Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Advertisement of the Slaves
Earlier this week in class, we talked about three different images in class, one portraying three white men attacking a black man/slave, one of the "armed slave", and the other of the non-work movement for the black man. I want to talk to you about the version of the Irishman from New York, the banker from New York, and the founder of the KKK Nathan Bedford Forest. Specifically, I would like to talk about the way that the artist portrayed the Irishman. He was portrayed to have animal like characteristics, and I was wondering if you think that this image of the Irishman could also be a sign of how the black men/slaves were thought of. Do you think that slaves could be thought of as people with very animalistic characteristics and actions. This seems very possible to me, because if a person like an Irishman could be so terribly portrayed when he was a member of the white society/Europeans. Further more, I was wondering how large of an impact you think that such a method of characterization would impact the view point on the slaves. Do you think that this could have made the view on the slaves any worse? I personally believe that even though they were very victimized, they still could have been hurt by this method of advertisement would hurt them because it would lower them even more from just unequal people, to animals.
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To answer your question about the animal-like caricature of slaves, I think it is fairly reasonable to assume that slaves were portrayed in such a manner. After all, even after they were emancipated, the African Americans still were given animal caricatures as seen by the freedman's bureau image. Hence one can assume that slaves were also portrayed in a similar manner, also that slaves were believed to be like animals, making such a caricature all the more likely. I think that such depictions could most definitely have a definitely have a negative impact on the view of slaves, and even on the slaves' view on themselves, as it is incredibly dispiriting to see oneself depicted in such a manner.
ReplyDeleteWe did not have an opportunity to look at the sorts of advertisements and illustrations that were made for slave markets and auctions, but there is a tremendous amount of material out there on the interwebs. It is, as you suppose, deeply invested in caricature and stereotype.
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