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Rating: 
Summary: The legacy of northern slavery
Review: In Disowning Slavery, Joanne Pope Melish strongly refutes the myth of a free New England, untainted by slavery and racial disharmony. While slavery did not exist in either quantity or duration on a scale comparable to the South, Melish conclusively shows that it existed in the northern states well into the 19th century, and argues that it was an important component of New England's economic success. Like feminist historians who have argued that women's domestic labor was crucial if men were to be able to engage in economic activity outside the home, Melish shows that as domestic servants and agricultural laborers, slaves performed the drudgework that Yankee entrepreneurs would otherwise have been employed in. Because such urban entrepreneur slaveowners were a small (though influential) percentage of the population, slavery was allowed to gradually die out in New England, most often through judicial interpretation. Gradual emancipation meant that there were few great political battles over ending slavery in the North, allowing New Englanders to erase their memories of its very existence. However, because slavery was allowed to die without the benefit of public debate and legislative control, freedmen's legal and social status was never clearly defined, nor was the means by which former slaves were to be integrated into free society. Whites were able to congratulate themselves on their moral superiority as free societies without having to concern themselves with the welfare of now-emancipated slaves. In turning their backs on the problems of freedmen trying to adjust to their new status, they prevented blacks from becoming full members of their communities. They saw proof of blacks' inability to provide for themselves as an insurmountable racial characteristic even as whites refused to provide economic or legal opportunities that would have allowed former slaves to improve their condition. Over time such self-reinforcing racial attitudes grew into a fully developed philosophy of racism, embellished by exaggerated depictions of black caricatures in the popular culture of the North. Indeed, Melish cites a vast array of cultural documents (popular literature, newspaper editorials, plays, and pop art) to demonstrate New Englanders' racist attitudes. Her narrative also amply demonstrates how the process of gradual emancipation allowed the North to forget that slavery had ever been part of their society, leading to their smug moral superiority. However, neither her evidence nor her reasoning adequately explains why it was necessary for Northerners to adopt racist attitudes. It does not seem that the limited number of freed blacks in the North were a significant economic or social threat to whites; there seem to be no concrete reasons for the development of racist attitudes, especially considering how committed many northern whites were to ending slavery in the South for moral reasons. Melish seems satisfied to accept that people have a natural need to define themselves by creating an "other" as a point of (negative) comparison; her work would be greatly enhanced by exploring the reasons that this might be so.
Rating:
Summary: The legacy of northern slavery
Review: In Disowning Slavery, Joanne Pope Melish strongly refutes the myth of a free New England, untainted by slavery and racial disharmony. While slavery did not exist in either quantity or duration on a scale comparable to the South, Melish conclusively shows that it existed in the northern states well into the 19th century, and argues that it was an important component of New England's economic success. Like feminist historians who have argued that women's domestic labor was crucial if men were to be able to engage in economic activity outside the home, Melish shows that as domestic servants and agricultural laborers, slaves performed the drudgework that Yankee entrepreneurs would otherwise have been employed in. Because such urban entrepreneur slaveowners were a small (though influential) percentage of the population, slavery was allowed to gradually die out in New England, most often through judicial interpretation. Gradual emancipation meant that there were few great political battles over ending slavery in the North, allowing New Englanders to erase their memories of its very existence. However, because slavery was allowed to die without the benefit of public debate and legislative control, freedmen's legal and social status was never clearly defined, nor was the means by which former slaves were to be integrated into free society. Whites were able to congratulate themselves on their moral superiority as free societies without having to concern themselves with the welfare of now-emancipated slaves. In turning their backs on the problems of freedmen trying to adjust to their new status, they prevented blacks from becoming full members of their communities. They saw proof of blacks' inability to provide for themselves as an insurmountable racial characteristic even as whites refused to provide economic or legal opportunities that would have allowed former slaves to improve their condition. Over time such self-reinforcing racial attitudes grew into a fully developed philosophy of racism, embellished by exaggerated depictions of black caricatures in the popular culture of the North. Indeed, Melish cites a vast array of cultural documents (popular literature, newspaper editorials, plays, and pop art) to demonstrate New Englanders' racist attitudes. Her narrative also amply demonstrates how the process of gradual emancipation allowed the North to forget that slavery had ever been part of their society, leading to their smug moral superiority. However, neither her evidence nor her reasoning adequately explains why it was necessary for Northerners to adopt racist attitudes. It does not seem that the limited number of freed blacks in the North were a significant economic or social threat to whites; there seem to be no concrete reasons for the development of racist attitudes, especially considering how committed many northern whites were to ending slavery in the South for moral reasons. Melish seems satisfied to accept that people have a natural need to define themselves by creating an "other" as a point of (negative) comparison; her work would be greatly enhanced by exploring the reasons that this might be so.
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