Friday, March 15, 2013

Slave and Citizen's Point of Difference

       In the book Slave and Citizen, Frank Tennenbaum writes about the differences of slavery between the great ol' USA and places like Brazil. His main point in the book is that although slavery was practiced in both countries; the slaves in Brazil were treated better and were allowed more freedoms of their own. What were the reasons for their different ways? In class some said religion; others said science. I, on the other hand, believe it was due to the color of their skin. Although there were white men in Brazil, they had a different viewpoint on the women of color there. Many actually made families with them and were wed to them. In the U.S., this would be thought of as blasphemy.
       Since one can buy their own freedom in Brazil, they were also able to purchase their own slave workers. If one former slave could buy another slave; they would be more lenient to them due to the fact that they've been in their shoes at one point. Treat others how you would want to be treated. Thats the reason slaves in the South were allowed so many opportunities to get out of that lifestyle. The married colored women surely had an effect on the way their white male husbands saw the slaves they owned as well. No one can know for sure, but one can always speculate.
     In the U.S. at the time, there were surely more whites than any other race and they believed they were the top of the food chain and the most evolved. In Brazil, people of color could walk around without any worries. In the United States however, they were surely to be stopped and questioned. In some cases they were taken in custody and beaten. Brazil saw people of color as what they are; people. The United States saw them as merely property and a source of income. They could never open their eyes, and see that the men they use and abuse are men that were created from the same "God" and should be treated as men.

1 comment:

  1. This blog was very well written. It was easy to understand you made your points and opinions very clear. You mentioned how Tannenbaum claimed that slaves in Brazil were treated better, you gave supporting details, and gave your opinions as well. My suggestion for this blog when writing the revision would be to be more specific on how cruel the U.S was towards slaves. So that way you can really show the reader the difference between the way Brazil treated their slaves. You did good in supporting the way Brazil treated their slaves and going on to talk about the way they could work their way out of slavery. I would also suggest to not start your second paragraph with a question being that you already asked a question in the introduction. Instead maybe you could go on to talk about how the color of their skin played a part in the separation from others. You kept saying perhaps and maybe most of the time in your second paragraph. That made it seem as if there wasn't any solid information to depend on. It would be more informative if you made it a statement or went back to one of Tannenbaums claims on the topic. Other then that I think it should be to hard to revise this blog. Overall you were good in making your point and should only have to change some stuff to make it even better. :) 

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