Question

“Slaves apparently thought of the South’s peculiar institution chiefly as a
system of labor extortion. Of course they felt its impact in other ways—in
their social status, their legal status, and their private lives—but they felt it
most acutely in their lack of control of their own time and labor. . . .
In Africa the Negroes had been accustomed to a strictly regulated
family life and a rigidly enforced moral code. But in America the
disintegration of their social organization removed the traditional
sanctions which had encouraged them to respect their old customs. . . .
Here, as at so many other points, the slaves had lost their native culture
without being able to find a workable substitute and therefore lived in
a kind of cultural chaos. . . . Marriage, insisted Frederick Douglass, had
no existence among slaves. . . . His consolation was that at least some
slaves ‘maintained their honor, where all around was corrupt.’ ”
Kenneth M. Stampp, historian, The Peculiar Institution, 1956
“We have made a great error in the way in which we have viewed slave life,
and this error has been perpetuated by both whites and blacks, racists and
antiracists. . . .
What the sources show . . . is that the average plantation slave lived in a
family setting, developed strong family ties, and held the nuclear family
as the proper social norm. . . . We do not know just how many slaves lived
as a family or were willing and able to maintain a stable family life during
slavery. But the number was certainly great, whatever the percentage,
and as a result, the social norm that black people carried from slavery
to freedom was that of the nuclear family. . . . There are moments in the
history of every people—in which they cannot do more than succeed in
keeping themselves together and maintaining themselves as human beings
with a sense of individual dignity and collective identity. Slavery was such
a moment for black people in America.”
Eugene Genovese, historian, American Slaves and Their History, 1971
Using the excerpts, answer (a), (b), and (c).
(a) Briefly explain ONE major difference between Stampp’s and
Genovese’s historical interpretations of the nature of slavery.
(b) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the
period 1820 to 1860 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts
could be used to support Stampp’s interpretation.
(c) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the
period 1820 to 1860 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts
could be used to support Genovese’s interpretation.

Answer 1

make your answers two short sentences each