Life in Black and White
Life in Black and White, is a great book about the Southern society in the antebellum period focussing on the daily life in Loundoun County, Virginia, tracing the lives of all classes and cultures. For years, many historians have argued that most slave families in the American antebellum south were, despite many and certain circumstances upon them, traditional nuclear families. The author, Brenda E. Stevenson, challenged numerous reviews and ideas of the nature of slave families' relations and ways of life. She examines the whole Southern society through the families of all races. In this process the book offers an unprecedented look at the daily lives of different communities such as the slaves, planters, free blacks, and yeoman farmers. Most importantly she gives us the opportunity to see the social and cultural forces which bond them together, even while driving them apart. Stevenson provides a perfect portrait of family and community life in the American South bringing in stories and quotes of planters, slaves, free blacks, and poor whites, in the mid-18th century to the Civil War. These stories give strong evidence on the hardships of life for both blacks and whites. For instance, in chapter 6, The Nature of Lou
Other than this part of the book there is not any other areas that were unconvincing. The following chapters of Gender Convention and Courtship and Marriage for Better or Worse were to lengthy in description. Pick out de fam'ly dat got de most chillun an' say, "Fo' God, nigger, I'm goin' to sell all dem chillun o' your'n lessen you keep quiet. Stevenson fails a couple of times to convince the reader why such issues make these problems unique to the South. Something that Stevenson uses in introducing her chapters that makes her argument and work so compelling is the usage of quotes before the chapter. In reading this book there were not many instances were Stevenson had a weak argument, but one section comes to mind to be non-important in the evaluation of life in the South. Ev'ybody sho' keep quiet arter dat" ( Stevenson, 179). Ordinaries and churches emerged in the late colonial period as the centers of social activity (Stevenson, 23). This book is a compelling survey of Southern society in the daily lives in one Virginia county. "We went to work at sunrise, and quit work between sundown and dark. Some of these activities were card playing, cock fighting, fist fights, shooting, wood chopping, tobacco spitting, riding contests, and story telling were typical past times for men and some women in the White Community. Us slaves were always afraid of being sold South" (Stevenson, 166).
Common topics in this essay:
American South,
Fo' God,
Marriage Worse,
Black White,
Brenda Stevenson,
Loudoun Slavery,
Community Black,
Blacks Sundays,
County Virginia,
Loudon Slavery,
family community,
american south,
southern society,
black white,
life american south,
life american,
life black white,
slaves afraid sold,
chapter 6,
life black,
life south,
free blacks,
black community,
portrait family community,
community life american,
|
Acceptance Essays
