Why do black people always talk about slavery?
I know this is an old thread, but I think this is a valid question. I also think that such a question should be explored and answered openly. First, African American culture and identity began with slavery. Their speech, music, food, traditions all stem from hundreds of years of oppression, racism, xenophobia and subjugation. Second, during this period their ancestors were told that they were lazy, no good, evil, child-like and needed to be guided why a white hand, to prove in effect white intellectual and racial superiority. After slavery, African Americans were hanged, raped, castrated, dragged behind cars, pushed into ghettos where poverty flourished and where African Americans' status as inferior flourished. A lot of the issues that African Americans deal with today are directly linked to slavery. Their music; Blues, Jazz, Rap, Hip-Hop, Rock and Role, Gospel etc...were/are mediums to express the pain inflected upon them and the hope that continues dwells within them. These are some reason that they still talk about it. Because, where as white America wishes to so quickly forget and render irrelevant the past which can explain the death, for example, of a 12 child shot because he was playing in a park (with a toy gun)--they cannot. They are constantly reminded of slavery when they are constantly reminded that they are black, which in the US equals not white-- in other words inferior. If you still don't understand and you want to, please read James Baldwin's essay A Letter to My Nephew. It's short and you can find it free online.
Why is Asia not talking about slavery like black history?
Generally, it’s because they never had a problem with black slavery like the West did. They were often victims of slavery and colonialism themselves.What’s the point of talking about something that never affect you? Why should Asia talk about slavery of Africans if it never affected them?
How come they dont teach black history in the schools??
Well, there is not enough US history taught, not just black history. I've known college graduates who thought Lincoln was the first President, or Winston Churchill was a US president, or couldn't tell you who we fought against when... Social Studies isn't taught or tested with the same vigor as math or reading, and it is a real shame because there are interesting stories and it's America's story. It's been touched on and no real consolation, but add to the neglected category lots of marginalized groups (Latino, Asian, Jewish, Native American). Can I tell you what I do? I teach elementary school and I make sure there are displays that look like all kind of students up in my room. African-American history month is in February and MLK's birthday is in January, but my students have already heard of some notable heroes. I present George Washington Carver for science lessons, Langston Hughes for poetry (his parents were divorced, he traveled the world and was fluent in Spanish--he connects to lots of students this way, and he was from Kansas), Brown vs. Board of Ed. of Topeka as part of Kansas history and how our laws change...I'm Latino and make sure they know about diversity. My school works on it, we celebrate it. But, we could do more, and maybe one thing is we aspire for making history ourselves.
What are some interesting black history facts?
"The first person to get the electric chair in America was a fourteen year old black boy who was later found innocent". (By Anonymous).Sadly, the truth behind this is, if anything, far worse (The poor kid wasn't the first BTW)..George Stinney was 14 years old when he was executed in South Carolina in 1944 !! He had been found guilty of two Murders by an all-white jury who deliberated for ten minutes. The only evidence against George was his confession, which was apparently obtained by the investigating officers promising him some ice cream if he confessed. He was finally exonerated in 2014. It has been generally accepted that there is no way George could have been guilty. (His 'victims' suffered substantial blunt-force trauma). George was so slight that he had to sit on the bible he carried to his execution, as he was too small for the electric chair.At the same time George was being killed, US troops were fighting in Europe against the Racist Nazi regime! Irony or what...?My own father was older than George... (My Dad was 15 in 1944..).George wasn't actually the first person to be executed in the Electric Chair.The very first person so executed died on August 6, 1890. His name was William Kemmler & he was the son of German immigrants.He was convicted of Murder & was executed in New York. He'd reached the (by comparison) grand old age of 30.
Were slaves in US history as universally horribly mistreated as history textbooks present them?
Harriet Beecher Stowe took some pains to answer this question when writing the book that would cause Abraham Lincoln to address her as ‘The little woman who started this big war,” Uncle Tom’s Cabin. If you’ve never read it, put aside all your negative assumptions about it, and all your assumptions about what the term Uncle Tom means. Think “Saint Thomas.” Southern racists in the generation following the Civil War created mocking variations on it that we came to accept as the real story. It’s anything but.She took pains to create characters who would be the absolute best case in what a slave might get in a master. One of her main characters was such a person.Then she killed him off. Within days our hero has been sold to the WORST person imaginable — a vicious sadist. Our hero, Thomas, then martyrs himself rather than be a slavedriver whipping anyone, and to save two women, who Stowe has prudently described as very white looking, again to influence the white readers to realize how easily someone who looks like them could fall into a horrible fate under that system. The sadist had been raping them.The oldest of them had been the sadist’s sex slave for years. Living in a state of perpetual rape. That’s showing the real story that readily happened to the female house servant, who’s often disparaged as the house ’N’ living in a relative luxury. Stowe’s characterization of this woman is superb. You see a profoundly embittered person, who’s become a fearless shrew to this man who’s assumed this disgusting familiarity with her, using that energy to concoct a strategy that will free her and the young woman recently purchased as a new sex slave.All of Stowe’s character were drawn from real life. She heavily researched it and then created a montage of all these realities into one story that drove her point home. There can be no apologies or dismissals. It was inherently horrible.Kindle versions of the book are available for free. It’s in the public domain. Just google it.
Did China have slavery like US during its history?
Did China have slavery?Yes. through out the history, China had slavery. Slavery was formally abolished in 1912 when the Republic of China was established, though the practice of people, especially children being bought and sold was still not uncommon.20th century was a bitch for China. Most people sold themselves or sold their children because of absolute dire circumstances: either starve to death or slavery.Most of Chinese slaves are domestic workers.A fun fact. Because Republic of China was administered Tibet as a “territory” instead of a province, Tibet under Dalai Lamas had huge autonomy. Part of that autonomy is that Tibet had slavery under most horrible conditions. Slavery didn’t end in Tibet until Communist decided that no more of those “autonomy” non sense in 1950s.Did China have slavery like US?No, absolutely not.The most evil aspect of slavery in US is not slavery per se, but link race to slavery. While China didn’t ban slavery until 1912, anyone from any ethnic group could become a slave if something really bad happened to him or her. With exception of let say a war just ended against an ethnic tribe, through out the history, China never linked race with slavery (with exception of Mongolian rule, which Chinese was ranked at the bottom).When American talk about “slavery,” I really encourage American to use the word “racialized slavery” to differentiate American slavery and slavery around the world . While buying and selling another human being is inherently evil, designated an entire race to be slave just to solve colony’s labor shortage, and come up with all sort of prejudice to justify such designation, is arguable much much more evil, not to mention all sort of institutionalized discrimination serve no purpose other than making sure White is above this once formal slave-race.The prejudice, and the institutionalized discrimination is still very alive today. The fact that there are no political will to address this problem at institutional level (which may require mass redistribution of wealth) makes me wonder if Americans today are really as racially tolerant as they say they are.
How come in school we learn about slavery but not black history?
I would say that not all curriculum's are created equal either. Some do give more of the truth of black accomplishments and what they have brought to the world, but in some places little attention is paid to this part of the truth. It is wrong. There is a lot of wrong still going on in life. I can't change what the books say, but I can respect the people around me and I can be the kind of person who looks people in the eyes and doesn't stop short with their looks, gender, race, age, abilities or lack of abilities. Maybe when you finish your education you can do something to bring the truth to more people. I had to find out about Sojourner Truth and George Washington Carver and the Underground railroad from books I read on line or from TV shows I watched. When you see something that bugs you really bad,ask yourself "What Can I Do to Change it?" You may grow up and be in the school books yourself, you are just getting started in life who knows what you may accomplish!
Why is it that irish slavery never talk about in american textbooks?
Hi. I have a theory on this, and I've actually thought about this very question before. I think it has more to do with making black people look ignorant or weak than about erasing that part of Irish history. Actually, once upon a time, when there were black and white slaves in America, political groups became afraid of slave revolts. These aren't the ones you hear about in text books about African slaves turning on their masters. These were when African and white slaves would meet and plot revolts against the slave holders. Forgive me for not having all of the exact facts, but somewhere along the lines, the white slave holders/owners/masters if you will, decided that the best way to protect against that was to turn the white slaves against the black slaves. They did this by allowing white slaves the opportunity to "buy their way out," meaning they became sharecroppers, rather than slaves. In exchange for becoming sharecroppers, their job was to report on any future slave revolts the black slaves were planning, and stop them, etc. Basically, it became less about being "Irish" or "Jewish" and more about being "white." In fact, that's why we have that type of racial grouping in America. Whether Irish, Scottish, English, German, or what have you, you're referred to as "White". Before that time in history, people referred to themselves as part of their "tribe" or "clan", and whichever country of origin they were from. After that time, they all became "white." Basically, the answer is money & power. The rich (who were the slave holders, obviously) saw that it was better to get whites on their side and turn them against the blacks, because if the white and black slaves would've worked together, they could've actually risen up to destroy that foundation. This was something that had to be avoided. They wrote this out of textbooks, because America likes to hide it's ugly truths. Even the ugly truths we do include in our textbooks, we sugar coat, or never go into detail. It's like "yeah, we did this, but... OH LOOK! FREEDOM! DEMOCRACY! RED WHITE BLUE! YAY!" I hope this was of some answer to you. I wish I could go into more detail, or explain this better. I hope I offended no one. I just tried to tell it as I learned it.
Why don't schools ever talk about the white slaves like the Irish?
Because slavery, while dreadful and devastating, didn't destroy the Irish the way it destroyed African Americans. We've had Irish presidents centuries before we had Black ones, and most overseers on plantations were Irish. Also, legal slavery of the Irish ended CENTURIES before legal enslavement of Blacks did. The Irish were given full rights and acknowledgement in the United states by the early 1700's, and while discrimination still persisted, it was never on the same scale as it was for Blacks. Though honestly, I 100% agree with you. People NEED to learn more about Irish slavery. The Irish, Africans and Indians pretty much got the worst treatment by the English of any group of people on this planet.