In our class discussion on the Freedom Generation and forming of a post-slavery culture, the Family Leader group’s Pro-Traditional Marriage Pledge came to mind. The group, led by Bob Vander Plaats, called upon all Republican presidential candidates to sign the pledge. The “Marriage Vow” pledge is against gay marriage, premarital sex, and porn and was quick to be signed off on by Bachmann and Santorum. On the first page of the four page pledge, it states the following:
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”
This statement, located in the preamble of the pledge, claims that the African American family of 1860 was more stable than the modern African American family. It also seems to suggest that things were better for African Americans in the time of slavery, especially for children. The preamble statement has been criticized by many for being “factually incorrect and show[ing] a gross misunderstanding of American history (Anderson Cooper Transcript, 11 July 2011).” When asked about the passage, a Family Leader representative asserted that the statement was “not meant to be racist or anything. It was just a fact that that in the days of slavery, there was usually a husband and a wife (Anderson Cooper Transcript).” The Family Leader group obviously does not have an accurate understanding of historical certainties.
In the time of slavery, slaves were denied human space. Human space, requiring family and community, pushed slaves into submission through regulation of bodies and regulation of space. In trying to create this human space that the institution of slavery sought to destroy, slaves were attempting to carve out an existence and maintain a family unit (Roger Williams). With the Chattlal Principle, slaves’ identities were disrupted as easily as a price could be set and a piece of paper passed from one hand to another. Children, who in the “Marriage Vow” preamble are asserted to be more closely tied to two-parent households in the 1860’s, were being grown into money with one part of their body belonging to themselves and the other to their masters. There was a constant fear of being sold and a constant threat of a social death and family destruction. There was also the identity issue and how to navigate the reality that sometimes the father of a slave child was his master (The Politics of Proximity, Johnson). Families had to constantly negotiate to preserve the unstable family unit. By 1860, the year mentioned in the preamble, there were 3.9 million slaves and slavery was the law in 13 states. The production of cotton is also up to 4 million bales by 1860. With this increase, internal transactions led to even more family separation with 1 million slaves being relocated from the upper South to the lower South. In 1860, 2 million slaves were sold through transactions. The stability asserted by the “Marriage Vow” is clearly historically incorrect. As shown in Chapter 6 in Problems, slaves were not considered humans, but products. Female slaves were reduced to being simply reproducers, as well as enduring rape by white masters.
The slave family unit was broken down through sale, death, and running away. Harriet Jacobs notes in the document that in 1861 her master attempted to use her children to make her work more and as a control source. Eventually, Jacobs went into hiding while her grandmother took care of her children. The hiding that Jacobs, who was abused by her master, was forced into destroyed her family unit. Another example provided by the documents is documentation of a slave mother killing her children before allowing them to return to slavery as death was a better option then returning to slavery (1856). With countless descriptions of family separation and abuse, it is ridiculous to argue that the family unit was stronger in slavery than in modern times.
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”
This statement, located in the preamble of the pledge, claims that the African American family of 1860 was more stable than the modern African American family. It also seems to suggest that things were better for African Americans in the time of slavery, especially for children. The preamble statement has been criticized by many for being “factually incorrect and show[ing] a gross misunderstanding of American history (Anderson Cooper Transcript, 11 July 2011).” When asked about the passage, a Family Leader representative asserted that the statement was “not meant to be racist or anything. It was just a fact that that in the days of slavery, there was usually a husband and a wife (Anderson Cooper Transcript).” The Family Leader group obviously does not have an accurate understanding of historical certainties.
In the time of slavery, slaves were denied human space. Human space, requiring family and community, pushed slaves into submission through regulation of bodies and regulation of space. In trying to create this human space that the institution of slavery sought to destroy, slaves were attempting to carve out an existence and maintain a family unit (Roger Williams). With the Chattlal Principle, slaves’ identities were disrupted as easily as a price could be set and a piece of paper passed from one hand to another. Children, who in the “Marriage Vow” preamble are asserted to be more closely tied to two-parent households in the 1860’s, were being grown into money with one part of their body belonging to themselves and the other to their masters. There was a constant fear of being sold and a constant threat of a social death and family destruction. There was also the identity issue and how to navigate the reality that sometimes the father of a slave child was his master (The Politics of Proximity, Johnson). Families had to constantly negotiate to preserve the unstable family unit. By 1860, the year mentioned in the preamble, there were 3.9 million slaves and slavery was the law in 13 states. The production of cotton is also up to 4 million bales by 1860. With this increase, internal transactions led to even more family separation with 1 million slaves being relocated from the upper South to the lower South. In 1860, 2 million slaves were sold through transactions. The stability asserted by the “Marriage Vow” is clearly historically incorrect. As shown in Chapter 6 in Problems, slaves were not considered humans, but products. Female slaves were reduced to being simply reproducers, as well as enduring rape by white masters.
The slave family unit was broken down through sale, death, and running away. Harriet Jacobs notes in the document that in 1861 her master attempted to use her children to make her work more and as a control source. Eventually, Jacobs went into hiding while her grandmother took care of her children. The hiding that Jacobs, who was abused by her master, was forced into destroyed her family unit. Another example provided by the documents is documentation of a slave mother killing her children before allowing them to return to slavery as death was a better option then returning to slavery (1856). With countless descriptions of family separation and abuse, it is ridiculous to argue that the family unit was stronger in slavery than in modern times.
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