Akeem's Blog Feedback

            This blog is written in response to Akeem's Blog numero dos in which he claims that he believes the main claim of Tannenbaums Slave and Citizen is the contrast between the treatment of African American Slaves in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Americas. Akeem's agrees with Tannenbaums notion that slaves had rights in Colonial Brazil where as in the United States they were denied even being though of as a human being. He implys that the reason for the mistreatment of slaves was based on skin color. Akeem relates this to his own experience growing up outside of the United States in Guyana, "the country in which I was born, there is still great tension between the people because of skin color, race, and simply areas where you were born and raised" (Qadeer). I can also relate to Akeems claim that in other countries aside from the United States there is still tension between people because of skin color or race. I have witness just how differently African Americans have been treated in the Unites States and I have also witness how people from the same foreign culture treat each other based on skin color. For example my family is Hispanic/Latino/Spanish, the majority of my family from my mothers side is "darker" (tan) while my fathers side of my family is "white" (Spaniard).  Since I resemble my fathers side of the family but I was surrounded by my mothers side of the family I was very fair skinned compared to them and they treated me differently. They felt like since I was fair skinned I would give up my ethic culture more readily than my darker skinned siblings. Whether this was true or not I was considered an outsider who could not understand their culture just as the Anglo-Americans felt the African Americans were outsiders and could not understand their culture. All this prejudice was simply based off of skin tone and not on the character of the person.
           Akeem brought up some valid points and supported Tannenbaums claim through the use of personal experience. I believe he could use this claim perhaps as a closing statement for his paper. It would leave the reading with something memorable and would be interesting.

Mixed Races

        In class we spoke about how Tannenbaum believed that in order for slavery to truly end in the United States the white population had to stop associating dark skin with slavery.  The Anglo-American of the time had the notion that if you had dark skin you were a slave and vice versa, if you were a slave you had dark skin. Even after the civil war and the end of slavery this state of mind continued through out the United States. In the last pages of Slave and Citizen we discovered that Tannenbaum believed that in order for whites to accept blacks people needed to start mixing races. He believed that if races mixed it would create a “new biological type” (a new race). He believed that this new biological type would create “new values and human beauty” (pg120 Slave and Citizen).
Perhaps he envisioned a future where people where no longer either black or white but one mixed race. Back in his time a person of mixed race might have not been so common but in our present time its more of a reality.

        It might be the fact that I grew up in Queens, one of the most diverse communities in the world, but I come across people of different and mixed races quite often. For example one of my teachers in middle school was black and Korean, one of my sister-in-laws in married to a Korean man and have a beautiful Korean-Dominican daughter, I also met plenty of people mixed with black and Hispanic blood or Asian and Hispanic blood or Asian and American blood. Maybe Tannenbaum would have been pleased to know that all these races are now mixing together but this mixing of races doesn't exactly mean that there is eventually going to be one uniform race. However, I like to think that this mixing of races does signify a future where people are more tolerant of other races simply because they themselves are multi-cultural. 

         You don’t necessarily  have to be biologically  a mixture of races to feel that you are multi-cultural you just simply have had to be exposed in one way or another to different races. I believe that Tannenbaum’s notion that slavery will never truely end unless there is mixing of the races is wrong. I think that white Americans will learn to accept other races as a part of the United States if they are simply exposed to other races as children in a positive way. The only way to truly end slavery is to educate our children about other cultures besides our own and teach them to be open minded and accepting of them.

Slave and Citizen Summary

           In the writing Slave and Citizens, Tannenbaum accounts the experience of the African American during the slave trade. He contrasts the treatment of these people in the Spanish Empire and the United States. It was his belief that slaves were treated somewhat more humane in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires than in the United States. Tannenbaum supports his claim that in colonial Brazil people of color were treated better than in the United States by citing the observation of a witness who lived at the time. The witness stated that he observed an African American, which he referred to as a Mulatto woman, in a horse drawn carriage with slaves following behind and a white husband. From such an observation it’s obvious that in the Brazilian colonies interracial marriage was acceptable whereas in the United States there were strict miscegenation laws, or laws prohibiting intercourse between races.

         The witness also added that the first doctor of the city was a Mulatto and that there was a Mulattos president of Province. Things like this were unheard of in the United States where African Americans were denied even a primary education. Tannenbaum writes that in the United States, “A barrier has been drawn against the Negro. This barrier…has served to deny him the very things that are of greatest value among us--equality of opportunity for growth and development as a man among men.” (pg 42). He emphasized just how much African Americans were denied opportunities to better themselves and rise beyond their slave status.

My class tweets

          Nicos tweet " i believe that the same way slaves were the backbone of the country back then, today it is same with the minorities/immigrants" really caught my attention. Being a part of a family of immigrants I have personally witness minorities work hard for this country. Immigrants are the ones in construction building homes bridges, renovating your home etc. Hey they also mow your lawn.

          I also like Nayaras tweet "It's so sad to here how African Americans were haggled like about like any cattle.They were treated like animals, sold, and then branded." When i read this in the text I was disgusted. I felt empathy for these people being ripped away from their home and treated like trash.

Hyphenated American

While reading Du Bois theory of double consciousness I realized I’ve heard something similar before. Double consciousness sounded a lot like the term “hyphenated American“. Theodore Roosevelt famously used the term in one of his speeches where he stated, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…a hyphenated American is not an American at all." In which he basically said that a person could not be both an American and hold onto his ethical background. I find both Du Bois and Roosevelt’s views on Americans offensive. My parents are Colombian so whether I like it or not I am considered  Colombian-American (a hyphenated American). However, it doesn’t mean that I am neither American or Colombian, as Theodore would say, it means that I have had the privilege to see the world through the eyes of two different and unique cultures and that I am the bridge that will connect them. 
It seems to me that Roosevelt spoke for the Americans of his time and perhaps even Americans today. Despite an ethic persons attempts of being all American there’s is a boundary they cannot cross.  Just as Du Bois puts it for the African American of his time, “ He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows…”.Du Bois points out peoples tendency to judge others. An American will judge a foreigner for trying to be American and a foreigner will also judge that same person for straying from his or her culture. It seems to me that it isn’t just the person of color who is stopping himself from integrating into American culture but people on both sides of the spectrum with this type of “us vs. them” mentality.

           The Souls of Black Folk

 

                In the early 1900’s an American sociologist, W.E.B Du Bois, examined the psyche of the Africans Americans of his time. It was his belief that African Americans were in a state of “double consciousness” as he states in his book The Souls of Black Folk. He describes it as a “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” This view of the African American psychological state meant that African Americans identified with two cultures as being a part of them. They felt like they were Americans yet at the same time they also felt they were African. They identified with both cultures even though other people may have looked down upon it since being African American during the early 1900’s came with many restrictions. Often African Americans saw themselves through the eyes of others which further added to the conundrum of “Double consciousness”.  Du Bois argued that it was this state of mind that caused a struggle within African Americans. They wanted to find unity between both identities.

                Du Bois believed African Americans wanted to “merge his double self” so that they may become “better”. However, in the process of merging themselves they did not want to lose any part of either identity. According to Du Bois, African Americans felt “…America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.” After being taken from Africa and freed from slavery America was their new home. They valued the American way but also cherished their African roots. This way of though is what led to the internal struggle Du Bois called “ Double Consciousness”.