slavery and the plantation Essays -- Slavery Essays

slavery and the plantation During the era of slavery in the United States, not all blacks were slaves. There were a many number of free blacks, consisting of those had been freed or those in fact that were never slave. Nor did all slave work on plantations. There were nearly five hundred thousand that worked in the cities as domestic, skilled artisans and factory hands (Green, 13). But they were exceptions to the general rule. Most blacks in America were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South. And with the invent of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, more slaves were needed to work the ever-growing cotton game (Frazier, 14). The size of the plantations varied with the wealth of the planters. There were small farmers with two or three slaves, planters with ten to thirty slaves and big planters who owned a thousand or more slaves. Scholars generally agree that slaves received better treatment on the small farms and plantation that did not employ overseers or general managers. Almost half of the slaves, however, live, worked and died on plantations where the owners assigned much of their authority to overseers. The plantation was a combination factory, village and police precinct. The most obvious characteristic was the totalitarian regime placed on the slave. One example of this was a communal nursery, which prepared slave children for slavery and made it possible for their mothers to work in the fields. The woman who cared for black children was commonly designated "aunty" to distinguish her from the "mammy", the nurse of white children. Sometimes one women cared for both white and black children. Boys and girls wandered in around in a state of near-nudity until they reached the age of work. On some plantations they were issued tow-linen shirts, on others they wore guano bags with holes punched in them for the head and arms. Children were never issued shoes until they were sent to the fields, usually at the age of six or seven. Young workers were broken in as water boys or in the the "trash gang." At the age of ten or twelve, children were given a regular field routine. A former slave recalls, "Children had to go to the fiel' at six on out place. Maybe they don't do nothin' but pick up stones or tote water, but thy got to get used to bein' there." (Johnson, 40-45) Cooking on the plantation was a collect... ... with children would be less likely to attempt escape. The marriage ceremony was instructed by the wisest and most respected slave on the plantation, and included the ritual of jumping the broomstick. Males and females were expected to remain faithful after the marriage. The marriages lasted a long time, some thirty years or more. The life on the plantation was the only life known to a slave. Few slaves ever had the opportunity to leave the plantation so it was the only world they knew. One can think of a plantation as an isolated island, with occasional contact from the outside world. It was only through making contact with the outside world that slaves became aware that they too deserved freedom and gained the knowledge to obtain it. BIBLIOGRAPHY E.Franklin Frazier. Black Bourgeoisie. New York 1957 Berkin, Miller, Cherny, and Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston 1995. Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Hartford 1881. Johnson, Charles S. Shadow of the Plantation. Chicago 1941. Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Cotton Kingdom. New York 1948. Green, Bernard V. Bondage of a People. Miami 1991.

A Prisoner and Yet

A Prisoner and Yet   is an autobiographical piece of non-fiction that was written by Corrie ten Boom two years after her release from the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Nazi Germany. The book is set up in a style that differs from what I am used to. In it, rather than focusing on her story, Corrie addresses individual occurrences she experienced over the course of her imprisonment. Later on, she treats each almost like a parable, using the one to two page subchapter to illustrate either a spiritual or moral lesson for the reader. Over the course of the 170 page book, she addresses a widespread variety of topics including faith, compassion, fear, acceptance of death, courage, strength, sin, love, morality, turning the other cheek, timidity, prayer, covetousness, kindness, and even the bond between brothers and sisters in Christ despite of language barriers. It's really quite remarkable. I started the book thinking the set up would prove awkward and unsettling, but I soon found myself engrossed, incapable of putting the book down. With each flip of the page, my thirst for a definitive ending to Corrie's struggles grew. I was hooked.As an autobiographical account, the hero of A Prisoner and Yet. . . was naturally the author, Corrie ten Boom, and, boy, let me tell you, she was a hero. Selfless and strong-willed, the Dutch watchmaker stood firm in her beliefs even when she had lost everything: her freedom, her family, her country, and even the clothes off her back. The Lord Jesus Christ was her Conqueror. Through His grace and glory, she knew she would be delivered. Corrie did not fear death in the camps. Rather, she embraced the opportunity to spread the Word of God. She preached daily, sometimes up to five times, and prayed with those in need or coming into the faith. It was amazing that someone so oppressed and in such close proximity to death could still have so much hope and conviction. Throughout the book, Corrie attributed much of her survival to the constant companionship of her sister Betsie. Betsie was equally faithful and often provided spiritual guidance when Corrie felt herself straying or in need of extra help. They were inseparable. Sadly, Betsie was a frail thing. She could not carry out heavy labor and became sick easily. Corrie often wondered at her sister's seemingly innocent view of their wretched surroundings. She always looked so peaceful. It was terrible to read when poor Betsie died of sickness, but at least she had gone to a far better place. The story begins with a recollection of the author's life before imprisonment. The readers are given a quick description of the author's home which she shared with her father, Casper Ten Boom, siblings, and an eclectic group of Jews. After the fall of Holland in 1940, the Ten Booms had joined the Dutch resistance, offering a safehouse for God's People. According to the author, â€Å"it was often said (that their house), ‘was the gayest underground address in all the Netherlands'† (ten Boom 7). They were contented, as close to at peace as they could be in such a dark time. Sadly, on February 28, 1944, that peace ended. The ten Boom residence was raided by the Gestapo. Their house was searched and the family was taken into custody. Corrie, her father, and Betsie were transferred to Scheveningen Prison. There, Corrie hardly ever saw the sunlight, spending her days locked in solitary confinement. Later on in her time there, waiting to go on trial, she found out that her father had died shortly after being brought to the prison.She and her sister were reunited when they were sent to Kamp Vught, a political concentration camp. There, conditions were not so bad. They were able to slack off at work and received Red Cross packages and mail from home. Due to her background as a watchmaker, Corrie was given the opportunity to do detailed work on radio parts. After awhile, she and her sister were transferred to a German concentration camp called Ravensbruck. As Corrie aptly described it, the place was hell. They were stripped naked and forced to hand over their belongings before being redressed and sent to barracks where the beds looked more like a line of shelves, tightly packed with women instead of books. Using a bible they had snuck in, the sisters performed worship services with the girls in their barracks daily, keeping up the dwindling morale. Slowly, they became thinner and weaker – Betsie more so than Corrie. Finally, one day in late fall of 1944, Corrie heard the voice of God tell her that her release was drawing near and that she would be free by the first day of winter. This prediction became reality, but sadly fifteen days too late for Betsie. Corrie's sister had gone Home to meet her Maker. The author finished the story by telling of her return to the Netherlands and documenting her decision to open a home which â€Å"would soon be the happy home of people who had been released from the wretchedness of imprisonment† (ten Boom 169). In the end, I believe that Corrie Ten Boom wrote this novel as a testament to the horrors of her experience and to the strengthening of her faith through the experience. A Prisoner and Yet. . . immortalized both her story and, by extent, the stories of many women, men, and children who were held at the various prisons and camps across Europe during the Nazi regime. I am thankful that I stumbled upon it and I would recommend the read to those struggling with their faith, growing in their faith, or merely interested in the treatment of political prisoners in WWII.

Kant s The Three Fold Synthesis - 934 Words

Kant believed that there are different concepts and intuitions in which intuitions are put under concepts. Kant refers these intuitions into what he calls the three-fold synthesis. Kant describes the three fold synthesis as â€Å"the capacities in the understanding to compare, connect, and unify the fragmentary manifold items in intuition† (A97). To put it in different terms, the three fold synthesis describes the necessary components for intuition of what is happening in the outside world. It allows us to Kant believed that the three fold synthesis is divided into three different types of synthesis. According to Kant, it is required that all of the synthesis work in unison in order for experience to happen. Experience is what makes possible the synthesis of apprehension, in return makes the possibility of the synthesis of reproduction, which creates the possibility of the synthesis of recondition. Therefore, Kant argues, the synthesis of recondition is contingent on ex perience. Kant also stated that for each of the three fold synthesis, there are both empirical and pure levels. In other words, each of the three fold synthesis have two ways of being interpreted in the mind, one based on our intellects because it is gathered through experience, and another based upon the fact that the manifold works in unison with the others and are dependent on each other for experience to happen. The first of the three fold synthesis is called the synthesis of apprehension. The