The Nature of the Historical Black Slavery

From the prehistoric age to the present, practically every culture, religion, and nation have a history of slavery. When Africans arrived in North America in the 1610s, slavery in the West officially began. During the 17th and 18th centuries, slavery spread to other parts of the world. One can learn a lot about the pre-existing Slavery Act and how it affected how whites and blacks were perceived socially and cognitively through the course. Being the perpetrators of slavery, the course explores many aspects of slaves' lives as well as their interactions with white "masters." Through the review of the historical implications between the white master and the black slaves, the course provides one with knowledge of various perspectives, including sexual coercion, the unacceptance of the minority race as being equally human as the whites, and violence, observed through whippings. Through the analysis of different works including Hartman and Patterson’s literatures, one gets to understand the relationship between the whites and blacks in the historical era, thus, exploring the nature of the slavery.

A fundamental aspect of the historical slavery is the fungibility that existed between whites and blacks. The concept of fungibility involves the interchangeability of benefits or mutual sharing of commodity or goods among individuals. Hartman asserted that such a relationship existed between the blacks and their masters since they could gain some mutual benefits from one another (12). The author associated this mutuality to the existing fair relationship of tender words of “love” spoken between slave women and White men and the screaming at the whipping post by black men as a result of maltreatment by the white women. The white masters used the female slaves for sexual pleasures, in which some of them (women) gained social status. Consequently, the text in the course revealed the fact that a white woman would have a black slave at her own disposal. The compulsion of pervasive rape is revealed to be common from the white males towards black females, rather than from white females towards the black men.

A common aspect of slavery that the readings reveal is the lack of empathy among the whites who were considered the perpetrators of the black suffering. Whites always lacked the aspect of humanity as they associated with whites; by failing to establish the similar feelings and nature of themselves as they deal with the blacks, the urge to inflict pain on the “other” race would be enhanced (Gordon 21). To support this, Hartman asserted that by exporting the vulnerability of the captive body as a vessel for the uses, thoughts, and feelings of others, whites would be able to bring suffering near, thus, forging sentiments. From the readings, Rankins (in Hartman), further, justifies the need for empathy in order to prohibit slavery. He explained that the torture acts like rape, suicide assaults, mutilation, as well as the indignity created by the scenes of terror who result in the shared sentiments between the slaves and the masters. With such empathy, whites would consider the position of blacks in the society. Hartman, having a different notion of empathy, requires that whites should be put in similar positions as the black body in order to make the suffering intelligible and visible (19). He noted that, “the facile intimacy only allows for imagination of the other. And a consequence, it fails to expand the space of the other, but merely places the self in its stead” (Hartman 19). As such, the painful process may become clearer not only through masochistic fantasy, but through reality.

As learnt from the module, slavery was considered a simple form of domination which reflects subjection. It entails brutality in achieving power, regular violence, denial of liberty, and imposing one’s conduct on others. Hartman expressed the existence of domination among the blacks by the white supremacy amidst the fact that they were free subjects. He quotes the wrong notion that Foucault held by considering the blacks as objects. He (Foucault) had asserted that, “when one is completely at the disposition of the other and became his thing, an object on which he can exercise an infinite and unlimited violence, there would not be relations of power” (Hartman 39). This statement renders the slaves as objects of social death rather than subjects of social life. As such, Hartman disputes the fact that slaves are completely dominated; with the repressive nature of domination, the slaves become the objects of violence (Hartman 55).

The course outlines that the form of violence endured by the enslaved involves excessive use of violence, a cruelty “beyond the limits of the socially tolerable.” The fact that the violence which blacks are subjected to involves excessive torture and violence, thus, creating a regime of antagonistic violence (Hartman 22). This means that the act of violence would not be reconciled even with the most degraded human subjects. With whites dominating over the blacks, the course proves that such vulnerability enhances natal alienation and dishonor. Seemingly, “naturalization” of subordination is associated with the need to maintain violence to maintain “giveness.” Hartman believes that giveness of the black has contributed to the resulting brutal corporealization of the body and its constituent part fixation as indices of racial meaning (21). With the resulting demeaning of the black race, slaves have been considered the object that makes possible the presence of a bourgeois subject, thus, aiding in defining the concepts of citizenship, liberty, and social body enclosures.

From the various texts, one is able to identify the various types of violence that slaves are exposed. To explore this nature of slavery, Patterson attempts to explain slavery as an institution then relate it to the paradigm of human interaction since he believes that slavery can only exist in the presence of humanity (Patterson 4). Among the three elements of violence considered is the naked might-violence which is a paradigmatic origin. Slavery violence is considered boundless and timeless, with no white willing to give up the act of torture. In effect, the use of such formidable act is to enhance domination. Another perspective of violence in the historic slavery is natal alienation. This considers the cultural nature of the violent relationship in which the slave is considered a dead person without any “rights” or claims of birth, thus, ceases to have any right (Patterson 5). Natal alienation hinders the significant ascending and descending generation ties, thus resulting in the loss of native status. This vulnerability renders slaves a human tool that the master can dispose as he wishes. The third element of slavery violence is dishonor; the slaves lost their honor due to the loss of status, indignity, and the absence of social existence.

The context of slavery, as explained by various authors in the course including Hartman and Patterson, can be explored by the film, “Twelve Years a Slave.” The film firs explores the fungibility relationship existing between the whites and the salves. In the case of white females, there is an attempt to dominate over the black man in both social and economic settings, in order to challenge the social order of gender. (Hartman 92). Hartman mentions the possible rape of a black man, forced into a coercive relationship in order to render him vulnerable. He is forced into actions that without his will, an aspect that can be seen in the film. Viewers are able to observe Mrs. Epps and Platt who have a tense sexual coercion; amidst their sexual urges, they fail to culminate into a physical act. Mary engages in forcible actions that are suggestive, thus making Platt feel sexually inferior to her.

The film can also relate with the violent aspect of slavery as reflected by Patterson and Hartman. In the film, Edwin shows coercive behavior with Patsey towards sexual pleasure while brutally whipping her in other times (Northup n.p). One can interpret the relationship to be as a result of Edwin’s will and power. Being a white master, he dominates his slave, and can always rule over her desires. As Hartman suggested, the relationship between black positionality and white positionality encourages the symbiotic relationship. An interestingly contradicting aspect of sexuality in the film is the equality among men as depicted in the relationship between Edwin and Patsey. Despite Edwin looking at himself as superior to the black race, he still ends up behaving like the dominated man. He gets attracted to Patsey and succumbs to her sexual desires.

The film also reveals the role of empathy in understanding slavery. As clearly indicated by Rankin, it is important that whites put themselves in the place of the slaves in order to gain the painful experience that the slaves undergo (Northup n.p). In Hartman’s article, empathy is very important in understanding slavery just like Rankin suggested. However, there is a need to be in the actual positions of the blacks, and as such should consider the precariousness of empathy and the thin line between witness and spectator. This empathy is, therefore, given the term slippery because of the manner, in which the white race cannot accept the manipulation of empathy, which seeks to put them in the same show as their subjects. In the film, Mary Epps slips into some moments when she empathizes with the slaves; although she attempts to have some pity on the slaves, Hartman would advocate for her being in the same position to have the actual experience (Northup n.p). The filming of the movie stresses the fact that empathy exists, but the whites, who often feel it, do not want blacks to know about it.

Patterson’s idea of subjective of social life and objective of social death is well brought out from the ‘use’ of the black slave in a form that depicts them as a semi nonperson. The submissiveness of blacks can only be substituted with death (Patterson 38). The master buys the slave’s life and uses it for his own pleasures; he can whip them, fire them at any moment, overwork them, and put them live in poor conditions. If the slave fails to observe a code of powerlessness, it might, therefore, be deemed appropriate for the master to terminate his or her living through execution if necessary (Patterson 39). In the film, the understanding of a black’s life is seen as merchandize, which the white masters can afford at any given time. The scare quotes in the two interracial relationships serve to instill the aspects of fear and respect of superiority between the couples. Those who attempt to remain powerless are at the risk of getting subjected to brutality and sexual abuse. They are expected to always remember they do not have social sense accompanied with lack of origin, and as such, can only survive at the mercy of their masters. The aspects of domination can be reflected in the film as well as in the texts reviewed.

The nature of slavery is clearly outlined in the coursework. The texts attempt to explain various aspects of oppression in the slavery era with various factors of suffering among the blacks highlighted. Various books including that of Patterson and Hartman reveal the themes of oppression and domination among the blacks. Both authors admit that the supremacy over blacks is a notion that has been manipulated by the whites. The blackness is defined in the context of physical construction as well as the context of coexistence. Rankins also affirms the existing slavery and oppression; he, however, advocates for empathy among whites who will be able to understand the painful experiences that blacks undergo as they get tortured and oppressed. Sexual relationships in the two cases differ, but are connected with an aspect of coercion. Common amongst the supporting discussions in the analysis of the movie and the book are the issues of consent, sexuality, and vulnerability. There is still doubt whether racism is persistent as a result of the perception of the whites in regards to the blackness and white supremacy.

Works Cited

Gordon, Lewis R. Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1995.

Hartman, Saidiya V. Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave: With the Original Illustrations, Narrative of Solomon Northrup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853. Seven Treasures Publications, 2013.

Patterson, Orlando. Slavery and Social Death. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.