The African-American Odyssey Questions, Essay Example

1. What does Douglas imply are some of the motives that led masters and overseers to whip slaves? There were no laws to provide slaves with protection from their masters or overseers from inflicting physical harm. The motivation behind this is because they do not see slaves as people, but merely as workers. The main reason why they believed this was effective was because they thought that the threat of lashes would increase productivity. Also, the whites believed that whipping their slaves would provide them reverence (Hine, Darlene Clark, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold 16-17).
2. Given the behavior by masters that Douglas describes, how were slaves likely to act around white people? Slaves would rather not be around white people. They would generalize all whites according to how they were treated by their masters (Hine, Darlene Clark, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold 16-17). With the fear of being whipped, slaves would retaliate and the brave would run away.
3. What does Tryphena reveal about the management of slaves? Tryphena revealed shocking accounts of how pregnant slaves were treated, and what measures mothers would go through to protect their babies from a future of slavery (Hine, Darlene Clark, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold 19-21). Tryphena gave her slaves a month to recover after child-birth, yet most did not. There are accounts of pregnant women asked to lie on the ground with their stomachs in a hole whilst being whipped.
4. What does she indicate about the ability of slaves to force concessions from their masters? There are instances where there is a discussion of planter conseccions and a system of reward. However, this was not always the case, and is only part of the story. Masters did not always meet with their concessions (Hine, Darlene Clark, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold 19-21). Masters would greatly influence their perceptions on meeting with their concessions and stating how this would negatively affect the ability of slaves ability and productivity.

Works Cited

Hine, Darlene Clark, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold.  The African-American Odyssey. 4^th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2010. Print

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