Podcast: Why did slavery become so widespread in America?
3 thoughts on “Blog Post #5: Podcast”
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FALL 2020
FALL 2020
Podcast: Why did slavery become so widespread in America?
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This was a fascinating podcast to listen to as you expounded on the ideas of racial divides between white and black people. On the topic of discussing slavery in its context about history, I do wonder why its not so deeply analyzed and discussed in the education system! It may be that and this is just my opinion, that individuals do not want to recognize the unfair and unearned racial privileges that benefit people in the United States. Also so dont want to admit the lack responsibility that comes with that recognition. I believe it’s important to understand racism and its extremities in its context as you have stated. By doing so we can lead people to unlearn racist attitudes and fight against white supremacy!
Sorry I am just responding to this now but that is a very good point, there are a lot of people that that have directly or indirectly benefitted from these racial divides and do not want to admit it. I have experienced some of it firsthand and my theory as to why they don’t admit that they’ve benefitted from these racial (or economic by extension) divides is that they wrongfully assume it makes their hard work or struggles invalid. Either that or they’re just racist degenerates who think people of other races are just “complaining and not working hard enough.” Regardless, that’s probably at least one factor that I didn’t mention as to why the motives of slavery are never discussed in school, thanks for the insight!
I really enjoyed learning more about the problematic motives and justifications for sanctioning slavery in the Early American Republic. Slavery is absolutely a sensitive topic that is often underdiscussed in primary and secondary education, but I agree that education systems need to incorporate a more detailed portrait of the history of slavery in their curriculums. This is to say that it is often not the fault of teachers, but rather the system that imposes specific general education requirements that skip important details to move through subjects faster. I also liked hearing about your different theories that explored the root cause of sanctioning slavery in the United States– I think it is incredibly important to engage and critique the structures of the institution of slavery. Your nuanced discussion of race and capitalism at the foundations of US slavery offered strong insights into these systems and how they are interdependent. Excellent discussion– this would make a great series!