Slavery And Ethical Issues In Research

America’s history has been filled with great triumph and great trial. The country has one of the richest histories of any nation in the world, and the study of all chapters of their story is one of the broadest objectives of a historian. If a person were to take one page out of the book that is America, there is still much controversy as to how is should be studied. The institution of slavery and its effects on the country is one of these areas of study, but it has impacted America in its ethics as well as in its factual research. A historian can study slavery both objectively and subjectively, and both may have benefits, but which one is most important? Which one can give the best view of slavery’s existence and effects? Carl Ratner said “Objectivism …show more content…
Objectivity is placing the focus on the facts, rather than personal feelings, while subjectivity mixes the two together which can be dangerous. Although most of society today has agreed that slavery is morally wrong, in studying this institution we must view it with an unbiased perspective. People find it easy to hide behind their feelings instead of facing the facts, because sometimes this is easier than owning up to what actually happened. They hide behind their feelings that slavery is wrong, and refuse to look at the facts of what occurred while slavery was common practice. Objectivity allows a person to be honest with themselves and their research, free from emotion. While some people want to convince themselves that the slave owners were simply bad people, further studying this topic forces them to admit that slave owners were oftentimes intentionally cruel. It is hard to face the fact that people chose to act this way towards other people, but understanding this helps historians to be authentic in their analysis. Seeing slavery from different vantage points does not provide actual information, it simply alters the facts that are already there. The values and social relations that are associated with slavery distort the true idea of what was happening. Viewing slavery from a subjective perspective may also influence historians as they research. Most, if not all people find it hard to agree with a person who has different values and political beliefs than they do. If we can remove these obstacles, researchers of all viewpoints can work together to observe the impact that slavery has made on humanity. These historians can also work to investigate slave owners and abolitionists and their motivation and justification for their