Slavery is a sensitive part of American history that will always remain in our minds (hopefully). Similarly to everyone else, I was also pretty surprised at the impact it had made in the north over the years. Slaves were basically responsible for all the labor and “hands-on” work, which factories and big companies would benefit from. It is interesting to see that economics played such a major role in how our nation turned out and even impacts us today in our everyday lives. Like Ashley said, there are many parallels between these two different times in history. However, the major difference between these two era’s is that slavery was the sole driving force for economic prosperity in the colonies at that time. Therefore, New York City is what it is today because of all the slave labor that went on. It is a big misconception to think otherwise although this idea is what we have been taught ever since elementary school.

It was pretty interesting to read about the great diversity that New York City had been flooded with and how they used slavery to benefit themselves. Overtime there were different laws passed to euphemize the treatment that the slaves were actually receiving. As Ashley said, laws became stricter as slaves were finding ways out of this sick system and eventually it became nearly impossible for them to escape.

Our perceptions of other “races” have greatly impacted how we view the world’s different cultures. Living in America we assume our lives are the normal way to live and what we do on a day-to-day basis is right. However we only make up a fraction of the worlds population and we really aren’t the norm. Furthermore, media also affects how we view various cultures and people all across the globe. We tend to think that we are more civilized than most of the world and this is the mentality has led to slavery and the justification commonly proposed.

Like many other people have said, slavery is a part of history that we can’t change now. It would be a whole different world if it never existed. Nevertheless if that change would be for the better or worse, we are not able to tell.

It was really cool to read Binders-Reimer about how New York was very similar back then as it is now-it was diverse, tolerant, and an entrepreneurial moneymaking capitalist center.  Although I vaguely remember learning at some point that New York and the rest of the North had slavery, I didn’t realize to what degree.  I always learned about how bad slavery was in the South and how widespread it was, but for some reason we always glossed over the North’s role in slavery.  (Maybe it is because we live in the North and we’re trying to make ourselves feel/sound better?)  Anyway, it was just a shock to read about how big a role slavery played in the North.

Also, I agree with Rebecca and In The Shadow of Slavery when it said slavery became the basis of the American social system of race and class.  Although everyone talks about America as the “land of opportunity”, not everyone really gets to experience the American dream of rags to riches- most people struggle to survive here, and you see homeless people lying on the streets as you walk by.  Meanwhile, there are rich people spending money on frivolities and not caring or trying to help those less fortunate homeless people find food or shelter, because the American culture is all about competition- winners and losers. Although slavery started out as needing laborers, it became part of the American social hierarchy.  You can’t have superior people without having someone be inferior to them.  The slaves were a necessary part of American social hierarchy because they filled the role of “inferior, poor blacks” so that the “superior, rich whites” could fill theirs.

The idea of race and class was socially constructed, even though back then they lied and told themselves it was biologically constructed in order to justify their actions.  For example, contrary to the white owners who believed that the slaves were too stupid to put up a fight, they actually resisted in a genius way.  In the Shadow of Slavery it says “they demonstrated through labor, resistance to bondage…”  I remember learning that the slaves resisted in secret ways- they pretended to be stupid and did their “tasks” very slowly, or even wrong, and the would purposely leave tools outside over night so they would rust and be ruined.  I think this was a genius plan because this way they mess up their owners’ labor, but at the same time they won’t be caught or punished because it doesn’t look like they did anything on purpose.

I just want to respond to Eden who mentioned that if slavery had been abolished then maybe Native Americans would have been put to work- If I remember correctly, that was actually the original plan to use Native Americans, but since they knew the land better than us they would always sneak away at night and there wasn’t really anything we could do, so then we turned to slavery.

Finally, I want to point out how weird it was to read sentences like “their commercial prospects appeared promising: gold, ivory and slaves…” like its no big deal, like slaves were just pieces of property or goods to be traded.

I found the point made in “The Shadow of Slavery” about Europeans defining Blacks as the only group fit to slavery to be very interesting.  As a kid, I always associated slaves with African Americans.  When I found out that wasn’t always the case, I was, to say the least, surprised.  Turns out that slavery  is a very old concept, and once upon a time, it used to be interracial.  It seems that in the New World, slavery was always restricted to African Americans (and Native Americans).  However, I think that indentured servants also counted as a form of slavery.  I don’t know how significant it is, Binder and Reimer didn’t mention it, so I suppose it didn’t make a huge difference.  I thought about it while reading “In the Shadow of Slavery” because I remember reading somewhere that indentured servants were almost slaves.

Adding on a little post script to what Marinna said about New York not being what it was without slaves: The same argument is made by people who argue that our economy would never be where it was if Industrial Giants hadn’t taken advantage of their workers the way they did.  Similarly, the Wall of China contains the bodies of the workers who died while building it.  So the question is, are people’s lives, freedoms, and happiness a price worth paying for a nation’s, or in this case, a city’s achievements?  I say we ask the people whose lives, freedoms and happiness are in jeopardy.

Like everyone else, I too did not realize how vital a role slaves served in the development, emergence, and advancement of New York. I generally learned about their stereotypical purpose in the southern area of the United States in grade school, but never about their presence here in this very state. While reading these articles, I soon realized that I was not as familiar with this topic as I once thought I was.

That being said, I was surprised to learn about the diversity of those held in captivity by the colonists. Not only were slaves imported from Africa, but they also were taken from the Caribbean in order to further increase the area’s work output. The two locations shared a commonality: a distinguishable dark pigment in the skin. Thus, this seemed like a justifiable reason for the colonists to enslave dark-skinned Spaniards as well. These “inferior” people of diverse backgrounds were just as unified as their “superiors”; whites congregated together to show mastery over another race, and blacks assembled in order to rebel (such rebellions exemplified in Foote’s Black and White Manhattan). Over time, this unity ultimately led to interracial marriages and families amongst those in the groups, continuing what the Binder and Reimers article identified as assimilation.

Elaborating on what Marinna stated, slaves served as “natural” resource for the colonies. They helped boost the production and development of the newly inhabited land, but for no personal gain. In earlier times, they would find ways to avoid these unjust consequences by converting to Catholicism; however, as the half-free population of blacks began to increase dramatically, their white masters gained control and further redefined the status of their servants. This intensification continued to escalate during the land’s transformation from New Amsterdam to New York (according to Harris’ In the Shadow of Slavery). Although legally abolished in 1827, we can still see forms of unjust servitude (a more politically correct word than “slavery”, nowadays) in our state. Like Ashley said, New York has not changed much in terms of ethnic variety. However, in addition to that fact, New York – including other former colonies – has also retained a sense of racial dominance in the working class. Many of today’s immigrants come from our international neighbor, Mexico, and will work long hours for little/no wage. Many Americans find it in their own personal interest to take advantage of the “inferior” position of the foreigners for quick economic gains.

Does history repeat itself? I think so.