Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made by Eugene Genovese

Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made 

Eugene Genovese 

Published 1974 

American non-fiction 

The Well-Educated Mind Histories

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

This was a massive read, in both content, context, and page length (850+). Unless you have to write a thesis or are motivated to read a tome on American slavery, then this probably won't be on your TBR any time soon. 

The only reason I read it was because it is on TWEM history list, and I stayed with it because it was intriguing, interesting, and informative. Genovese is true to providing a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph, and then introducing abundant examples of supporting evidence from numerous sources. 

I'm going to be honest about my experience with Roll, Jordan, Roll. I read through it with lightning speed. I did not take notes or stop to ponder anything. I underlined and stared points and topics, but I had no intention of going back. I did what Susan Wise Bauer describes as "grammar stage reading." One time, quickly through. Done. 

If I have to tell you what Genovese's main point is, it is about the world that black slaves made for themselves in America: "a separate black national culture" under "racist oppression" and "within the narrowest living space and harshest adversity," and what they did to survive it, including their creative achievements, religion, work ethic, and the relationships they forged considering how they were forced to live. Genovese also described how their world affected the white families that they lived with. The slaves were one community that depended upon the slaveowner and his family and vise versa. 

Genovese also incorporated evidence for the evolution of the black Christian religion, hymns, preaching, and community; folksong and folklore; the important duties, work, and skills of the slaves; the family structures under slavery; their spiritual hope; and so much more than I am including here. 

The theme of paternalism repeated throughout these 800 pages, and I mention it here because I learned in my study of Land of Hope, by Wilfred M. McClay, that after the the War of 1812, world Christianity was changing and adopting the Social Gospel, which is also a paternalistic idea that Christian nations or Christians in general are called to care for poorer societies. As the institution of slavery evolved, slaveowners saw themselves as the father of both their own families and the slave families that lived with them. I'm wondering if Social Gospel seeped into the American South at some point. I do not remember if Genovese mentioned it, but I wonder. 

I gave this four stars because I recognize the enormity of the work involved. So, if you are looking for a comprehensive work on American slavery, include this on your list of books to read, but expect to be at it for a long time. 

Roots by Alex Haley

Roots: The Saga of an American Family 

Alex Haley

Published 1974

American Novel

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was so excited to find this book at a used bookstore last year and could not wait to read it. Imagine how jealous my other unread books that have been on my shelves for years were when I moved Roots up to the front of the line! 

I had no idea what to expect because I did not do any peeking or prior reading, and I have never watched the miniseries, either of them. The only insight I had was that it was about American slavery. 

So I began reading the beginning of June. 

This book is close to 900 pages, and I anticipated that it would take me three months. However, it was quite engaging, and I managed to finish in six weeks. To be fair, I am reading several books at once, and I do not dedicate all of my time to one book. However, most of the time it was Roots that I wanted to return. (No wonder it is a Pulitzer Prize winner.)

The story began in Africa with the main character at his birth - a boy named Kunta Kinte. I followed him and his family through their tribal traditions from the time Kunta was a baby until he became a man. He was seventeen-years old. 

Soon after, he was captured and taken to America on a slave ship, where readers endure the seemingly endless, dreadful, and horrendous voyage. Haley did not sterilize the unimaginable event. 

When the ship finally arrived in Colonial America, Kunta was purchased and taken away to his new [home]. He attempted to escape four times, and on the fourth attempt, he lost part of his foot after he was recaptured. He was rendered useless but was purchased by the brother of his first master, and it was at this second estate where he began his family saga in America. 

As decades passed, Kunta learned English, became his master's designated driver, married, and had a child - a girl named Kizzy. He loved his daughter and began telling her the names of things in his native African language. He told her the story about his grandfather, grandmother, his parents, and their traditions. He desired for her to know her family origins; he did not want to forget his roots. 

Kizzy grew up, and when she was a teenager, she fell in love. Unfortunately, she became tangled in a plot to help her lover escape, and they were exposed. For that she was sold, never to see her parents again. 

Her new master raped her, and she became pregnant. He named their son George. George's father never treated him special, just because he was his son, but George learned the profitable trade of cock fighting and became valuable to his father. They traveled extensively trying to make money on the sport, while practicing other immoral activities. 

Kizzy wanted to keep the story about her father alive, and she told George about his African grandfather and all the names that he taught her in his African tongue and about the place in Africa where he came from. 

Eventually, George grew up and wanted to settle down. He married a good woman, Matilda, and they had so many children, I lost count. But after the birth of each child, when it was time, he or she was told the story about its African great-grandfather, Kunta Kinte. 

George wanted to save up to purchase his family's freedom, and his father told him if they won big enough through cock fighting then he would give him his freedom. But of course, they lost, and they lost everything. George had to go to England to work off the debt, and then he could get his freedom when he returned.

Meanwhile, woven throughout the family story was American history, from Colonial times to the Civil War and beyond. The author dropped names like Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Toussaint, President Jackson, and Nat Turner, and events like the Boston Massacre, the Bill of Rights, the Alamo, and even the history of Haiti, as well as technological advances. It was interesting and put the timeline of the story into perspective. The house slaves heard everything the whites talked about in front of them, and since the whites thought the slaves were ignorant, they never considered that they were picking up on current events. 

While George was in England, his son Tom became the family leader in his father's absence. It was pre-Civil War, and the slaves often heard about rebellions, uprisings, and freedom up North. Tom decided he wanted the family to plan an escape, but they worried that they would be split up if they were caught. 

Unexpectedly, due to poor financial management, they were going to be sold, but thanks to their master's wife, most of the slaves were able to stay together, especially Matilda and her children. Thankfully, they were sold to a kind couple. Soon Tom found a wife, Irene, a half-Indian, half-black slave, and they had a son, Uriah. 

After several years, George returned from England to learn that his family had been sold to a new master. By then, his mother, Kizzy, had died. But before he sought out his wife and children, he had to get his papers from his old master, which he had promised to give to George once he returned. Those papers meant freedom. 

George got his freedom, and he found his family, but it was awkward being free and on the plantation. His new grandson, Uriah, asked him what being free was, and he replied, 

Free mean ain't nobody own you no mo'.

That conversation led to the story of the African great-great grandfather, Kunta Kinte.

After the Civil War, the slaves were free to leave or stay; and since George had staked out land in Tennessee beforehand, they decided to leave and put down roots in a new state where they would build their homes, businesses, and even a church.

Time passed, and Tom and Irene's daughter, Cynthia, married a man named William. They had a daughter named Bertha, and the tradition of telling the story about the African continued, just as it had been done with Cynthia, and Tom, and his father and grandmother before him. 

Possible spoiler ahead...

Following WWI, Bertha married a man named Simon, and they travelled east to attend college together. He would study for his master's degree in agriculture, and Bertha would study music. Nine months later, without a word to her parents, Simon and Bertha made a surprise visit to their home in Tennessee, with a bundle. And in it was a baby boy, six-week old Alex Haley.

That was the big surprise for me, and I loved it. In the proceeding final chapters, Haley narrated his life growing up and hearing the story about the African. He heard it all, over and over again, and it left a great impression on him. The seed was planted.

End spoiler

In his adult years, Haley decided to investigate and research, read and discover the truth. It took him ten years to write his story, and how he did it was a story in itself. I won't tell you here, in case you want to read it for yourself. I, for sure, am quite impressed. 

Haley said that the Western culture is "so conditioned to the 'crutch of print' that few among us comprehend what a trained memory is capable of." I love books and reading, but he is right. Word of mouth is the way we used to give and receive information and knowledge and stories; but not anymore. We rely heavily on recording it or writing it down, though it is not such a bad activity; however, we have lost the art of memorization and reciting from memory.

This is a great story, a true story about a family, a story about a journey to find the origins of a family because these stories help us to know who we are, in part. It is also a necessary heartbreaking story about history. And though this history be painful to read and demonstrates injustice, it is essential to preserving the truth.

Haley's last words of his story are this:

I also feel that they join me in the hope that this story of our people can help to alleviate the legacies of the fact that preponderantly the histories have been written by the winners. 

A final note, if you choose to read Roots, be forewarned that you will be reading the n-word a lot! And there are cultural and religious differences regarding how women are treated, especially since Kunta was Muslim, and that's just the way it was in his time and place and tradition. 

P.S. It was easy reading, but definitely epic. 

The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano

 

The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings 

Olaudah Equiano 

Published 1789 

Memoirs 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the true story of Olaudah Equiano. He was born in 1745, in a part of Nigeria, kidnapped, and sold into the West Indie slave trade. 

Slavery was commonplace in Equiano's homeland and during his upbringing, especially as punishment for crime. Equiano described how "red men" brought them firearms and gunpowder and often brought slaves through the land. Sometimes Equiano's people sold slaves (either POWs or criminals) to the red men. 

When Equiano was eleven, he and his sister were taken from their family and sold and resold until they reached the coast and were put on a slave ship, in which he "fainted away." He was terrified that white men would eat him. Other blacks tried to reassure him to no avail. The whites were brutal, not only to the blacks, but even to each other. He described the whole scene below deck as horrid, and it was.

He ended his first chapter with a message to Christians, similar to what Harriet Beecher Stowe, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, declared to the Christian Church:

O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God? who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? 

Equiano was brought to Barbados and then Virginia, where he was purchased by a planter and later by an officer of the British Navy who took him to London. Equiano, now 12-years old, made friends wherever he went. His first companion told him about God. In London, he lived with a kind family that had servants who waited on him. His master, who always treated him well, often gave him the option to work with him or stay in London; Equiano preferred to go with his Master, never parting from him.

It wasn't long before Equiano felt at ease about his situation because he began to understand more; his fear subsided. After four years at sea and in England, he felt very comfortable around the English and understood the language. He considered the English superior even to his people and desired to resemble them in spirit and manners. 

A lady friend of his master's sent him to school and told him he needed to be baptized in order to go to heaven (which is absolutely false). He was baptized in 1759, but will understand later why this did nothing for him.

With his master, they sailed on the Mediterranean and even fought the French in a sea skirmish. It was rough. They sank a French frigate, but some of the English were killed. When his master was promoted to captain, he was promoted to captain's steward. But he really struggled with being good. He recognized God's hand in his protection and he thought he came to fear God alone. 

I thought I could very plainly trace the hand of God, without whose permission a sparrow cannot fall. I began to raise my fear from man to Him alone, and to call daily on His holy name with fear and reverence; and I trust he heard my supplications, and graciously condescended to answer me according to His holy word, and to implant the seeds of piety in me, even one of the meanest of His creatures. 

When he returned to London, he started to think of freedom, education, and working for himself. He learned to read the Bible and to write. People he met gave him hope that he could achieve these things. Olaudah knew his master had no right to him. Then his master unexpectedly tried to sell him, which caused him devastation and sorrow. He believed he had angered the Lord; therefore, he repented of past sin and asked for God's mercy. He later learned it was his master's new girlfriend who instigated his release to a new master. 

It was 1763, and Equiano was sold to good man, Mr. King, who was kind to his slaves. But his new environment exposed him to the cruelty of the slave trade, where he witnessed new shipments of slaves, the mistreatment of female slaves, the neglect and inhumane treatment and conditions, and the breakup of families. 

But is not the slave trade entirely at war with the heart of man?  

The slave trade had hardened man's heart. Harriet Beecher Stowe also said this in Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

Mr. King permitted Equiano to sell goods and turn a profit for himself, and he learned to be a shrewd businessman. Yet he still desired his freedom and hoped one day to purchase it with the money he saved from his business. He said "...life had lost its relish when liberty was gone." 

He witnessed free black men stolen away into slavery in Bermuda and Jamaica, and realized that a black man does not have recourse even if he is legally free. This was a fear that stayed with him. The West Indian laws were harsh and made a mockery of liberty, which is where he spent much of his time with Mr. King. Ultimately his desire was to return to England where he would never need to worry about being stolen back into slavery once he was free.

In 1766, Equiano had sailed to Philadelphia, and while there, sold his goods to the Quakers, whom he liked very much. Out of curiosity, he visited their crowded meetinghouse on day when the Rev. George Whitfield was preaching. 

Finally, after saving $47, he convinced Mr. King to give him his freedom, which was granted at half the price. He did hope to go immediately to England, but agreed to do a few more voyages for Mr. King. One trip turned out to be a nightmare when his ship almost sank and Equiano needed to save the slaves below deck, which he did by himself. After they repaired the ship, they sailed on to Georgia. 

A few other unbelievable incidents happened to him, which threatened his freedom, but good fortune always saved him; even Mr. King tried to keep him from returning to England by tempting him with land and his own slaves; but Equiano did not want those things. 

In 1768, after returning to England, Equiano went to sea frequently, and visited Italy and Turkey. He said he witnessed the Turks mistreat the Greeks just as the whites did the blacks in the Indies. He stopped in Portugal, in 1769, and learned that a Bible was an illegal item and would cost you ten years in slavery. He returned to the Mediterranean and saw galley ships with slaves in poor condition. He witnessed Mt. Vesuvius erupt and was in Smyrna during a great plague. 

Then, I cannot believe he did this, but he returned to Jamaica and Barbados, in 1771, and he said he saw blacks flogging and torturing other black slaves. And the craziest thing of all: he went on a voyage to explore the North East passage to India. The farthest they sailed was Greenland, where they almost died after becoming immoveable in ice. 

After all these dangers, Equiano reflected on God's mercy and tried to work out his own salvation. He wanted to be a first rate Christian, and he sought a relationship with Christ. All of these other religions - Quakers, Catholics, and Jews - he observed, were keeping the Ten Commandments. I suppose he recognized that he really couldn't do it. He was becoming very concerned about his soul. 

He prayed that God would show him better friends because the ones he was keeping company were wicked. He then met an old friend who invited him to church, and it was there that he finally heard the true gospel of new birth, Christ's blood, and faith alone. He struggled to understand how the Ten Commandments did not save us and how to know we were saved and forgiven. 

I thought I kept eight commandments out of ten; then my worthy interpreter told me I did not do it, nor could I; and he added that no man ever did or could keep the commandments, without offending in one point. 

The following page is my favorite. It reminds me of the reckoning Crusoe had in Robinson Crusoe when he came to understand grace and faith. 

 For example, Equiano said,

Now every leading providential circumstance that happened to me, from the day I was taken from my parents to that hour, was then, in my view, as if it had but just then occurred. I was sensible of the invisible hand of God, which guided and protected me, when in truth I knew not: still the Lord pursued me although I slighted and disregarded it; this mercy melted me down. 

I notice that no matter what I read or when it was written, that testimony of a person who comes to individual faith through grace has always been and always will be the same truth. It never changes. All of the stories are the same. 

Equiano continued his sea voyages and travels, as he liked to see the world, and on his way to Spain, his ship was involved in an accident. He thought he'd die, but he was quite ready to stand before God. All were amazed at his calm, and it was an opportunity for him to share the peace he had with God. 

In 1775, on a return voyage to Jamaica, he hoped to be used as God's instrument, but instead he found the people did not fear God, and the experience irked him. In 1784, he sailed to New York and Philadelphia, where he visited the Quakers again, whom he said were constantly working to free the slaves. 

The last quest written in Equiano's Narrative was his voyage to Sierra Leone and his communication with the Queen about the state of Africans and Britain's part in ending the slave trade. 

Equiano died 1797, ten years before Britain abolished the African slave trade, and thirty more years before slavery was finally abolished in all of the British colonies. Not that he was aggressively pursuing an end to the slave trade or slavery, in general, as slavery was commonplace, as I have already said; it was that he was aware that it was very wrong, and perhaps it was his desire to persuade others to see what he saw when he so eloquently wrote The Interesting Narrative.

Words that are useful even today: 

If, when [anyone] look[s] round the world, they feel exultation, let it be tempered with benevolence to others, and gratitude to God, "who hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and whose wisdom is not our wisdom, neither are our ways his ways."

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and 

the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

Eric Metaxas    

Published 2007

English Biography

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

This is the second book I have read (in the same year) by Eric Metaxas - the other being Bonhoeffer, which was EXCELLENT!  Metaxas seems to draw these quiet, humble figures out of the past and brings them to the forefront of history.  Amen.

William Wilberforce was born into a life of privilege, and on the surface, he lived a life of wealth, leisure, and entertainment; however, he was actually quite frail and sickly.  Nonetheless, in 1780, at twenty-one, he was elected to Parliament and soon after showed an interest in reforming society for the better.  Leave it to God to use the least among us to do the most difficult work.

It began with Wilberforce's spiritual conversion in 1786, when he came to know Christ as his Savior, that he experienced a "Great Change."

"Well, I now fully believed the Gospel and was persuaded that if I died at any time I should perish everlastingly."

"I must awake to my dangerous state, and never be at rest till I have made my peace with God.  My heart is so hard, my blindness so great, that I cannot get a due hatred of sin, though I see I am all corrupt, and blinded to the perception of spiritual things." 

He was in such agony over his state of sinfulness that he considered leaving politics in order to "live now for God."  It was John Newton, ex-captain of a slave ship and personal friend of Wilberforce, who encouraged him to stay in parliament and allow God to use him for the greater good.

"God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners."

Thereafter, Wilberforce realized his purpose in this world and made it his passionate work to abolish slavery.  But he and a few fellow abolitionists had to be clever about their mission because slavery was completely acceptable in their time, as it had always been since the beginning of civilization. They targeted only the slave trade, which would prove to be difficult and challenging enough.  

In fact, it took twenty long, dragged-out years and much determination, perseverance, and patience before abolitionists could see that victory in 1807.  How Wilberforce did not give up the fight is beyond me, and maybe that did not help his health either; but I suppose it was God's will to use this man and others like him to carry on the fight for those who had no voice.  Not only was he instrumental in outlawing the slave trade, but he influenced attitudes and changed hearts concerning slavery overall. Three days before Wilberforce died in 1833, slavery was altogether abolished in the British Empire, except in India, which Wilberforce had also worked towards.  Slavery in India was later abolished in 1843, which demonstrated that the ripple effect of Wilberforce's work lasted long after he was gone.

I take away two important ideas from Mr. Wilberforce and his story: the first is that it gives me great hope in mankind to read about quiet, humble lives who courageously fight for righteousness and persevere through dangerous opposition.  History overflows with examples of minor characters doing major work to change the course of the world for the better, we just do not tell their stories enough like we tell the stories about the tyrants.  

The other point is not necessarily an idea, but a truth, as William Wilberforce and those he worked with to abolish slavery were deeply motivated by their Christian faith.  As the Bible teaches, we must never be insecure to do what is right or speak for the weak, knowing that we will be in opposition to the world.  Wilberforce is an example of this Christian ideal.  

Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy.  (Proverbs 31:8) 

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?  But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.  (1 Peter 3:13-14) 

Not only that, but they were white, too.  While slavery was commonplace all over the world, it was also Christian white men and women who fought for the emancipation of black slaves and worked to end the theft, sale, and enslavement of other human beings against their will.  In other words, not all white people support the mistreatment and suppression of others based on skin color or other lame excuse.  Many ardent abolitionists were white.  Thanks to work by Eric Metaxas, we have their stories to tell.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Published 1852

American Novel

The Well-Educated Mind Novels

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was my fourth time reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was read at the request of a book club I recently joined.  The first time I read it was only because I was curious; the second time was because I had my son read it for high school, and I wanted to ask comprehension questions; and the third time was for The Well-Educated Mind reading challenge.  

For me, that third time screamed parallels to a more current American pandemic: abortion.  In the 1850's, slaves were property under the law, and an owner had the right to do with his slave, as he so desired; but in the late 1900s to this current day, an unborn baby is property of its mother under the law, and a woman has the right to dispose of it, if she so chooses. 

This fourth read was interesting because I realized that Mrs. Stowe was targeting not only slave owners for breaking up families and treating people like they were without human feeling or souls, or our government for permitting slavery to exist, or Northerners who harbored similar feelings toward blacks; she also had a stern lecture for fellow Christians, or the Church, in general. 

According to Mrs. Stowe, the Christian Church was too silent on slavery. She said,

Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart.  What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.  What brother-man and brother-Christian must suffer, cannot be told us, even in our secret chamber, it so harrows up the soul!  And yet, oh, my country! these things are done under the shadow of thy laws!  O Christ! thy church sees them, almost in silence! 

When she learned, after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act, that "Christian and humane people...recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens...what Christian duty could be on this head, - she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussion."

Of slavery, she said,

Nothing of tragedy can be written, can be spoken, can be conceived, that equals the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly acting on our shores, beneath the shadow of American law, and the shadow of the cross of Christ.

She implored Christians and the Church to receive runaway slaves, and educate them and assist them to safer shores.

At the very end of her conclusion, Mrs. Stowe warns the Church:

A day of grace is yet held out to us.  Both North and South have been guilty before God; and the Christian Church has a heavy account to answer.  Not by coming together, to protect injustice and cruelty, and making a common capital of sin, is this Union to be saved, - but by repentance, justice, and mercy: for, not surer is the eternal law by which the millstone sinks in the ocean, than that stronger law by which injustice and cruelty shall bring on nations the wrath of Almighty God!

Yikes!  I think Mrs. Stowe was one mighty, courageous woman: to take on a whole nation by writing this "living dramatic reality," in order to shake Americans out of their slumber, to expose the wickedness that was being legally permitted right before their eyes and ears, if they would just see and hear the evil; if they knew the truth, Christians (at least) could not - should not - remain silent. 

Well, I used to think the same thing about abortion - if only people knew the truth about what happened during an abortion, if they saw the results and heard the stories, they would be moved. Unfortunately, I think we are a different generation now.  I think many people know the horror, but they feel apathetic, dispassionate, or even powerless.  However, Stowe is correct in her concern that our Nation will have to answer for its sins; in fact, I have a feeling we are seeing God's judgment upon our country this very day for our national iniquities.  Every nation is subject to God's judgment.

Anyway, while we were still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, my friend asked me if we were going to read anymore about the cabin because it was only a small part of the story. Why was it titled Uncle Tom's Cabin if it was not a bigger part of the story?  Well, it is true: it is only in the beginning; and it wasn't until the very last paragraph that Stowe leaves us with, George, Tom's master (giving a eulogy for Tom), speaking to his newly-freed slaves:

So, when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children.  Think of your freedom every time you see Uncle Tom's Cabin; and let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was.

I have to believe that it was just a symbol for an honorable, faithful man, and Christ-like figure.  His cabin was a safe and loving home for everyone who entered it because he was a good Christian husband, father, and friend.  Stowe made him to be someone we should strive to be like.  And I'll say, Good luck with that because his character was absolutely perfect.

###

What if Harriet Beecher Stowe made a case against abortion instead of slavery?

In my previous post, I claimed that an aspect of slavery exists today where one group treats another group as property.  That aspect is present in abortion.

At the time of Dred Scott, no blacks in America had legal standing as persons in the court because they were considered property, and the Constitution protected slaveholders’ rights to their property.  In the case of abortion, the Constitution defends a woman’s right to her body as her property, and therefore, if she does not want what is growing inside, she has the right to have it removed.  The human life in her womb in not a person; it is her property. 

What would it look like if Ms. Stowe argued her case against abortion using her case against slavery?  Remember, similar arguments are laid out in my Final Inquiries for the slavery dispute.  I only changed the argument here to focus on abortion.

Slavery is immoral and must be abolished immediately.   Abortion is immoral and must be eradicated immediately. 

Abortion is a demeaning procedure for women, a violent end for her unborn baby, and rejection of a father’s responsibility.  It is a vehement practice by those who provide the service, and the corrupt business practices are either covered up or protected under the Constitution. 

Christians cannot support slavery.   Christians cannot support abortion.

Children are a heritage from the Lord.  Scripture tells us that He knew us before we were born, and He knit us in our mother’s womb.  We are made in His image - in His likeness. 

God is in control of all things, and man does not have the right to take life according to his own will.  Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin.  Therefore, if a Christian supports abortion, he has an improper perception of God's law.

Christians cannot remain silent or look away; it is his duty to stand for righteousness.  Christians must obey God’s laws, which are above their nation’s laws.  Who else is going to speak for the defenseless? 

Americans cannot support slavery.  Americans cannot support abortion.

The Declaration of Independence revels our unique character: Americans recognize that all persons enjoy the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, which come directly from God, not government, and cannot be taken away, unless in violation of law.  Abortion proponents believe these rights are proscribed through government and then only pertain to a specific group.  This contradicts any idea that is truly American.

Slavery hardens and corrupts the hearts of men.   Abortion hardens and corrupts the hearts of men.

Abortion is no longer shameful, and it permits people to be selfish by putting their 
needs before others. 

Abortion distorts ideas about unborn babies, pregnancy, sex, and marriage.  People fight for the right to abort, and fear if abortion becomes illegal, then their own lives and future will be threatened.  Also, abortion is a lucrative business, so greed motivates those who provide its service.

Slavery causes slaves to commit moral injustice.  Abortion causes people to commit moral injustice.

Abortion encourages irresponsible behavior because life at its early stages is disposable:  one may abort if the baby is not a preferred sex, deformed, or has a health condition; or maybe there are too many fetuses; or the elderly or infirm are not worthy of maintaining life; or maybe someone who has a feeding tube is not worth life: remember Terri Schiavo?

Blacks have souls, too.  Unborn babies have souls, too.

While the Bible is silent on the fate of babies who die through abortion or miscarriage, we do know that God is merciful toward those who are not capable of knowing the Gospel, such as the mentally handicap, young children, and babies.  When King David lost his newborn son, he stopped mourning because he knew he would be reunited with him at the resurrection.  

Science has maintained that human life begins at conception, though abortion proponents have worked to change that by stating life begins at implantation in order to ease the RU486 concern.  But a living being already forming in utero began ten days before implantation.  If we are created in the likeness of God, and that likeness begins at conception, and since God makes no mistakes and does everything with purpose, I believe that an unborn baby is already equipped with a soul and is able to be redeemed and go to heaven.

Would HBS agree?  I have no idea!  But frankly, it works for me.  Like slavery, abortion is a grave evil that is making America's soul sick.  Will it take another civil war to end its practice?  I pray not.  God help us!

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Up From Slavery

Booker T. Washington

Published: 1901

The Well-Educated Mind [biographies]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

This is my third slave narrative and my fourth book about American slavery, this year. Slavery is never an easy topic to read about; however, Up From Slavery is actually extremely encouraging and inspirational.  

The short version of Booker T. Washington's life is that he was born into slavery and was under age ten when slavery ended.  After the Civil War, he moved with his mother and brother to the North. As a young boy, Booker worked to earn money for the family, but what he desired most was an education.  Even in utter poverty and unimaginable hardships, he found a way to go to school and gain knowledge. 

At school, Washington proved himself a hard worker and dedicated student that he was recommended to open a new school in Alabama, which would become the Tuskegee Institute.  He remained the leader and representative of Tuskegee until his death in 1915.  

Tuskegee would become his life work.  He literally built and expanded the school with his bare hands, along with students. He made it his responsibility to secure donations or loans from wealthy individuals and politicians to purchase the land, buy supplies, and furnish the school. The students provided all of the labor because he wanted to teach that there is dignity in merit, industry, and labor.

At the time, ex-slaves believed education (book learning) was the way to avoid hard labor, but Washington wanted them to learn the value of building, creating, and making something worthy and necessary with their own hands, something they could use personally or to sell it because there was a demand.  In turn, students learned a skill, which they were good at and could earn an income.  He taught them how community works.

Some controversial ideas from Washington involved his attitude about the white race.  He forgave slaveholders and never harbored negative feelings towards them or whites.  Of course, he was only eight when he gained his freedom, and he hardly had a memory of slavery. While he sought to lift up the black race, he also wanted to see the same done for the white race because he knew that whites suffered, too, because of slavery.  For example, after the War, southern whites scarcely knew what to do with themselves because they were accustomed to servants doing everything for them.  Surely they needed assistance in learning and living, just as the black race.  He did not want to see whites being left out of any programs or projects that were meant to help only the blacks.  Washington said,

if Congress wanted to do something which would assist in ridding the South of the race question and making friends between the two races, it should, in every proper way, encourage the material and intellectual growth of both races.  

Washington was also worried that the Republicans were pushing too quickly on the black community to get involved in politics when he knew they were not prepared to be in office. He believed the Republicans were using the blacks to gain power in the South, which is very probable, and Washington was more concerned with the moral and intellectual stability of the black race, first.  

He also said that the generation he was teaching now would need to understand that they were laying the foundation for their future children and grandchildren, that they "could grow to higher and more important things in life."  In other words, they were going to have to start at the bottom and work their way up.  They could not expect to begin at the top.

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.  It is at the bottom of life we must begin and not at the top.  Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.

I understand now why Booker T. Washington was and still is called an "Uncle Tom" by other blacks: because his ideas and policies were and are passive and conservative.  He was eager to see the races equal and did not argue for the "rights" of the black race.  He rather show through hard work, dedication, industry, and education that the black race is worthy of respect and has a place in society.  He wanted to demonstrate that, if given the opportunity, blacks would contribute to their community and prove to be worthy.

He had a positive vision for his people and for the nation and its future.  If this had been the only book I ever read about slavery, I would have thought that the issue of racism was done and over with in America, since Booker T. Washington's time.  He highlights how eager wealthy, white people were to work with or support him in his endeavors, which is why he believed that people would reward merit and that rich people would always support good work someone else was doing. 

But what happened to Washington's ideals?  What happened to his vision?  What happened to his America?  

This reminds me of a story:  Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.  The city of New Orleans, which is already below sea level, was in danger.  The Mayor had issued a mandatory evacuation order, but for whatever reason, many stayed behind.  When the hurricane was over, the levies (which protected the city from the sea) broke, flooding the city.  (No, President Bush did not blow up the levies). 

Many people fled their flooded neighborhoods to get to the Superdome, which had been open to the public, but had remained surprisingly empty during the storm.  And for another unknown reason, the Superdome WAS NOT STOCKED with supplies or resources. THE CITY WAS NOT PREPARED!  People thought they would spend a few hours through the storm and then it would be over.  But that did not happen.  When crowds of helpless, tired, sick, elderly, hungry, frightened, angry people showed up at the Superdome at the same time, it was pure chaos.  This lasted for three days!  

This was frustrating to watch on TV.  When buses arrived at the Superdome, they took 150,000 people and transported them to Houston, Texas, where many of them would start new lives.  Instead, I thought, why not find a way to keep the people in the area? Louisiana could not accommodate her own people?  Why not have them rebuild their city?  After all, the media was talking about how they were all out of work (especially now).  Work?  There would be so much work to be done; someone was going to have to do it.  

And what about all of the people who remained, only to live in FEMA trailers for YEARS and YEARS, waiting for someone else sent by the government to rebuild their home?  Really?  If we learned anything, it is that government fails us on these levels.  How much faster could we get it done ourselves if we could be proactive and involved, instead of waiting for [government] to do it for us?

If Booker T. Washington were alive today, he would have advocated that all of the capable people rebuild their homes, their churches, their neighborhoods, and their community.  He would have rolled up his sleeves to work, too, instead of waiting for government.  Imagine the lessons that would have been learned.  Imagine the skills gained. Imagine the sense of accomplishment.  Imagine the new lives built up after such suffering.  

Booker T. Washington was an insightful, optimistic, brilliant leader.  I'm not sure that America makes those anymore, but we could use one about now.