http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/index.html There's a moderate amount of variation, I don't deny there were some "whuppins" and some cruel overseers, but the overwhelming message I'm getting from these accounts is that life was better for blacks and whites alike before the civil war. It seemed a rather beautifull charming culture was flourishing but was then crushed by people from somewhere else on a crusade to enforce their ignorant views on what was right upon others. Common theme through history. I see it as being quite similar to america's meddling in iraq now. The slaves weren't waving their shackled arms from the cotton fields saying "over here yankee sol-jer, free me", they felt as though they were being attacked, their way of life was being threatened by this invasion. And afterwards they had no where to go and nothing to do. They had to work harder than ever for less than they ever had. They generally lived tougher less joy filled lives than they did when they were slaves. Frankly I wouldn't even mind being a slave living on these beautifull properties in the picturesque countryside eating fresh hog and corn, drinking brandy wine and cider and having parties around bonfires. Without a care in your wooly head. Everything was provided for them, and they just had their one little job, their little specialised "roles" in the social unit. And those social units (comprised of whites, blacks, dogs and mules etc) thrived off the land and lived full satisfying lives. These people seem to have many great memories of the good times before the civil war. It seems everything just got bleeker and cold once they were set free, from what I can tell. Is this a biased propoganda site? I don't think so. Yes there were some whippings here and there, and they'd come across mean people and there'd be some downs as well as ups. But thats life, has anything really changed? The only significant difference is the overall quality of life people of all colours had back then compared to now, and I think they had it better. The poorest cold homeless negroes shuffling about the ghettos of today's dirty cities might have full bellies and warm loving families, singing songs in front of fires in luxurious mansions on expansive estates if they were slaves. A bit of hard work by day yeah, a good honest way to earn a happy life for yourself without the vast array of annoying little responsibilities. I think it would have been great, and it seems this view of mine is generally supported by the words of actual slaves. Don't get me wrong, some bad stuff went down, and I'm not for mistreating slaves. But it seems most weren't mistreated, they were more like employees, only with deeper bonds to their employers like they were family. The fact they weren't paid money is not so significant as money wasn't important, hardly anyone used money ever, everything anyone needed was produced by the farm. The whole unit just worked to produce everything it needed. The real era where blacks were mistreated for being black came after slavery was abolished, and it was largely due to the turmoil caused by the dismantling of a perfectly functional culture for no good reason.
They were "paid" back then with everything they needed and a nice place to stay, they were healed when they were sick and fed nice food, given clothes and even gifts for pure recreation and entertainment. Basically most of the wages people are paid now would never cover the costs of a life as high in quality as the lives many slaves lived. Especially when you consider the number of servants and chefs you'd need to hire to ensure you never had to do sweet f*ck all but your one job.
Evidently not. 11 out of the 13 interviewed ex slaves on the page didn't think it sucked at all. Lets see if you can get those sorts of figures with labourers today, or any workers in any field. I'd bet more than half of the population would think their job "sucks", certainly more than 11/13ths.
WELL.. for uneducated people... who dont know any different.. and who are feed well..... then.. yes... i can see... being trained to accept it. hence.. then reason the slave trade worked for so long. -MT
They still have no control over theirs life. 1) They cant decide they own number of working hours. 2) They cant take the final decesions. 3) They cant take a leave without permission. 4) They cant reject the projects that theirs bosses think are very good. 5) They cant take thoes decesions that are very important but the seniors dont think so, even though that may do good for the company.
Anomalous: So what? 'Give me liberty, or give me death' is an American thing. Slavery isn't always a terrible thing. Just look at slaves during the Ottoman rule. Many were crack troops in the Sultan's personal army (the Janissaries), were officials in positions of high power, or even Grand Vizier. In fact, the Turks were so successful directly after the Arab empire collapsed, because they many were well educated slaves under Arab rule. The Arab empire collapsed, and the Turkish slaves filled the power vacuum.
The South never actually had slaves. It's all a big cover-up to justify the North invading the South.
Better -- probably. Good -- no. Africans belong in Africa, and people shouldn't own one another. But the South was culturally and intellectually and morally superior to the north, and still is.
Then why call them Africans? Should we start calling people who live in Norway something OTHER THAN Norwegians??? How 'bout in your backyard? Or on the White House lawns? Or on the roof of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Manhattan? Or...., well, you get the idea of just how stupid your statement is, right? People can't live wherever the hell they want, because we, and most of the western world, are a nation of laws. And without those very laws, which include the rights to own property, we'd be nothing but savages! Baron Max
No, they don't - local populations have the right to decide who gets admitted to the community. You don't force people on others. That's blockheaded.
Who are you calling savage? You are right on the money that people can't live wherever the hell they want. But that is because of cultural differences. Everyone believes their way is the right or best way, actually this is mostly ignorance. You are confusing industrialization as an indicator of civility. Its easy to have a double standard. How is the rest of the world more savage? It really isn't, it may not be as modernized but no more savage than the west. I can't sleep at night, nor leave my home without locking the door? Why is that? The United States for example is one of if not the sole largest consumer of porn and child pornography. A million young people are trafficked into this country for mostly sexual exploitation. Yes, slavery still exists. Slavery takes many forms. This, of course, occurs because of the DEMAND for it. Because of savage people. How about drugs? soulless corporate america? government corruption? This is savagery metamorphed, but its there. Though we live in a modern structure with laws, anyone can see most humans are 'less than human' or savage. Its almost like dressing up animals in clothes and putting them in mazes, giving them the best possible in the hopes they will eventually become acclimated, changed, and live up to humanity. Every night I watch the news there are horrible, savage acts done every second. The laws and legal system becomes more complex to deal with this and to deal with this humanely. Just because a society understand or sets a standard is not the same as being unless one lives up to it. Therefore the western world is really no less savage. The standards are better but getting people to comply is usually done by incentive programs, legal consequences for actions. All societies need this except for the very few peaceful, naive tribes which have died out. The western world is definitely not peaceful, the savagery is just controlled to some degree. The reasons why we have the law, police, judicial system, prisons, jails, cia, fbi, lawyers is to right or fix the savagery that will occur and to keep civilization afloat and not completely going down a sh*tpipe. This requires constant work, to build, to go forward. Its easy to turn around and apologize AFTER you've got what you wanted, AFTER the ends justify the means(which never does), etc. Slavery, oppression, religious persecution, etc are savage traits of humanity, and that includes the WESTERN WORLD.
