-Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 1/10/99 10:23:14 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> There are two rather
> interesting photographs related to the CSA prison camp in Tyler, Texas
(Camp
> Ford). One shows a group of prisoners photographed upon their departure
> from
> prison.. They were all dressed rather nattily, with frock coats, ties,
> "plantation" hats, etc. In fact, they "could have been dressed for the
ball.
> "
Shame on you, Hawk. Have you never heard of Potemkin Village?
I think that the distance between us on how the slaves lived and were treated
is due to two things.
The living conditions and psychological environment of the slaves varied
enormously between regions and plantations.
I place greater credence in the slaves themselves as to what their lives were
like. During the 1950s and 1960s when the South was being weaned from Jim
Crow, it was common for Southern apologists to say things like "Some of my
best friends..." or "We all got along fine here until those outsiders began
stirring things up." [My wife attended a YWCA in the South during this time.
When she and a friend arrived by car to the motel of a small town on their
trip, they were frightened by the paranoia of the folks in the motel lobby.
Many questions aimed at determining whether the travelers were there "to stir
up trouble."]
The apologists for slavery in the US are hardly alone, the phenomena is common
enough. For instance, i have no doubt that if we asked the Japanese who
participated in the POW camps where American prisoners were held how the
prisoners were treated. They would assure the questioner that the treatment
was fair and reasonable. My recollection is that Americans died in the
Japanese POW camps at a rate 8 times greater than they died in the camps of
Nazi Germany. Nothing is more enlightening on this issue than to read Bataan
Death March which lets the American prisoners speak for themselves.
Likewise the ex-slaves speak for themselves. Their opinions vary considerably
but overall the picture emerges of mostly semi-isolated lives on plantations
of fewer than 10 slaves having brutal lives of onerous labor in the fields
with no regard shown for families or respect for person. Yes, there are
exceptions, such as owner buying a comely mulatto girl who could sew after a
fashion and taking her back home, installing her in a bedroom with a a needle
and thread and announcing to the Mrs. that they had a new seamstress. This
was hardly a good life for either the slave girl or the mistress but i suppose
you could contend that it was a pleasant life of ease if your thinking allows
it.
Jerry
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