Antebellum

Only in the past two decades or so has slavery in New England become more of a focal point for historians. The average person who does not study history, thinks it was only an issue in the Southern United States. Slavery was written out of history in New England for a reason according to Joanne Pope Melish. Melish explains the process of emancipation in Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England, 1780-1860. Joanne Melish argues that the institution of slavery was central…

The Shadows of the Silhouettes Through the Art, the artist is capable to express his deepest feelings and ideas. The Art is a valuable tool that allows the artist to manifest or communicate emotions. The artist through his work can reflect hatred, abuse, love, happiness, peace, and many other feelings that can be reflected in a painting. Where its creator with his work, transmit to the audience a hidden message to interpret or decode. Have you ever imagined the world without art? Throughout…

On the plantations of the antebellum south, the labor force of enslaved African Americans faced a life of physical violence and mental torture. The slave life of Solomon Northup, as depicted in the film 12 Years a Slave, exposes the variety and intensity of the abuses slaves dealt with at the hands of their masters. Solomon, who was born a free man is illegally sold as a runaway slave; he is stripped of his name, stolen from his family, beaten and whipped then sent to the south for auction.…

This week’s reading, the third chapter from Ariel Levy’s piece “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” was a truly striking chapter. In it, Levy explores a wide-spread yet widely unexamined subset of females of today: the female chauvinist pigs. In order to explore the phenomena that is the female chauvinist pig Levy takes a look at several women of today and how these women live their lives and in particular, looking at how these women have succeeded or aim to succeed in…

The antebellum was the period prior to the American Civil War. During this era, political disputes were instrumental towards the build up that ultimately ended in the break out of the Civil War. In addition, the experimentation of the government, which created different ideologies, led to the dividing of the government into two groups, democrats and republicans. There were economic/political problems such as the nullification crisis, which resulted in the seceding of the slave states from the…

Political leadership guided the North and South landscape, but the military leadership guided the battlefield. The Civil War was a modern war compared to the Napoleonic wars and for the South; Lee is seen by some scholars as a leader out of touch with modern warfare while other generals such as those from the Union were waging a modern style of warfare. In the article, An Old-Fashioned Soldier in a Modern War?: Robert E. Lee as Confederate General, Gary Gallagher takes a historiographical…

joining the battle at not only the risk of injury and death on the battlefield, but also the chance of jail time upon their returns home, the dedication and fearlessness of these women must have been immense. The meek, submissive stereotype of the antebellum woman did nothing to…

importance of family and cooperation. It enabled a significant amount of resistance to the plantation economy and created a cohesive and homogenous slave identity that remarkably shaped Southern life and relationships between slaves and whites in the antebellum era.” (Outside Source) This newly formed identity still shines in black culture. Hard work ethic, and an importance on family can clearly be seen (CC 320). Because most slaves could not read or write, slaves carried traditions orally,…

How did women resist their condition of servitude? What circumstances made it difficult for them to do so? In Deborah Gray White’s insightful book, Ar’n’t I a Woman? she assesses the profound issues and burdens female slaves had to undergo in the Antebellum South. The hardships that they faced were binary in the aspect that they included ideas of racism and sexism. Throughout their daily lives, slave women took on duties in their families and communities that were in sharp contrast to female…

Racism by definition is the belief that one race is superior to that of another. Throughout history, the story behind the lives of people of color has been recognized as a tough, ongoing battle. The fine line between white and black has been the core reason behind prejudiced beliefs; beliefs that had led to misconceptions about them as individuals. In the 1800’s, racism was stronger than it is now due to enslavement and general mistreatment. During that time period Americans identified African…