The Life of a Slave Child

Paper Summary:

The paper examines "Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the Antebellum South" that looks at the lives of children under the height of Southern slavery and how they were essentially considered economic assets. The paper contends that Schwartz fails to fully explore the emotional attachment slave owners developed toward slave children, and the lengths the slave community would go to in order to safeguard the children. The paper asserts that by expanding on these two key issues, Schwartz could have provided a more holistic overview of what it was like to live as a slave child.

Outline:
Introduction
Schwartz and the Lives of Slave Children
Owners and Slave Children
Slaves as Lobbyists
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the Antebellum South, Marie Jenkins Schwartz offers a look at the typical life of a slave child, from fetal development through early adulthood (Schwartz, 2000). Schwartz uses a variety of tools, such as testimony from former slaves and slave owners, to construct a detailed account of how primarily economic factors influenced how slave children were raised. In the process of developing this argument, Schwartz offers an intriguing glimpse at two lines of inquiry that are not fully developed in her work. By focusing too heavily on the economic nature of the relationship between slave children, their owners, and the slave community, Schwartz fails to appreciate the emotional attachment some owners developed with the children, and the role slave community activism played in the children's upbringing."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Schwartz, Marie Jenkins. 2000. Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the Antebellum South. Cambridge, Mass.: President and Fellows of Harvard College.

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