Welcome to week two of A People’s Readalong. A group of us (see the end of the post for the group, and please shout out if I’ve overlooked you) will be reading one chapter a week from Howard Zinn’s classic history book, A People’s History of the United States. We’ll be finished sometime in July. 
This week we’re focusing on Chapter Two: Drawing the Color Line. Main points from the chapter include:
- Slavery and its problems were not limited to the South.
- Left to their own devices, most blacks and whites who shared similar lives (in terms of work and wages) treated each other as equals. It took laws to stop them and encourage racial prejudice.
- Those with wealth and power lived in fear of rebellion and uprisings…by blacks, whites and Native Americans. God forbid any of those groups should band together.
Overall though, I found Chapter 2 to be a but murky. Zinn is trying to show that racism is a social construction, and he provides examples of how those in power had to create laws to punish the fraternization of blacks and whites…to stop them from working together to rebel, or running away together, or marrying. And while I agree with him, and appreciate what he is trying to show, Chapter 2 on it’s own is difficult to discuss. Chapter 3 continues the discussion of the development of racial contempt in the US and brings it all together.
What I appreciated most about this week’s reading was the discussion on slavery in Africa. I remember being told in high school that Africans themselves had slaves. Not as reason to excuse the entire slave trade, but still a cop-out out, as it plays into the idea that Africans were used to being slaves. I liked how Zinn cried foul on this and explained that slavery in Africa was totally different than slavery in the US.
If you posted any thoughts on the book today, please leave a link in the comments. If not, no worries…just tell us what you thought in the comments!
Readalong Participants:
I didn’t read Chapter 3 yet but I did feel that Zinn was using Chapter 2 as a lead-in for more discussion in Chapter 3. Glad to hear that is so. The thing that struck me was the horrific conditions that these poor people had to endure and the sheer number of people killed and enslaved. Mind-boggling. I thought the section on “African slaves” was well stated as well.
Here is a link to my post for today: http://www.lifewithbooks.com/2012/01/a-peoples-readalong-drawing-the-color-line/
It’s so crazy to me that they created laws to encourage racism. I haven’t read further than this chapter so I didn’t realize the next one was a continuation of this topic… I thought this one was interesting though so I’m curious about the next chapter!
I’m glad Chapter 3 continues the discussion. I was really struck by how fearful the rich white guys were that all the different races would join together and host a massive rebellion. The laws they created to raise the white servants into a ‘superior’ class were something school never taught me. Of course, I’ve learned that schools in the South have a very hard time teaching slavery and generally chicken out, glossing over the whole subject which is infuriating. I’m also really glad that Zinn mentioned that despite society trying to make slaves break the familial bonds and remove their humanity that they were not successful in the slightest.
I remember talking about slavery in a Sociology class in college. We talked about the fact that slavery had been around for thousands of years, usually the results of war (the losing side often became slaves to the victorious). It was almost always the case that slavery wasn’t hereditary; a child born to a slave was free. Also, race had nothing, or very little, to do with it. Often the slaves and the household they worked for became close. The slaves would tutor the children or was even allowed to start their own business venture “on the side”. Sometimes slaves loaned money to their masters. This is not to say it was nice to be a slave, but it sure would beat being a slave in early America!
Slavery in America changed all that. It was the first mass example of race as the defining separation between two people. Again, it goes back to the concept of ideology, or a way to justify what you are doing. The ideology of the time was that much labor was needed to run these farms and produce a profit, therefore, it was OK to use slaves to do that. I think the Protestant ethic of “do good and God will reward you” was also part of it. If these landowners were having so much success using slaves, isn’t that a sign of God telling them that they are doing the right thing and he is rewarding them?
I never know how to wrap my brain around the whole slavery issue. I find the idea so abhorrent, and I don’t know how to respond to the people who shrug it off and say, “Oh well – it was a horrible time in our history, but it’s over now.” Grrrr….. However true that may be, how can you simply dismiss it like that?
what a great readalong! I wish I’d know about it, I would have joined in. is it too late? this book had such a huge impact on me when i read it as a teen. Wow! Hope you continue to enjoy it!
I was a bit behind with this section, and just started reading it this afternoon. I haven’t got far, but Zinn makes an interesting point about how slavery was instituted in Jonestown, and it sort of makes me angry (I am sensing a theme here) What I got out of that section was essentially that some of the colonists were layabouts, and had always been layabouts, so they solved that problem by introducing slaves. I was also horrified by the survival tactics of those in Jonestown. I haven’t read much further than that, but I will be back to interject more when I am done.
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karen
I agree that this chapter is a bit “murky” and hope to have a post on resources for Chapters 2 and 3 up next week. Thanks to you and Jenners for pulling this read-along together!
I was surprised when this chapter ended because it did seem so sudden! I’m eager to see where the next chapter takes it. I still enjoyed this chapter immensely and found the discussion of racism and slavery as initially separate things quite intriguing. I was also fascinated by the different type of slavery in Africa.
I’m a little late this week (ahem), but I’ve just finished reading Chpt. 2…I wanted to wait and finish the chapter myself before reading what anyone else said about it. This chapter was hard for me…murky is a good word, exhausting is another. I’m currently also reading Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel and have this British monarchy addiction that just won’t quit…my colleague and I were discussing just the other day about how incredible it is that so much violence was justified through religion…and not just putting people to death but dismembering, disemboweling, chopping off heads, burning people alive, etc. etc. etc. I can’t for the life of me begin to understand how these people were able to sleep at night. I couldn’t help but feel that way after reading Chpt. 2 of Zinn’s book as well. What kind of person does it take to completely strip another human being of his/her culture, homeland, dignity, sense of self, etc. What kind of people were these forefathers? Yes, I realize they were starving. Yes, I realize they couldn’t enslave the Indians. Yes, I realize that other countries were already using Africans as slaves so it was a “natural choice for them to choose Africans” but seriously. Seriously. Stop and think, people. Stop and freaking think. While I know we can’t change the past and shouldn’t dwell on it, we SHOULD stop repeating the past, and analyzing and examining the truth about our past is part of that.
I have a couple of questions about this chapter that I hope will be answered or at least cleared up in Chpt. 3…I’m also gonna read some fluffy chick lit before Chpt. 3 :/