Milwaukee, the local Juneteenth parade includes a group known as the <a href="http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/photos/milwaukees-black-cowboys-urban-horseback-riding-club-keeps-equestrian-traditions-alive-brew-city/">Black Cowboys</a> riding their horses along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Juneteenth celebrations also feature cultural fairs and exhibitions, artistic performances and historical reenactments. Lectures and public conversations, community feasts and religious services are also part of the celebrations.</p>
<h2>‘Juneteenth’</h2>
<p>Ralph Ellison, perhaps best known for his novel “Invisible Man,” offers multiple meanings of Juneteenth in African American and American life in his posthumously published novel “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/46133/juneteenth-by-ralph-ellison/">Juneteenth</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black-and-white portrait of a man in front of a shelve of books." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530982/original/file-20230608-2966-gk7fjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ralph Ellison’s novel ‘Juneteenth’ was released posthumously.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-american-author-ralph-ellison-new-york-new-york-news-photo/1067513294?adppopup=true">United States Information Agency/PhotoQuest via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ambivalence of Juneteenth is of a freedom delayed but not denied. Ellison’s spiraling novel captures this in the entangled and tragic lives of the racist Senator Sunraider – previously known as Bliss – and the minister who raised him, the Reverend A. Z. Hickman. For Ellison, Juneteenth represents more than just a celebration of emancipation. It also represents the shared fate of white Americans and African Americans in the quest to create a just and equal society. The promise and peril of Juneteenth is elegantly captured in Hickman’s words, “There’s been a heap of Juneteenths before this one and I tell you there’ll be a heap more before we’re truly free!”</p>
<h2>‘Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915’</h2>
<p>Mitch Kachun’s book, “Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915,” <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781558495289/festivals-of-freedom/">traces the history</a> of emancipation celebrations and their influence on African American identity and community. Juneteenth joined a longer tradition of emancipation celebrations. Those celebrations included ones at the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the United States on Jan. 1, 1808. They also included the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/parliament-and-the-american-colonies-before-1765/the-west-indian-colonies-and-emancipation/">August First Day/West India Day celebrations</a> that marked the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire on Aug. 1, 1834.</p>
<p>With an eye for historical detail, Kachun narrates a complex history of how Juneteenth and other freedom festivals shaped African American identity and political culture. The celebrations also displayed competing meanings of African American identity. In Washington, D.C. in the late 19th century, different groups of African Americans held distinct celebrations. These variations underscored tensions around political ideals, status and identity. Kachun’s book reminds us that Juneteenth served as a crucible for forging a collective and contested sense of African American community. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Six older African Americans face the camera in a photo from the year 1900." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529192/original/file-20230530-15-53w1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Emancipation Day celebration from 1900 in Austin, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth">The Austin History Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Rites of August First: Emancipation Day in the Black Atlantic World’</h2>
<p>Similar to Kachun’s book, <a href="https://profiles.howard.edu/jeffrey-kerr-ritchie">Howard University historian</a> Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie’s “<a href="https://lsupress.org/books/detail/rites-of-august-first/">Rites of August First: Emancipation Day in the Black Atlantic World</a>” reminds readers of a broader history and geography of emancipation celebrations.</p>
<p>Kerr-Ritchie focuses on how various African American communities adopted and adapted West India Day celebrations. He also explores how they created meaning and culture in celebrating the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies. Kerr-Ritchie’s book details how these celebrations moved across political borders and boundaries.</p>
<h2>‘Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration’</h2>
<p>Contemporary invocations of Juneteenth often overlook its military history. </p>
<p>Edward T. Cotham, Jr.’s “<a href="https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781649670007/juneteenth/">Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration</a>” fills the void by exploring the Civil War origins of Juneteenth.</p>
<p>Cotham renders explicit the military context leading up to the events on June 19, 1865, in Galveston. This is when enslaved Black people there finally got word that they had been freed more than two years prior. Cotham reminds readers that the history of Juneteenth involves ordinary actions of many individual people whose names may not be widely known.</p>
<p>Collectively, these books about Juneteenth offer fresh perspectives on the history and culture of African Americans on a quest to fully express their freedom. Juneteenth is also an invitation for all Americans to continue to learn about and strive for freedom for all people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey D. B. Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Juneteenth is part of a rich heritage of African American emancipation and freedom celebrations.
Corey D. B. Walker, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, Wake Forest University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205950
2023-05-31T12:40:05Z
2023-05-31T12:40:05Z
US Army Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’ journey from enslaver to Union officer to civil rights defender
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528104/original/file-20230524-24-o2jesj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=161%2C209%2C6107%2C6917&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who fought for the Union army during the Civil War, stands in uniform for a photo.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-george-h-thomas-u-s-a-between-1860-and-1875-artist-news-photo/1410616141?adppopup=true">Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Southern states <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-taking-down-confederate-memorials-is-only-a-first-step-78020">tear down Confederate statues</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/symbols-of-the-confederacy-are-slowly-coming-down-from-us-military-bases-3-essential-reads-205729">military removes the names of Confederate generals from bases</a>, the issue of how to remember the Civil War is increasingly prominent. </p>
<p>Are white Southerners condemned to think of themselves as the bad guys, the ones who were willing to destroy the Union to preserve slavery? Or are there other types of heritage in which they can take pride? </p>
<p>Growing up in Virginia in the 1970s, I was taught that Confederate generals like <a href="https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/julyaugust/feature/how-did-robert-e-lee-become-american-icon">Robert E. Lee</a> and <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a57064/stonewall-jackson-descendants-open-letter/">Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson</a> were heroes who fought to defend their native state from Northern aggression. </p>
<p>As an adult, I read more widely about the Civil War and became fascinated with Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who grew up in Virginia but joined the Union army. I’m a sociology scholar today. But, as a student of historical sociology, <a href="https://www.oupress.com/9780806141213/george-thomas/">I researched and wrote a biography</a> of Thomas to understand his decision.</p>
<p>While most people talk of the Civil War in terms of the North versus the South, in reality the conflict was between secessionists, who favored leaving the United States, and Unionists, who wanted to keep the country together. While most Southerners favored secession, <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-south-vs-the-south-9780195156294?cc=us&lang=en&">there were many Southern Unionists</a>. </p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of African American Southerners <a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/slavery-during-the-civil-war/">supported the Union by escaping slavery</a> and <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war">serving in the Union army</a>. But there were thousands of <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-south-vs-the-south-9780195156294?">white Southerners who also supported the Union</a>. George H. Thomas, <a href="https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/blog/rock-of-chickamauga">known to history as “the Rock of Chickamauga,”</a> is the most prominent of them.</p>
<p>Born in Southampton, Virginia, in 1816 to a wealthy family of enslavers, Thomas entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when he was 20 years old and became a career military officer. He served during U.S. conflicts with Native Americans and with distinction in the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/mexican-american-war">Mexican-American War</a>, which ended in 1848.</p>
<p>When the Civil War broke out, nearly all the Southern career officers left the U.S. Army to serve in the Confederacy. But, as his adjutant and first biographer wrote in “<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044019661180&view=1up&seq=44">The Life of Major-General George H. Thomas</a>,” Thomas viewed his oath as an army officer to defend the Constitution as more binding than his feelings of loyalty to his native state. </p>
<h2>Led African American troops</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing a Union Army uniform sits atop a horse in the middle of a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529146/original/file-20230530-23-3lc1pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Union Gen. George H. Thomas, sitting atop a horse, surveys his surroundings during the Civil War, between 1861 and 1865.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2013648715/">Retrieved from the Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the Civil War, Thomas first commanded a cavalry brigade in an attack of Virginia. He rose through the ranks to command a division, then a corps and, finally, an army. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/mill-springs">winning a battle at Mill Springs, Kentucky</a>, in 1862, he served in the campaigns to capture Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. </p>
<p>Thomas’ most significant contribution was at the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/chch/index.htm">Battle of Chickamauga</a> in Catoosa and Walker counties, Georgia, fought Sept. 19-20, 1863, where he held the field with a hastily improvised force after the majority of the Union troops had been routed. His bravery and skill earned him the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga,” and his defense saved the Union force from destruction.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-t-sherman">Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman took his army</a> on its march through Georgia, Thomas stayed behind to defend Tennessee from the Confederates. At the <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/decisive-battle-nashville">Battle of Nashville</a>, waged December 15-16, 1864, Thomas and the 72,000 soldiers under his command nearly destroyed a 23,000-man Confederate force, taking thousands of prisoners and leaving the states of the western Confederacy under Union control.</p>
<p>At Nashville, Thomas commanded thousands of African American troops. His colleagues in the military later recalled that <a href="https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofs00morg/page/22/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater">Thomas viewed African American troops as inferior soldiers</a>, not suited to offensive operations, and he relegated them to a part of his line that he thought would see no fighting. They attacked anyway, enduring huge losses in <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700606504/">repeated charges against Confederate entrenchments</a>. </p>
<p>Touring the battlefield after his victory, Thomas saw the African American dead piled in heaps before the Confederate fortifications. As a subordinate officer, Thomas J. Morgan, recalled, Thomas remarked, “<a href="https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofs00morg/page/48/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater">Gentlemen, the question is settled. The Negro will fight</a>.” </p>
<p>The sacrifices of African American soldiers at Nashville and elsewhere were a heroic and tragic act, with meaning and significance that went far beyond their effect on the opinion of a single person. But their sacrifice profoundly changed Thomas’ racial views. Having seen African Americans as living up to his ideal of soldierly virtue, he began to view them as full human beings who had earned the rights of citizenship. </p>
<h2>Enslaver turned civil rights defender</h2>
<p>During and after the war came the Reconstruction Era, the period from 1863 to 1877 when the U.S. government worked to integrate the formerly enslaved into society and unite the country, Thomas commanded the Union force in Tennessee. There he protected newly freed Blacks from racist local officials and the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/ku-klux-klan">Ku Klux Klan</a>.</p>
<p>Here, my biography traced new ground, drawing upon military records in the National Archives to discover Thomas’ role. He used military courts to enforce fair <a href="https://www.history.com/news/black-codes-reconstruction-slavery">labor contracts between white landowners and Black workers</a>. </p>
<p>And in 1867, Thomas used military courts to try former Confederate soldiers who were now members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white terrorist groups, on the grounds that they had violated the terms of the paroles they had signed at the time of the surrender of the Confederate armies. As “The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant” indicate, <a href="https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=usg-volumes">Thomas used this tactic for several months</a> before one former Confederate challenged his arrest as unconstitutional. When the U.S. District Court judge ruled the prisoner must be released, Thomas wanted to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the attorney general’s office declined to support him.</p>
<p>When white local officials in Nashville began to <a href="https://www.crf-usa.org/brown-v-board-50th-anniversary/southern-black-codes.html">arrest African American adults and teenagers for vagrancy</a>, a legal maneuver that allowed the officials to hire out the formerly enslaved for forced labor on plantations, Thomas threatened the officials with military detention, and they let the prisoners go. He protected Black voters from <a href="https://time.com/6171019/reconstruction-black-economic-progress-history/">white violence at the polls</a> and continually lobbied his superiors in Washington to provide him with more troops and more authority to protect the freedmen. </p>
<p>Once a racist enslaver, he distinguished himself after the war in his active protection and promotion of the rights of formerly enslaved persons.</p>
<p>Thomas stands today as an example of the thousands of white Southerners who supported the Union during the Civil War and a rare example of a slave owner who changed his views on race and slavery. His military career demonstrated skill and bravery, but his true heroism was a moral one.</p>
<p>In my view, as the military assesses new names for bases formerly named after Confederate generals, Thomas’ name deserves consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205950/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Justin Einolf does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A Southerner, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas was a racist enslaver before the Civil War. But he fought for the Union because he prioritized his oath to defend the Constitution over state interests.
Christopher Justin Einolf, Associate Professor of Sociology, Northern Illinois University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205281
2023-05-29T12:29:09Z
2023-05-29T12:29:09Z
What really started the American Civil War?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527606/original/file-20230522-23-ijaoe1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5770%2C4022&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 600,000 soldiers died during the American Civil War.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/battle-of-kennesaw-mountain-royalty-free-illustration/1152759368?adppopup=true">Keith Lance/Digital Vision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>What really started the Civil War? – Abbey, age 7, Stone Ridge, New York</strong></p>
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<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/citizenship-test-questions-and-answers/#american-history-">The U.S. citizenship test</a> – which immigrants must pass before becoming citizens of the United States – has this question: “Name one problem that led to the Civil War.” It lists three possible correct answers: “slavery,” “economic reasons” and “states’ rights.” </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SsoLG_0AAAAJ&hl=en">a historian and professor</a> who studies slavery, Southern history and the American Civil War, I know there’s really only one correct answer: slavery. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="1862 photo of enslaved people and soldiers on a plantation, standing for the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527601/original/file-20230522-4578-n3onvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Enslaved people and soldiers on a South Carolina plantation in 1862.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-enslaved-people-and-soldiers-on-the-plantation-of-news-photo/1402910706">Henry P. Moore/LOC/Archive Photos via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>White Southerners left the Union to establish a slave-holding republic; they were <a href="https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/slavery-cause-civil-war.htm">dedicated to the preservation of slavery</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, unlike slavery in the ancient world, slavery in the United States <a href="https://chssp.sf.ucdavis.edu/resources/curriculum/lessons/was-slavery-always-racial">was based on race</a>. By the time of the Civil War, Black people were the ones enslaved; white people were not. </p>
<p>Every American citizen, whether born in this country or naturalized, should understand that the conflict over slavery is what caused the Civil War. </p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>Slavery in the U.S. began at least as early as 1619, when a Portuguese ship brought about <a href="https://www.nps.gov/fomr/planyourvisit/first-african-landing.htm">20 enslaved African people to present-day Virginia</a>. It grew so quickly that by the time Colonists fought for their independence from England in 1775, slavery was <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/12/before-there-were-red-and-blue-states-there-were-free-states-and-slave-states/#:%7E">legal in all 13 Colonies</a>.</p>
<p>As the 19th century progressed, Northern states <a href="https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/freedom/history.html#:%7E">slowly abolished slavery</a>; but Southern states made it central to their economy. By 1860, nearly 4 million enslaved people lived in the South. </p>
<p>Increasingly, the North and South were at odds over the future of slavery. White Southerners believed slavery had to expand into new territories or it would die. In 1845, they pressured the federal government <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/annexation">to annex Texas, where slavery was legal</a>. They also supported an effort to <a href="https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1854OstendManifesto.pdf">purchase Cuba and add it as a slave state</a>. </p>
<p>In the North, people generally opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories, and many favored the gradual emancipation of enslaved people. A smaller group, known as abolitionists, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/abolitionist-movement">wanted slavery to end immediately</a>. </p>
<p>But even though many Northerners opposed the expansion of slavery, they <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2957.html">did not favor equal rights for Black people</a>. In most Northern states, segregation was rampant, Blacks were barred from voting and violence against them was common.</p>
<p>By the 1850s, it became more difficult for the federal government to satisfy either side. <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/compromise-of-1850#:%7E">The Compromise of 1850</a>, a series of bills that tried to solve the problem, pleased almost no one.</p>
<p>The publication of the 1852 novel “<a href="https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>” – about the pain and injustice inflicted on an enslaved man – turned Northerners against slavery even more. In the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford">1857 Dred Scott decision</a>, the Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people were not U.S. citizens, nor could Congress ban slavery in a federal territory. Two years later, the abolitionist John Brown <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/topics/john-browns-harpers-ferry-raid">attacked a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia</a>, in an unsuccessful attempt to supply weapons to enslaved people.</p>
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<span class="caption">A digitally restored photograph of President Abraham Lincoln, taken during the American Civil War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-president-abraham-lincoln-royalty-free-image/640971707">National Archives/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Lincoln becomes president, secession follows</h2>
<p>Amid this swirl of troubles, the presidential election of 1860 took place. A new political party, the Republican Party, was opposed to the spread of slavery throughout the western territories. With four major candidates running for president, <a href="https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/abraham-lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a> won the electoral vote – but only 40% of the popular vote. </p>
<p>The election of a president from a party that opposed slavery jolted white Southerners to action. Less than two months after Lincoln won, South Carolina delegates, meeting in Charleston, decided to secede from the Union – that is, to <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp">formally withdraw membership in the United States</a>. </p>
<p>Other Southern states followed and said slavery was the primary reason for secession. Texas delegates wrote the abolition of slavery “would bring <a href="https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html">inevitable calamities upon both races and desolation</a>” in the slave states. The <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp">Mississippi secession document</a> said “our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest in the world.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The hundreds of brutal, bloody battles of the Civil War took a terrible toll on the country.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Confederate supporters made their position clear</h2>
<p>The vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, also said slavery was the reason for secession, and that Thomas Jefferson’s words in the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript">Declaration of Independence</a> – that all men are created equal – were wrong. </p>
<p>“Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea,” <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech">Stephens told a crowd</a>. “Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.” </p>
<p>Although the evidence shows slavery caused the Civil War, some Southerners created a myth – <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lost-Cause">the “Lost Cause</a>” – that transformed Confederate generals into heroes who were defending freedom. To some degree, that myth has, unfortunately, taken hold. Some schools are still <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/us/confederate-schools-trnd/index.html">named after Confederate generals</a>; <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-military-bases-honoring-confederate-figures-slated-to-get-new-names-/6641654.html">so are some military bases</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/symbols-of-the-confederacy-are-slowly-coming-down-from-us-military-bases-3-essential-reads-205729">although that is changing</a>. </p>
<p>It’s important to know the real reason for the Civil War so the country no longer celebrates historical figures who fought to establish a slave-holding republic.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify that the colonies became states in the United States of America.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Gudmestad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There was one central reason the Civil War happened.
Robert Gudmestad, Professor and Chair of History Department, Colorado State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202274
2023-05-19T10:57:29Z
2023-05-19T10:57:29Z
Beatrix Potter’s famous tales are rooted in stories told by enslaved Africans – but she was very quiet about their origins
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525902/original/file-20230512-19-gzwp6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C2%2C1979%2C1407&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An illustration by Beatrix Potter from The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/218381001">The Trustees of the British Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peter Rabbit, the cute and wily bunny who wears a bright blue jacket, is the best-selling creation of English author Beatrix Potter. Originally published in 1902, the Tale of Peter Rabbit – the first of <a href="https://toppsta.com/books/series/6474/beatrix-potter-originals">23 tales</a> in the series – has since been translated into more than 45 languages and sold over 45 million copies.</p>
<p>Peter’s home is the Lake District in north-west England, among ancient stone walls and picturesque rolling hedgerows that crisscross emerald fields. Heralded as <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/introducing-beatrix-potter#:%7E:text=Beatrix%20Potter%20remains%20one%20of,than%20250%20million%20copies%20worldwide.">Britain’s best-loved children’s author</a>, Potter received much praise for her originality as well as her artistic and literary skills during her lifetime, and these “thoroughly English” tales continue to captivate young readers all over the world. The author was a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11750877/New-20-bank-note-Beatrix-Potter-must-be-Britains-next-woman-of-note.html">frontrunner to appear on the UK’s latest £20 note</a>, but was beaten by the painter J.M.W. Turner.</p>
<p>It is popularly held that Potter conceived of her tales in 1893, <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/peter-rabbit-the-tale-of-the-tale">while writing to the sickly son</a> of her friend and former governess, Annie Moore. In these letters she <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1247436/peter-rabbit-picture-letter-correspondence-beatrix-potter/?gclid=CjwKCAjwx_eiBhBGEiwA15gLN9Lw8L_ohRFJW1DXBdx2BpfSYbLpS7h_z6aLDBjgpktow9Sj33Pm6BoCvRcQAvD_BwE">wrote and illustrated stories</a> featuring her pet rabbit, Peter Piper.</p>
<p>As a scholar of folktales and postcolonial literature, however, I spend a lot of time tracing the roots of stories and examining the impact of colonial legacies on them. While rereading another collection of children’s stories featuring the “trickster hero” Brer Rabbit – for <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783481101/American-Trickster-Trauma-Tradition-and-Brer-Rabbit">my own book</a> on how these folktales were introduced to North America by enslaved Africans – it became clear to me that the similarities between Beatrix Potter’s tales and the Brer Rabbit stories demand further consideration. </p>
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>The tales of Brer Rabbit can be traced back to pre-colonial Africa, from where they were transported to the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_Analogues_of_the_Uncle_Remus.html?id=fh_XAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">plantations of America by enslaved people</a>. The stories were first adapted for a white audience in the late 19th century by the American journalist and folklorist <a href="http://www.wrensnest.org/history-of-joel-chandler-harris-chandler-circle/">Joel Chandler Harris</a>.</p>
<p>Harris created a fictional African American narrator for his stories, <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/uncle-remus-tales/">Uncle Remus</a>, whose name became the popular title for his collections. Brer Rabbit is a cunning trickster who lives in a briar (bramble) patch and outwits larger animals using his brains rather than his brawn. </p>
<p>In her 2008 biography of Potter, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Beatrix_Potter/lXG5bFER1FoC?hl=en&gbpv=1">A Life in Nature</a>, <a href="http://www.lindalear.com/beatrix_potter__a_life_in_nature_56797.htm">Linda Lear</a> notes that while the author’s “first audience was British”, her work was strongly influenced by Harris – “whose Brer Rabbit stories she had loved as a child”. Lear also writes that Potter’s tales “were favourably compared to Uncle Remus in early reviews of her work”.</p>
<p>And yet, I was amazed to realise how little comment there has been over the years about the many similarities between Potter’s tales and the Africa-originated Brer Rabbit folktales. Indeed, one of the most striking references, cited in Lear’s biography, is found in a letter that Potter herself wrote to her publisher, Harold Warne, on <a href="http://www.lindalear.com/beatrix_potter__a_life_in_nature_56797.htm">November 18 1911</a>. The letter is about her new Peter Rabbit story The Tale of Mr Tod, and directly refers to her use of the Uncle Remus folktales in this work:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think the story is amusing; its principal defect is its imitation of ‘Uncle Remus’. It is no drawback for children, because they cannot read the Negro vernacular. I hardly think the publishers could object to it? I wrote it some time ago. I have copied it out lately.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We don’t know how Warne responded to this letter. However, having analysed the plotting, language and characters in Potter’s tales, it’s clear that she was more than just inspired by these folktales. Her tales owe a debt to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans working on American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation_complexes_in_the_Southern_United_States">plantations</a> that needs to be fully acknowledged.</p>
<h2>Early encounters with Brer Rabbit</h2>
<p>Potter knew Harris’s Brer Rabbit folktales as a child, having first encountered them in her father Rupert Potter’s library in their grand London home. Copies of the collections <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2306">Songs and Sayings</a> and its sequel <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24430/24430-h/24430-h.htm">Night with Uncle Remus</a> were found at her farmhouse home in Sawrey in the Lake District after she died in 1943. Each bore her father’s bookplate.</p>
<p>These stories had not been published in the UK when Beatrix Potter was a child. It is therefore likely that her early contact with the Brer Rabbit tales (in comparison with the rest of the British public) was a result of her family roots in the cotton industry.</p>
<p>Her grandfather, Edmund Potter (1802–1883), was a Manchester cotton mill owner and industrialist. He became wealthy in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico">calico</a> printing business, a cotton cloth originating from India.</p>
<p>Under the British East India Company (1600-1874), the cotton industry was an exploitative one. Cotton was grown by “peasant cultivators” in India who were heavily taxed. At the same time, the growth of demand in Britain and the development of British weaving techniques <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1329&context=tsaconf">destroyed the traditional Indian cotton manufacturing industry</a>.</p>
<p>In Manchester, Edmund Potter introduced precision machinery to his calico printing process. By 1883, his mill employed 350 workers – <a href="http://www.lindalear.com/beatrix_potter__a_life_in_nature_56797.htm">many of them children</a>, according to Lear’s biography – and was the world’s largest calico printing factory. </p>
<p>A great portion of Edmund Potter’s wealth was passed on to Beatrix’s father, Rupert, a lawyer and photographer. He married a wealthy heiress, Helen Leech, whose family had also made a <a href="https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/exhibition-the-world-of-rupert-potter-photographs-of-beatrix-mill">fortune in Manchester’s cotton industry</a> by owning several <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton-spinning_machinery">cotton-spinning</a> mills. By the early 19th century, the raw cotton used in these mills was sourced from the Americas, including from the <a href="https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/fe657536-3f54-4a5b-a75c-1fd5f28181ea">Sea Islands</a> region and Charleston in <a href="https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/39e0b77d-9bde-478d-a39f-3277630111b7">South Carolina</a>.</p>
<p>This was the time of Manchester’s emergence as the world’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2023/apr/03/cotton-capital-how-slavery-made-manchester-the-worlds-first-industrial-city">cotton capital</a>”. The city’s economic success was deeply connected to the enslavement of African people. Its industry predominantly involved the production of cloth made from raw cotton that had been picked by enslaved people on plantations in the Caribbean and US. </p>
<p>Many of the dyes such as <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Nineteenth+Century+Calico+Printer.-a0660701065">logwood</a> used in the printing of cotton were also imported from places such as Belize (known then as British Honduras) in the British Caribbean, and would have been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25765830">harvested by enslaved people</a>.</p>
<p>So, was it the Potter family’s connections with the cotton industry, the US, and the slave trade that brought a plantation Brer Rabbit into the Potter household? </p>
<h2>How Potter fell in love with the Uncle Remus stories</h2>
<p>As noted in my book, <a href="https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/02/11/that-wascally-wabbit-review-of-american-trickster-trauma-tradition-and-brer-rabbit-by-emily-zobel-marshall/">American Trickster: Trauma, Tradition, and Brer Rabbit</a>, there are only two detailed pieces of research connecting Potter’s tales with Harris’s earlier folktales. </p>
<p>The first is children’s author John Goldthwaite’s 1996 book, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3V30DAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Natural History of Make-Believe</a>. This was used as a key source in the other important contribution, literary critic Peter Hollindale’s (unpublished) lecture Uncle Remus and Peter Rabbit, delivered in 2003 at the Beatrix Potter Society’s annual general meeting. </p>
<p>I found the title of Hollindale’s lecture on the society’s website and wrote to ask if he would share its contents. His wife typed up the lecture from his handwritten notes, and I am grateful for their assistance with my research. </p>
<p>From her earliest creative forays, the influence of Brer Rabbit on Potter was evident in her work. In 1893, when establishing herself as an illustrator for her writing, she did the <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1263147/brer-fox-and-brer-rabbit-drawing-beatrix-potter/">first of eight Uncle Remus drawings</a> – presumably having been inspired by A.B. Frost’s illustrations in Harris’s books. More followed in <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1263169/brer-fox-goes-a-hunting-drawing-beatrix-potter/">1895</a> and <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1263296/brer-rabbit-steals-brer-wolfs-drawing-beatrix-potter/">1896</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An illustration of a rabbit in human clothes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525906/original/file-20230512-20526-qjsrry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration of Brer Rabbit by A.B. Frost, from Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%27er_Rabbit#/media/File:Brer_Rabbit_and_the_Tar_Baby.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Potter illustrated Harris’s tales for fun, it seems, and to stretch her artistic talent. She was not commissioned to do so, and there’s no indication that Harris was aware of her drawings or ever saw them. </p>
<p>There are, however, clear resemblances between Potter’s Uncle Remus illustrations and those in her tales of Peter Rabbit. For example, her illustration of Brer pretending to be Mr Billy Malone in the Remus tale <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1372604/what-kind-of-lookin-man-drawing-beatrix-potter/">In Some Lady’s Garden</a> is very similar to her drawing of Peter and Benjamin in The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, with both rabbits wearing fitted jackets and hats in an English country garden. </p>
<p>There are also similarities in her illustration of the Remus tale <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1263161/brer-rabbit-rescues-the-terrapin-drawing-beatrix-potter/">Brother Rescues Brother Terrapin</a> with those she did of the fox character, Mr Tod, and the interior of his home for The Tale of Mr Tod.</p>
<p>Potter never publicly admitted the source of any inspiration for her drawings, plotlines or protagonists. But in his lecture, Hollindale argued that she “misunderstood her own talent and, to the end of her life, was afraid of being caught out as a cheat”. </p>
<p>Indeed, in a diary entry in 1883, Potter wrote as <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-History-Make-Believe-Principal-Britain/dp/0195038061">if plagiarism were a viral illness</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s a risky thing to copy. Shall I catch it?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The African roots of the Peter Rabbit tales</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095526252;jsessionid=DCE76F7AEFD79AB9D89AA674CB888E15">Brer Rabbit folklore character</a> originated from the hare trickster figure of the Bantu-speaking peoples of south, central and east Africa. We know the origins of the tales through careful comparisons of plot, structure, language and characters in the stories. Brer was brought to the Americas by enslaved people and became a well-known folk figure across the French-speaking Caribbean and US. </p>
<p>In the Francophone Caribbean and American states, in particular Louisiana, the African hare was called <em>Compère Lapin</em> (Brother Rabbit), while in the <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/132155121.pdf">English-speaking US he was known as Brer Rabbit</a>.</p>
<p>This cunning trickster was known for outwitting his often more powerful animal adversaries using brains rather than brawn. The tales came to embody the tactics of resistance that enslaved people implemented to survive the brutality of plantation life. Harris adapted them while living on the Turnwold cotton plantation in the southern US state of Georgia in the late 19th century. He would spend his evenings in the quarters of the enslaved workers, listening to them <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/on-the-plantation/">share these stories</a>.</p>
<p>Harris’s fictional narrator, Uncle Remus, was a formerly enslaved old man who was content with plantation life and for whom everything was “satisfactory”. Remus was based on, and propagated, a <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/07/tracking-tricksters-in-washington-dc/">racist, minstrel-style stereotype</a> that was deeply embedded into white American culture and consciousness.</p>
<p>Harris’s versions of the Brer Rabbit tales were sanitised to entertain white readers. The violence and injustice at the heart of both plantation life and the traditional folktales were tempered. Instead, Harris’s stories offered a more benign view of slavery.</p>
<p>Following on from the US’s <a href="https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation">emancipation proclamation</a> of 1863, Harris’s portrayal of Uncle Remus, the “happy slave”, fed a <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/704960">white American nostalgia</a> for its plantation past as a time when everybody knew their place. In this fantasy, unruly or child-like enslaved people were guided and cared for by benevolent white masters.</p>
<p>In an angry 1981 essay, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23268234">Uncle Remus, No Friend of Mine</a>, the African American author Alice Walker accused Harris of stealing part of her heritage and making her “feel ashamed of it”. Walker described feeling “separated from [her] own culture by an invention”, adding: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Even our folklore has been ridiculed and tampered with. And this is very serious, because folklore is at the heart of self-expression, and therefore at the heart of self-acceptance.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Poaching plantation stories</h2>
<p>One of the key elements that Harris preserved in his retellings of the oral plantation folktales was the African American vernacular. And some of these turns of phrases and ways of speaking found their way directly into Potter’s stories.</p>
<p>Terms like “rabbit tobacco”, “puddle-duck”, “lickety-split” and “cottontail” are not English at all, but have been lifted from the African American vernacular she learned and enjoyed in the Remus tales.</p>
<p>And when <a href="https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/literary-musings/letters-to-children-from-beatrix-potter-a-path-to-her-books/">writing about the success</a>) of her tales, Potter referenced a “mischievous” enslaved character, Topsy, from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s plantation novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have never quite understood the secret of Peter’s perennial charm. Perhaps it is because he and his friends keep on their way, busily absorbed with their own doings. They were always independent. Like Topsy, they just “grow’d”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are also numerous similarities in the plots of Harris’s and Potter’s tales. In Some Lady’s Garden (1883), for example, Brer Rabbit tricks Miss Janey into letting him into her father’s vegetable garden to steal English peas, sparrow grass (asparagus) and goobers’(peanuts) by pretending to be a friend of her father, Mr Man, from the big white (master’s) house. </p>
<p>This plot is the main storyline in most of Potter’s tales and is directly linked to the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Trickster-Trauma-Tradpb-Zobel-Marshall/dp/1783481102">need for enslaved people to steal food from their masters to survive</a>. In the most famous of Potter’s tales, Peter Rabbit repeatedly tries to steal vegetables from Mr McGregor’s garden.</p>
<p>But her <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Mr._Tod">Tale of Mr Tod</a> is the one most clearly based on Harris’s narratives. Its plot centres on overcoming neighbourhood bullies, the badger Tommy Brock and the fox Mr Tod. In her biography of Potter, Lear explains that she copied the tale out from Uncle Remus, then changed the setting to the Lake District’s Sawrey countryside.</p>
<p>In his book, Goldthwaite traces the close connections between this tale and Harris’s Brother Rabbit Rescues Brother Terrapin (1883), which features a kidnapping, rescue and fight. Mr Tod follows a very similar narrative arc and, in some sections, exactly the same action plays out – for instance, a fight in the kitchen featuring crashing furniture. </p>
<p>For the average British reader, the vernacular in Harris’s tales would have been challenging to understand, and perhaps Potter’s knack for translation helped her cover her tracks. Take that kitchen fight. Harris’s story reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dey year de cheers a-fallin’, en de table turnin’ over, en de crock’ry breakin’, en den de do’ flew’d open, en out come Brer Fox, a-squallin’ lak de Ole Boy wuz atter ‘im.</p>
<p>[They hear the chairs falling, and the tables turning over, and the crockery breaking, and then the door flew open, and out comes Brer Fox, squalling like the Old Boy was after him.]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Compare this with Potter’s tale:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a terrific battle all over the kitchen […] Everything was upset except the kitchen table. […] The crockery was smashed to atoms. […] The chairs were broken. […] </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The environment Potter creates in her tales shares similarities to that of a plantation – a dangerous world where the fight for food and survival is paramount. Despite the backdrop of gentle Lake District landscapes and an English cottage garden, her tales are set in a context of merciless repercussions for those who don’t have the wits to avoid capture – including Peter Rabbit’s father, who we discover has been baked in a pie. </p>
<p>In a 2006 article entitled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/07/booksforchildrenandteenagers">The Ugly Truth of Peter Rabbit</a>, journalist Stuart Jeffries asked: “Should we be celebrating this creator of a dark, sadistic, bloodthirsty world?” He argued that Potter’s stories are a bad influence on children, but did not mention that the stories are drawn straight out of an American slave plantation environment.</p>
<h2>‘Pretence of absolute originality’</h2>
<p>Potter’s use of the Brer Rabbit stories as the basis of her tales is not the main issue here. This is the traditional way that folktales travel across cultures and geographies. As Goldthwaite puts it, Harris’s series was the “base camp” from which Potter could work.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An illustration of a fox in human clothing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525912/original/file-20230512-17-ymzyoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Potter’s illustration of the fox Mr Tod.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Mr._Tod#/media/File:The_tale_of_mr_tod.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the steps Potter took to steer readers away from her sources are problematic. She appears to have been keen to claim the stories as her own, while ensuring that readers didn’t make the connection between Peter Rabbit and the stories narrated by Uncle Remus. Potter used the introductions to some of her tales to emphasise her authorship, using phrases such as “I remember” and “I can tell you” as if taking the place of Harris’s fictional narrator. </p>
<p>In the introduction to The Tale of Mr Tod, the darker sequel to The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Potter writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I’m going to make a story about two disagreeable people, called Tommy Brock and Mr Tod.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In his book, Goldthwaite writes of Potter’s “deception”, suggesting that those of Potter’s tales that were the most heavily indebted to Harris’s stories open with “pretence of absolute originality”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once satisfied that her translation from Uncle Remus has “grow’d” sufficiently, Potter stamps it officially as hers in the first person singular … What these introductions imply is that fresh work is being undertaken here, and that is the deception. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Goldthwaite adds that Potter’s “fear of being exposed as copyist would lead to a lifelong silence about Uncle Remus”. </p>
<p>It seems that the only references Potter herself made to her stories being drawn from Harris’s Brer Rabbit tales were in that single journal entry and letter. In his lecture to the Beatrix Potter Society, Hollindale commented on the oddity of this omission:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Strange, isn’t it, when you think that Black Rabbit, as in Mr Tod, is a glance at Brer Rabbit, and Cottontail is an Uncle Remus name, and an animal running “lippity lippity” first does so in Uncle Remus, and rabbit tobacco […] comes from there, not to mention some important elements of plotting? But [Potter] didn’t say much [about this]. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the same time, however, she did embed little clues regarding her Uncle Remus sources, making reference to “a fox coming up the plantation” in The Tale of Mr Tod, for example. In Goldthwaite’s view, these hints could be interpreted as a “careless shoplifter who secretly wants to get caught”. </p>
<p>I suspect Potter struggled to steer her work away from Harris’s tales. They absorbed her, they were central to her work in every way, and she enjoyed them. Rather than “clues”, these may be slippages – moments when Potter forgot to recast the story in her Lake District setting and slipped back into the world of Brer Rabbit. </p>
<p>At the same time, Potter expressed some strong ideas about other copycats – once accusing the children’s writer and illustrator <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1315781/illustrated-letter-to-nancy-nicholson-illustrated-letter-beatrix-potter/">Ernest Aris of plagiarism </a>. At first she was, according to Lear’s biography, “strangely” defensive of Aris and his portrayal of a rabbit who happened to be named Peter. But later, Potter had a change of heart and wrote to him claiming his work had “no originality” and that “coincidence has a long arm, but there are limits to coincidences”. </p>
<p>This seems an ironic statement in light of Potter’s own silence around Brer Rabbit and the Uncle Remus tales.</p>
<h2>Another famous Brer Rabbit fan</h2>
<p>By their nature, stories constantly change to suit the needs of their audiences, and this is particularly the case with oral storytelling. Prior to Harris’s adaptations, the Brer Rabbit tales had already been remoulded to an American plantation environment by enslaved people from Africa. As such, there are no “authentic” versions of these folktales, which will continue to be told and adapted to new environments, moulded by the needs of the people that tell the tales.</p>
<p>Another British children’s author, Enid Blyton, also wrote <a href="https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=383&title=Heyo%2C+Brer+Rabbit%21">versions of the Brer Rabbit stories</a>, many of which were first published in magazines from the late 1930s onwards. Like Potter, Blyton understood the attractiveness of these folklore-based tales to British children – their delight in scams and tricking grown ups. However, Blyton acknowledged her sources. </p>
<p>Blyton began creating her Brer Rabbit stories in 1934 when she lived in Buckinghamshire. A big fan of Harris’s versions, she adapted them to a middle-class English country setting, further tempering the violence and adding some new characters, including her own beloved dogs and even unicorns. In all, Blyton wrote 338 Brer Rabbit tales as well as a play in 1939 and a cartoon strip. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Book cover featuring rabbits in clothing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526602/original/file-20230516-33484-sbmw2v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1099&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Egmont Books Ltd</span></span>
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<p>In the introduction to her collection <a href="https://stellabooks.com/books/enid-blyton/heyo-brer-rabbit-610911/1507449">Heyo, Brer Rabbit: Tales of Brer Rabbit and His Friends Retold From the Original</a> (1938), Blyton describes the spread of the trickster rabbit figure around the world under different names, but insists the most delightful is his incarnation as Brer Rabbit – folktales she attributes to “the American Negro’s Friend and Brother Creature”. </p>
<p>Blyton explains that Harris’s stories were told in “difficult negro vernacular”, so she set about the “delightful” task of retelling the stories in her own way while retaining the “raciness” of the original stories, claiming that “Brer Rabbit has always been my favourite character”. </p>
<p>Like Potter, Blyton includes many phrases from Harris’s African American vernacular in her stories, such as “bless gracious”, “lay low”, “lippity, clippity” and “a-going”. Blyton’s collection <a href="https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=1884">The Wonder Book for Children</a> (1948) includes three stories entitled Brer Rabbit Tales by Enid Blyton After J.C. Harris. They are illustrated by the artist behind Harris’s later editions, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Rountree">Harry Rountree</a>, with Brer Rabbit smoking a pipe or cigar.</p>
<h2>Ending the silence and changing the narrative</h2>
<p>Both Potter and Blyton, constrained by patriarchal power and middle-class social etiquette, may have revelled in fantasies of breaking through the social boundaries and rules that constrained most women to roles as wives and mothers during their lifetimes. Perhaps they found a sense of freedom in the Brer Rabbit stories and the trickster’s anarchic antics. </p>
<p>Goldthwaite argues that Potter was drawn to these folktales as they enabled her to resist and subvert her “domestic plight” as a young woman living with her father and having to adhere to strict Victorian patriarchal codes of conduct. In Brer Rabbit, he suggests that Potter found what she loved: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The sheer joy of wiliness, the world of the trickster and subversive mischief-maker.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Literary critics have argued that Potter’s tales are anti-imperialist or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/10/beatrix-potter-tales-britain-capitalism">anti-capitalist</a>, highlighting the problems of private property and the struggles of the dispossessed. It has also been said that Potter created a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.1976.9975447?journalCode=cjms19">sexist world</a> in which only men have adventures and can misbehave.</p>
<p>But above all, Peter Rabbit and the rest of Potter’s tales are viewed as quintessentially English stories about characters conjured from Potter’s brilliant mind and inspired by her life in rural England. Yet her tales are, at heart, folktales that originated in Africa before being adapted to expose and reflect the violence, resistance and survival tactics of the plantation life of enslaved people in the Americas.</p>
<p>While Potter, according to the letter and diary entry mentioned earlier, was, at least initially, anxious about imitating Harris, both Hollindale and Goldthwaite ultimately concluded that she felt needlessly guilty about her “borrowing” and “deception” tactics, obvious as they felt these were. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of a woman sitting with a dog outside a house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525896/original/file-20230512-8698-46kdhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beatrix Potter is remembered as one of Britain’s most beloved children’s writers and also for being a fervent conservationist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O176536/beatrix-potter-1866-1943-with-photograph-potter-rupert-1832/?carousel-image=2016JC9406">Victoria and Albert Museum, London</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Both academics are clearly great admirers of Potter, who is considered a national treasure – not only for her tales but for her <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/people/beatrix-potter">conservation work</a> and the bequeathing of her extensive land and property <a href="https://beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/beatrix-potter/the-preservationist/">to the National Trust</a>. She has very few critics.</p>
<p>However, in my view, Hollindale and Goldthwaite miss the point in their conclusions. Potter’s actions in shielding the reading public from her sources have fed into a damaging and reoccurring appropriation of black cultural forms that continues today.</p>
<p>The Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit brands are highly lucrative. Yet I have found no references to the black American sources of these tales in any of the Beatrix Potter museums and experiences in the UK and US, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly. There is similarly no mention of these sources in any of the films of her tales, nor in the 2006 Hollywood biopic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Potter">Miss Potter</a>.</p>
<p>While Harris moved the stories out of the reach of many African Americans and created a damaging minstrel stereotype in Uncle Remus, he did at least credit enslaved black Americans as the storytellers – while describing himself as a “<a href="https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlgb_gb0412">humble compiler and transcriber</a>”). </p>
<p>In contrast, through Potter’s silence concerning her sources, the African American tales that helped create her stories are passed over without acknowledgement or celebration. Brer Rabbit must be firmly reasserted into our understanding and appreciation of Beatrix Potter’s tales. For far too long, they have been stealing from his briar patch.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Zobel Marshall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Beatrix Potter’s silence concerning her sources means the Brer Rabbit folktales that helped create her stories are passed over without acknowledgement or celebration.
Emily Zobel Marshall, Reader in Postcolonial Literature, Leeds Beckett University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.