[Ads-l] Fw: [ADS-L] Enslavement of Native Americans [was: wench

[James A. Landau]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016 01:07:38 +0200 Z Rice <zrice3714 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

<begin quote>
"The Blacks" and Amerindians were enslaved in the United States. Our
ancestors were not simply "servants". They were enslaved. Using the term
'servant' smacks of the revisionist use of "workers" and "immigrants" to
refer to the same African population. Call it what it was.
<end quote>

Both Joel Berson and I explicitly used the word "slave".  "servant" was used to specify the duties to which these SLAVES were assigned.  
We both did, as you say, "call it what it was".

If you forbid the use of "servant" in describing slaves, then you make it impossible to discuss slavery.

You also forget the origin of this thread, which was to discuss the then meaning of "wench"---did it imply SLAVE woman?

You seem to consider the word "revisionist" to be pejorative.  But consider:
At one time (early 20th Century iirc) there was a school of historians who held that slaves in the Southern United States were happy to be slaves.  Then along came revisionists, such as John Hope Franklin, who not only rebutted but refuted this idea.  I am sure that you agree with these particular revisionists.

- Jim Landau

PS: Did you note the "+0200"  in the mail header quoted at the top of this message?  We have an African-American, Benjamin Banneker, to thank for this.



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