The complex decision that slave owners chose to make in regards to the “acculturation and dependence they wanted of their slaves” intrigued me (Harris 34). Slave owners had to decide whether or not their slaves should receive a religious education and conversion, or keep their African culture. I wonder how slave owners made this decision. If they believed that everyone should be Christian and share the same set of beliefs, then naturally they would want those working for their household to share those ideals. Those who felt strongly about their religion did convert their slaves but made sure to set a law asserting that a Christian conversion would by no means lead to freedom. For many the fear of slaves running away with the encouragement and education they would receive, was not worth the risk. Many religious but wary Christians may have convinced themselves that the religious status of their slave was inconsequential and not their religious obligation. But the root of the fear came from the likely possibility that “the teaching that every soul as equal in the sight of God could lead to claim racial equality on earth”(35). The underlying element of slaveholders’ religious belief completely denied the right of owning a slave. No thoughtful slaveholder would want to go around spreading word that his own lifestyle was completely hypocritical and antireligious.
It is logical that slaveholders did not want to provide too much of an education in fear of an educated rebellion, yet at the same time wanted their slaves to be skilled and educated. To me, it would make more sense for the slaves to be as educated and skilled as possible. I realize that I am thinking modernly, how one would for an employer or added member of the household. When my brothers and I were young and my parents were out at work, we had babysitters who stayed at home to take care of us. The more the babysitter had to offer, or the more we can teach her, the more we valued her. We would love a smart woman who could cook, bake, sew, clean, and help with homework, in addition the key point of taking good care of little children. The concept of slavery is too far removed from anything we are used to that the ideas and issues that are involved are difficult to relate to. For many, there seemed to be a lose-lose situation when slave owners deprived their slaves of religion, education, and self-expression because they feared losing them. The slaves missed out as did the slave owners from benefiting from their potential skill. On the other hand, few wealthy masters did teach their slaves skills that would assist them in business and “educating their female domestic servants became a mark of high status”(Harris 35). This mark seems like the logical choice that all slave owners should have been confident enough to make. But why expect rational and logical when we are talking about the illogical phenomenon of treating buying people as slaves.
