Slaves and Masters

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the differences in perceptions under the institution of slavery can be startling, to say the least. The way in which the same event is understood alternately by slaves and by their masters is dramatic. It examines three potential events in an imaginative fashion, suggesting different understandings for both slaves and masters. The events examined include marriage, the death of a master and a slave sale.

From the Paper:

"The differences in perceptions under the institution of slavery can be startling, to say the least. The way in which the same event is understood alternately by slaves and by their masters is dramatic. Of course, it would be reductive to imagine that perceptions about events through slavery are monolithic. Individual slaves and individual slave-owners might well have had differing perspectives on the events around them. However, for the sake of this study we can assume that, on average across the whole of the institution in the United States, there were commonly held perceptions that affected the way in which people on both sides of this institution were viewed. This paper will examine three potential events in an imaginative fashion, suggesting different understandings for both slaves and masters. The events examined will include marriage, the death of a master, and a slave sale."

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