The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South [Paperback]

John W. Blassingame (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195025636 | ISBN-13: 978-0195025637 | Publication Date: November 1, 1979 | Edition: Revised, Enlarg

Taking into account the major recent studies, this volume presents an updated analysis of the life of the black slave--his African heritage, culture, family, acculturation, behavior, religion, and personality.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Has excellent chapters to use regarding slave culture and community... Goes a long way in building a base in understanding the uniqueness of the Black experience in America."--Russell Wigginton, University of Illinois

"This is probably the best introduction to American slavery available, perfectly suited to undergraduates, and indispensable to anyone interested in the subject."--Joseph Urgo, Bryant College

"Students find the material very helpful in focusing on the differences between the cultural life of the slave labor system and that of the northern labor system, as ably presented in Sean Wilentz's Chants Democratic."--Wayne Cutler, University of Tennessee

"My students always find this a fascinating introduction to the institution of slavery in the U.S. It spurs much discussion."--Nemata Blyden, University of Texas, Dallas

"Excellent."--Katherine Barber Fromm, Iowa State University

"An excellent and thorough study. The most useful volume available as a college text giving a 'black perspective' on the slave experience."--Robert F. Engs, University of Pennsylvania

"It is doubly welcome, both for its intrinsic worth in describing slavery as it must have been for those inside and for its meaning and scholarship....A book all American historians could read with profit."--The Journal of American History

About the Author

John W. Blassingame is at Yale University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Revised, Enlarg edition (November 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195025636
• ISBN-13: 978-0195025637
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for Leisure Reading and as a Reference Guide, January 9, 2003

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South (Paperback)

I read this book for my history of American slavery class and I really enjoyed it. It is one of the books I did not sell back to the college when the semester ended. Blassingame focuses on the slave culture and uses such sources as folk songs, fugitive wanted posters, slave interviews and correspondence, diaries, and memoirs (from slaves and slave holders) to bring insight on life on the plantation. The author offers an extensive, well-organized bibliography which, alone, makes this book valuable.

The chapters cover the topics of enslavement and acculturation, the Americanization of the slave and the Africanization of the South, slave culture, family, rebels and runaways, stereotypes and institutional roles (i.e. the "Sambo" role), plantation realities, and slave personality types. This work also includes appendixes on such subjects as African words, numerals, and sentences used by former slaves, and a comparative examination of total institutions. The book is well-written and also offers numerous illustrations.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A realistic portrayal of plantation life, April 2, 2005

By 

Terance R. Johnson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South (Paperback)

Blassingame succeeds in sheding light on the real-life culture of the black slave in the Antebellum South: his African heritage, culture, family, acculturation, behavior, religion, and personality. Rather than concentrating solely on the planter - the traditional way of approaching the subject - Blassingame attempts to clarify and distill the essence of slave life through the filter of three eyewitness accounts. Two of them, the planter and the slave, give an insider's view of the plantation while the third witness, the traveler, views the relation between slave and master from the perspective of an outsider. Blassingame then utilizes the raw material of these personal observations to construct a detailed account of the day-to-day life of a slave - providing the reader with an insightful glimpse into the Negro's African heritage, the development of an Americanized culture, the formation of families, acculturation and behavior patterns when not under white supervision, religious preferences and beliefs, and personality traits.
The author makes the assertion that there were several types of slave personalities. Sambo - the submissive half-man, half-child - is the most well-known but was mostly a stereotypical manifestation of planter class racism and insecurity. Yet this caricature is the clearest portrait the southern planter has drawn of the slave, according to Blassingame. Sambo was actually but one of many variations, and was not even the most dominant slave personality. "Such stereotypes," asserts Blassingame, "are so intimately related to the planters' projections, desires, and biases that they tell us little about slave behavior and even less about the slaves' inner life, his thoughts, actions, self-concepts, or personality."
Blassingame also asserts that, because masters were unable or unwilling to impose round-the-clock supervision, their system of control was open at certain points. These systemic "blind spots" presented opportunities for the development autonomous Negro behavior as the slave's quarters, religion, and family helped to foster self-sufficiency. Rather than identifying with and totally submitting to the master, the slaves tenaciously held on to many remnants of African culture while simultaneously gaining a sense of worth among fellow residents of the quarters. This resulting underworld society flourished in defiance of the burdens imposed by enslavement.
In writing this treatise, the author attempted to tap into the feelings and attitudes of the entire plantation community. Since the thoughts and observations of slaves were seldom recorded (the teaching of reading and writing to slaves was illegal), Blassingale tends to lean heavily on observations by whites.
Additionally, the book devotes a lengthy section attempting to determine the basis of the stereotypically feeble-minded, anxiously subservient "Sambo" image. To this end, Blassingame relies on data from Nazi concentration camps to test the hypothesis that, in a system as tightly closed as either the plantation or the concentration camp, the slave's (or prisoner's) position of absolute dependency virtually compels him to view the facility's authority-figure as somehow "good" despite the evil emanating from the master/commandant (because, so goes the theory, the master also supplies everything of value).
There are also some enlightening discussions regarding the nature of slave marriage, family, religion, rebellion, and miscegenation. For example, the slave father was virtually without authority. Unable to protect his wife and children from discipline and abuse at the hands of the master, Negro fathers' resourcefulness in compensating for their institutionally-imposed weakness evokes simultaneous waves of sympathy at their plight and admiration for pluck.
Blassingame has done an excellent job presenting and applying his research. His "holistic" approach to the subject effectively endows the reader with a keen sense of how masters and slaves interacted and provides a comprehensive picture of plantation life that effectively reveals the complexity of the institution - as contrasted with the distorted picture often emerging from those who rely solely on planter records.
He successfully incorporates the primary accounts of plantation owners, slaves, and visitors in the Antebellum South to powerfully illustrate in straightforward manner what plantation life really felt like. He also makes effective use of social science disciplines like anthropology and psychology (especially when examining techniques the plantation owners utilized to maintain control and how the slaves resisted theses efforts). Furthermore, Blassingame resists the temptation to moralize about the living conditions and oftentimes barbarous exploitation of the slaves. Instead, he allows the reader to make up his own mind about the alien word of the antebellum Southern plantation and its "peculiar institution."

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Straight forward account of plantation slaves, February 11, 2002

By 

Matthew Gunia (Justice, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South (Paperback)

A historical analysis of an institution is always a difficult thing to write. Extensive works must be read and analyzed, both primary and secondary in order to find trends within similar institutions. Furthermore, the longer the institution was in existance, the more documentation exists that must be sifted over in an effort to see how the institution has evolved over time.

With the difficulty of the task in mind, John Blassingame has done an excellent presenting his research in "The Slave Community." He successfully has used primary accounts of plantation owners, slaves and visitors of the Antebellum South to illustrate how plantation life really was. I use the term, "illustrate" as opposed to "paint a picture" because it more accurately describes what Blassingame has done in his book. He is straight forward in his approach. His attitude is "this is how it is. Here is how I know."

But more than explain how plantation life was for the slave, he shows how African-American culture assimilated to general European-American culture over the generations. He also makes extensive use of other social science disciplines including anthropology and psychology (especially when examining how plantation owners maintained order on their farms and how the slaves resisted the plantation owners). Furthermore, I admire how Blassingame has respect for his reader. In his forward style, he resists the temptation to moralize about the condition of the slaves and/or the barbarity of the whites. Instead, he has respect enough for his reader to let him make up his own mind about the various aspects of the "peculiar institution." After reading this book, I have a hard time picturing anyone attempting to support the plantation owners.