Welcome to week three 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 Three: Persons of Mean and Vile Condition. As I mentioned last week, Chapter 3 is a continuation of the discussion Zinn began in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 Zinn focuses on the developing underclass…the rise in the number of poor (mainly servants and petty criminals who were shipped off to the colonies) threatened the small class of wealthy who lived in fear of an uprising. Bacon’s Rebellion, in 1676, was once such instance. White frontiersmen and servants, as well as slaves, joined together in protest against the governor of Virginia’s supposedly friendly policies with Native Americans. Because the rebellion was a collaboration between poor whites and slaves, Zinn argues that afterward the wealthy merchants and landowners began to increasingly emphasize the differences between black slaves and poor white servants as a means to quell rebellion. The poor whites were used to further the suppression of slaves (by being encouraged (or would that be bribed?) with rewards to return fugitive slaves) and their racial superiority was emphasized as a means to give them a sense of power and reduce their resentment for the upper classes who held both the wealth and power in the colonies. This, Zinn firmly believes, is the beginning of the firmly entrenched racism that continues to plague the United States.
Since anger seems to be a recurring response to the issues that Zinn brings to light, what pissed you off this week?
Readalong Participants:
Nice job summarizing a chapter that went all over the place I thought! I struggle to write these posts as Zinn covers a lot of ground in just a few pages with all kinds of details. I personally was hard hit by the lady giving birth who is pushed overboard while on her passage to America! This was not a pleasure cruise by any means.
Here is the link to my post: http://www.lifewithbooks.com/2012/01/a-peoples-readalong-persons-of-mean-and-vile-condition/
Jenners´s last [type] ..A People’s Readalong: Persons of Mean and Vile Condition
I was struck by the vast amount of wealth and land that was basically dominated by such a small portion of the wealthy and influential. If you ask me, the wealthy had a right to be worried about rebellion! There they were, inciting anger and conflict against all the other less affluent groups, and then hoping that they wouldn’t band together and overthrow them. I was particularly pissed this week by the way they created the bizarre situation between the Indians and the Frontiersmen. That seemed ill advised, and like a lot of the things they did, it was done only to suit themselves. I am getting so much out of this readalong! It’s teaching me so much that I never even had cause to think about!
zibilee´s last [type] ..A Giveaway and an Announcement!
I’ve not caught up but I do actually have the book now and have read the intro and page 1. Baby steps!
Shelley´s last [type] ..Foundation and Empire Group Read, Part 1
I was struck and angered by how much the problems of wealth distribution are still the exact same today. I’m beginning to think the problem is unsolvable or just plain human nature. Also, the fear the wealthy had in regards to the lower classes uprising and rebelling is very telling. I wonder if those in charge now have this same fear and just do their best to hold down a revolution? History really uncovers a lot about the human spirit. Still enjoying the read!
Brooke´s last [type] ..Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Barack Obama said to the wealthy bankers on Wall Street, something to the effect that, if it were not for his administration protecting them, they would have the populace on their (figurative) doorsteps with pitchforks and torches. The Occupy movement hasn’t gotten there yet but you betcha the wealthy are afraid of it. That’s why they passed a law that American citizens can now be detained in jail for an indefinite period of time without cause.
I think the concentration of wealth bugged me in this chapter most because of the current financial state of this country. Seeing that the American dream was mythical from the beginning shouldn’t surprise me, but it did disappoint me.
I remember thinking that the whole beginning of the book (including this chapter, I believe, but it’s been over a year since I read this) presented the idea that the American government was basically founded on economic interests, specifically the exploitation of lower classes by the upper class. And how it was a really a detailed strategy by the upper class. Not just take, take, take, but give enough to appease the lower classes and make them feel like they are considered. So smarmy!
(Sorry if that jumps ahead, but I think this idea comes up in the chapter you guys are currently reading!)
Kari´s last [type] ..Westward Ho!: On Little House and childhood obsessions
Well, right now it’s the screaming baby, sigh. Just when I get around to blog reading he decides he needs to get out of his crib or else no one will be sleeping tonight.
But, I am loving these posts and am learning so much. Who needs to read the book when you guys are doing such a great job of recapping?
stacybuckeye´s last [type] ..Big Boggle Quiz
I’m glad I’m caught up – I thought I was behind, but surprisingly I’m not. I’m finding that these chapters are easily readable. That said, I have some ancestors that are from Virginia from before this country was the United States and I blanched in one or two places when names were mentioned as I scrambled to my genealogy file (yes, I’m THAT dork) to make sure that name didn’t sound familiar for a reason. Rest assured my family members weren’t any of the a-hole slave owners from this chapter…
I’m still feeling claustrophobic from reading about the slaves’ transportation from Africa to the US, not sure I will ever get over that.
Wallace´s last [type] ..Page Cutting and Deckled Pages :: Yea or Nay?
I feel used. The whole poor man fighting the rich man’s war thing really upsets me…I’ve naively believed all this time that England was the problem and the American colonies were the answer to freedom for everyone. Boy am I a doofus. I’ve always been mistrustful of government leaders…they are ALL wealthier than the majority of the people they govern. None of them know what it’s like to live in our shoes…yet they make decisions for us every. single. day.
Patti Smith´s last [type] ..Sorta Wordless Wednesday – Show Choir