Humans With Hopes, Dreams, Emotions

No Agency; No Power

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Episode 29

Kerry
Re: The True Nature of Slavery
To: Chance sent - Gmail 6:19 AM

Hi Chance—

Thank you so much for helping me think about the content in the history textbook. Teaching can be so isolating, and I appreciate your partnership.

It is time to schedule that community meeting about the textbook. What is good for you? An afternoon or an evening meeting?

It is already late this morning, and I must get to school for another meeting before the first bell. I am starting to wonder if trying to be the interim principal and still teach four classes every day is sustainable in the long term. Possibly the worst part is just trying to switch gears and be present for the students first period. I must remember to mention this to the superintendent when we get together next week.

I am getting used to the weekly admin meetings……but it is still not completely comfortable for me to attend the meetings.

One more thing about the text:

At the end of the second to the last paragraph, there are a few sentences that are troubling me. Why was this sentence included?

“More recently, historian have attempted to avoid the polarity of repression versus autonomy.”

What is the lesson there? Are the textbook authors trying to downplay the repression or play up individual agency?

Also, this next sentence seems to diminish the immoral aspects of the institution of slavery:

“They (the historians) assert the debasing oppression of slavery, while also acknowledging “slaves’’ ability to resist the dehumanizing effects of the enslavement.”

I can’t get beyond those two sentences……what do you think???

Sorry for this disjointed email, but I am trying to do too much without having enough time this morning….

Kerry

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Chance
re: The True Nature of Slavery
To: Kerry sent - Gmail at 8:02 PM

Hi Kerry—

I just got home, and I still have to do some lesson planning before I go to bed, so I can’t send a long email.

About the two sentences:
The people held in bondage and treated as property did not have any power or agency. I can’t understand why supreme power on one side and lack of agency on the other side can’t be part of the discussion. Why didn’t the textbook authors include that part of history?

I also wonder why the institution of slavery is called the ‘southern slave regime.’ I do not think that is the right way to talk about a way of life that had little or no regard for some of the people.

Other than the enslaved peoples’ value as free laborers or their value as property to their owners, did they merely have a benign role in the ‘regime?’ What were their contributions to the society? They were humans with hopes and dreams and emotions.

Without a doubt, those people were extraordinarily valuable in contributing to the growth and development of the economy and the ‘regime,’ if you want to call it that. They were the foundation of the financial well-being of the slaveholders.

I would like to see those facts covered. Why aren’t they included?

More later—

Chance