In class on Thursday, February 18 we watched
"Africans in America” which is a PBS documentary on African American
History spanning from 1450 all the way to 1865. We watched the third section,
called Brotherly Love, which encompassed 1791 through 1831. This time period is
notable because it is a period of vast change in American history. Expansion
west and the optimism of the growth of the nation are the stories of the day.
This is also the time when the contradiction of slavery in a land of freedom
will come into the fold.
The documentary is notable for this class because
it hits on all of the points we have seen in class, from Jefferson and his
scientific basis for slavery, to the terrors of the slave trade, and even to
the role of the black church.
The contradiction of the relationship between
slavery and freedom in America is one of the central themes of this class. The
documentary places a good bit of emphasis on Thomas Jefferson, and rightly so.
In terms of the history of slavery in America and the contradiction of slavery
in a free nation, he is at the center of it. The Declaration of Independence,
arguably Thomas Jefferson’s most pivotal contribution to the new nation, is
deserving of note.
“We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
It is a common point of
note that “pursuit of Happiness” is not the original wording. Jefferson
originally wrote “pursuit of property.” Many scholars have devoted whole novels
to why this change was made, but it is worth devoting time to Jefferson’s
scientific justification for slavery. Jefferson finds a biological rational for
slavery stating that blacks are inferior and it is his duty to hold them in
subjugation because they are incapable of caring for themselves.
The documentary also
mentions Richard Allen and the African Methodist Episcopal Church and its
influence as the first black church. One aspect of African American History
that is usually overlooked is revealed through Reverend Allen’s story. Blacks
in the North had to deal with very deep-set segregation, but they are often
ignored in favor of the story of the slaves in the South. Just because the
blacks in the north were not slaves that did not mean that all of their
troubles were over.
I am curious to see the rest of “Africans in
America” to see where it takes the narrative, and if it continues to mirror
what we are discussing in class.
I agree that freed slaves in the North are often overlooked. In my public school experience, we never once mentioned free blacks in the North except when learning about the Fugitive Slave Law. My classes chose to highlight only slavery in the south in conjunction with the cotton industry. The readings in this class and the documentary have helped me form a new perspective on free blacks in the north during the 19th century. Even though African Americans were free in the non-slave states, there was still a large amount of racism and contempt for African Americans. They were forced to address these issues of isolation or assimilation. Should they subjugate themselves to racism constantly in order to assimilate into American culture, or should they isolate themselves but then be seen as outsiders? Free blacks in the North had many problems that are often overlooked in history textbooks.
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