[Ads-l] "slave"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I stand corrected.

I was too flabbergasted/dismayed/etc. to choose a more historically precise
term, something I'm pedantically inclined to do at all times.

Google shows that Blake is not alone in his belief.


JL




On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 11:57 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> > On Aug 31, 2016, at 11:02 AM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
> >
> > Sali,
> >
> > Do you consider 1814, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, as
> being during the colonial period of the US?  A very Anglo-philic stance,
> just what the British were still believing then?  :-)  I would say there
> were "enslaved African-Americans" in 1814.
> >
> > Joel
>
> Maybe it depends on whether to be an "X-American" you have to be an
> American citizens.  As late as the Dred Scott decision (1850s?) it was
> clear that legally slaves (or "enslaved persons") were not citizens, and
> thus perhaps on that basis were not (African-)Americans.  On the other
> hand, they would have been considered American slaves, where "American" is
> more of a place name than nationality.  This is all pretty hindsighty, of
> course.
>
> LH
> >
> >
> >      From: Salikoko S. Mufwene <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:51 AM
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "slave"
> >
> > Just a minor correction, JL. From a historical perspective, there were
> > enslaved Africans, not enslaved African Americans during the colonial
> > history of the US or of the 13 English colonies. During that time the
> > class of Americans was very restricted, even some Europeans did not
> > count as Americans.
> >
> > Sali.
> >
> > On 8/31/2016 7:06 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> Former tennis star James Blake has explained to CNN that "The
> Star-Spangled
> >> Banner" is "a song that advocates the killing of slaves."
> >>
> >> The "hireling and slave" in the song, of course, are not enslaved
> >> African-Americans but redcoats, Hessian mercenaries, and cringing
> Tories.
> >>
> >> Proof? Read the lyrics.
> >>
> >> Of course, as D----d T---p has demonstrated, words don't mean much
> anymore.
> >>
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >
> > --
> > **********************************************************
> > Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
> > The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics
> and the College
> > Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
> > Professor, Committee on the Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
> > University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
> > Department of Linguistics
> > 1115 East 58th Street
> > Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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