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Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life

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Published in 1959, Stanley Elkins' Slavery opened up new avenues of debate in the historiography of American slavery. Though a generation of historians would later prove him wrong, Elkins argued that there was little uncharted ground left to explore in our knowledge of slaves' material conditions, and that the debate should shift to consideration of the psychological effects of bondage upon slaves. Regarding the role of whites in the institution, Elkins cared less about their economic motivations than their philosophical views, arguing that the lack of a true intellectual class or established institutions exerting moral authority prevented the United States from settling the slavery debate in a peaceful manner. His approach to the subject was thus vastly different from previous historians, yet with the exception of abolitionist literature he relied almost entirely on secondary studies to reinforce his arguments, preferring to break new ground in interpretation rather than in presenting new evidence. His sources include not only historical studies, but also go beyond the field to include philosophy and psychological studies as well. To determine the effects of bondage upon the slaves themselves, Elkins compared them to Holocaust survivors and drew upon studies of mass psychology in the concentration camps, arguing that the brutality of slavery was much like that experienced by victims of the Nazis. He asserted that the horrors of the Middle Passage stripped slaves of any previous cultural values or expectations, allowing masters to completely rebuild slaves' personalities in a manner that suited them. Because masters were the dominant figures in slaves' lives, slaves became like children; dependent, lazy, dishonest but cheerful "sambos". Confronted by the fact that the "sambo" personality was unknown in Latin American slave societies, Elkins argued that the Spanish system was less totalitarian in its treatment of slaves, allowing them legal and family rights, spiritual growth, and the chance for eventual emancipation, and therefore did not psychologically damage them to the extent that slaves in the American South were. Later historians, outraged by Elkins' comparison of slavery to the Holocaust, and his assertion that slaves were stripped of their native culture and reduced psychologically to the status of children, have succesfully disproved most of Elkins' conclusions. However, this is still an important source for the serious student of American slavery, for it was the first to consider how slaves themselves experienced slavery, and the impetus for a good deal of further research.