Fig. 5. “Dark Artillery,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, October 5, 1861
The origin of the N-word is slavery, and it was a label given to the American slave. Racism was used to justify slavery, and racism was identity persecution. The Jane Elliot Experiment[1] clearly describes the destructive effects of racism on identity. Jane Elliot was an elementary teacher in Iowa. The day after Martin Luther King’s assassination, she divided her class into a brown-eyed group and a blued-eyed group, treating each as though they were superior and inferior for a day. The group labeled superior was rewarded by praise for achievements and were given extra privileges such as allowed to sit at the front of the room. The group labeled inferior was blamed for failure and criticized; they had to sit in the back of the room. When the inferior group was allowed to be superior on the following day they showed significantly more compassion to the inferior group. Results revealed that racism effectively destroyed healthy identity and replaced it with low self-esteem. The superior group was program to excel and the inferior group was programed to fail. African American identity was persecuted to the extent that their identity became a derogatory word, which adversely affects the performance of black youth.
Why does the American establishment have such low regard for slaves? The persecution of victims is a right won by victors on the battlefield. American manhood is based on the courage and purpose of victors; those that lacked these traits, such as victims, were not respected. American establishment heritage is Western civilization. The Western theory of slavery can be traced back to Aristotle (382–322 BC). In his book Politics, he said, “Humanity is divided into two: the masters and the slaves; or, if one prefers it, the Greeks and the Barbarians, those who have the right to command; and those who are born to obey.”Slavery was practiced all over the world for centuries. Slaves were captured in war, and when at war, we demonize and vilify our enemy. We want to hate our enemies, not love them, so differences, such as race, have always been emphasized and similarities minimized. It is difficult to destroy or hurt people we like. Racism was used during the years of the slave trade to justify the dehumanization of slaves. It was impossible to implement slavery humanely and maintain its profitability. Mental bondage was essential to bind the minds of the slave so that hands and feet were free to work.
At the heart of the slaves’ apparent inferiority as judged by the American establishment was the perceived inferiority of slaves on the battlefield.
This cartoon was published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated on October 5, 1861. This cartoon reflected the views of the American establishment at the beginning of the Civil War. Northern Civil War officers and soldiers shared this view.
The American establishment propagated its views of slaves through the media. Supporters of slavery used newspapers and magazines to promote the idea that blacks were happy as slaves and uninterested in freedom. This value of not wanting freedom was considered by the establishment to certainly be un-American. The media portrayed black men as cowards with no principles who were unwilling to fight for their freedom. A proslavery newspaper published this article following the Fort Donelson battle, which occurred February 16, 1862. William Wells Brown collected many articles during the war and published them in the first African American Civil War history book, The Negro in the American Rebellion. Brown wrote:
” Proslavery newspaper correspondents from the North, in the Western and Southern departments, still continued to report to their journals that the slaves would not fight if an opportunity was offered to them. Many of these were ridiculously amusing. The following is a sample
“I noticed upon the hurricane-deck, to-day, an elderly negro, with a very philosophical and retrospective cast of’ countenance, squatted upon his bundle, toasting his shins against the chimney, and apparently plunged into a state of profound meditation. Finding by inquiry that he belonged to the North Illinois, one of the most gallantly behaved and heavily-losing regiments at the Fort-Donelson battle, and part of which was aboard, I began to interrogate him upon the subject. His philosophy was so much in the Falstaffian vein that I will give his views in his own words, as near as my memory serves me: –
” ‘ Were you in the fight ? ‘
” ‘ Had a little taste of it, sa.’
” ‘ Stood your ground, did you ? ‘
” ‘ No, sa ; I runs.’
” ‘ Run at the first fire, did you ? ‘
” ‘ Yes, sa. ; and would ha’ run soona had I know’d it
war comin’.’
” ‘ Why, that wasn’t very creditable to your courage.’
” ‘ Dat isn’t in my line, sa ; cookin’s my perfeshun.’
” ‘ Well, but have you no regard for your reputation ? ‘
” ‘ Refutation’s nuffin by the side ob life.’
“‘Do you consider your life worth more than other
people’s ? ‘
” ‘ It’s worth more to me, sa.’
” ‘ Then you must value it very highly.’
” Yes, sa, ‘I does ; more dan all dis wuld ; more dan
a million of dollars, sa : for what would dat be Wuf to a
man wid de bref out of him. Self-perserbashum am de
fust l’bm wid me.’
” ‘ But why should you act upon a different rule from
other men ? ‘
” ‘ Because different men set different values upon dar
lives : mine is not in de market.’
” ‘ But if’ you lost it, you would have the satisfaction
of knowing that you died for your country.’
” ‘ What satisfaction would dat be to me when de
power ob feelin’ was gone ? ‘
” ‘ Then patriotism and honor are nothing to you ? ‘
” Nuffin whatever, sa: I regard dem as among de
vanities ; and den de gobernment don’t know me ; I hab
no rights ; may be sold like old hoss any day, and dat’s
all.’
” ‘If our old soldiers were like you, traitors might
have broken up the Government without resistance.’
“‘Yes, sa; dar would hab been no help for it. I
wouldn’t put my life in de scale ‘ginst any gobernment
dat ever existed; for no gobernment could replace de
loss to me.’
“‘Do you think any of your company would have
missed you if’ you had been killed ? ‘
” ‘ May be not, sa; a dead white man ain’t much to
dese sogors, let lone a dead nigga; but I’d n missed
myself, and dat was de pint wid me.’
” It is safe to say that the dusky corpse of that African
will never darken the field of carnage.”[2]
The black soldier portrayed in this article had a well-developed philosophy that was self-centered. He valued his life more than he valued such things as honor, duty, or self-respect. He had no purpose but to save himself. He ran from a battle, not because he was scared like most soldiers, but because it was the most logical action to take, considering the circumstances. He had “no dog in this fight.” The author claimed that the black soldier was part of a Northern Illinois regiment. Black troops, however, were not mustered into Illinois regiments until 1864, two years after the article was published. These types of characterizations were so commonly used that blacks today easily believe that typical black soldiers were like the one described in the article. Most blacks lived in the South, where black characterizations were common in published literature and black heroism was censored.
Beatings were an inhumane method of controlling slave behavior. Beatings were a reminder to slaves that they were property and had no rights, which significantly degraded slave identity. The following narratives speak for themselves.
“Befo’ I’s a ‘ield hand, dis nigger never gits whupped, ‘cept for dis: Massa use me for huntin’, and use me for de gun rest. When him have de long shot, I bends over and puts de hands on de knees, and Massa puts his gun on my back for to git de good aim. What him kills I runs and fotches, and I carries de game for him.
All dat not so bad, but when Massa shoots de duck in de water and I has to fotch it out, dat give me de worriment. De fust time off he tells me to go in de pond, I’s skeert, powe’ful skeert. I takes off de shirt and pants, but dere I stands. I steps in de water, den back ‘gain, and ‘gain. Massa am gittin’ mad. He say, “Swim in dere and git dat duck. ” I says, “Yes, sar, Massa, ” but I won’t go in dat water till Massa hit me some licks. I couldn’t never git use’ to bein’ de water dog for de ducks.”[3]
John Finnely
“ Nawsuh, he warn’t good to none of us niggers. All de niggers roun’ dar hated to be bought by him, ‘kaze he wuz so mean. When he wuz too tired to whup us, he had de overseer do it, and de overseer wuz meaner dan de massa. But, Mister, de peoples wuz de same as dey is now. Dere wuz good uns and bad uns. I jus’ happened to belong to a bad un. One day, I remembers my brother, January, wut cotched ober seein’ a gal on de next plantation. He had a pass, but de time on it done gib out. Well, suh, when de massa found out dat he wuz a hour late, he got as mad as a hive of bees. So when brother January he come home, de massa took down his long mule skinner and tied him wid a rope to a pine tree. He strip his shirt off and said, “Now, nigger, I’m goin’ to teach you some sense.”
Wid dat, he started layin’ on de lashes. January was a big, fine-lookin’ nigger, de finest I ever seed. He wuz jus’ four years older dan me, an’ when de massa begin a-beatin’ him, January neber said a word. De massa got madder and madder, kaze he could’t make January holler.
“What’s de matter wid you, nigger!” he say. “Don’t it hurt?” January he neber said nothin’, and de massa keep a-beatin’ till little streams of blood started flowin’ down January’s chest, but he neber holler. His lips wuz a-quiverin’, and his body wuz a-shakin’, but his mouf it neber open; and all de while, I sat on my mammy’s and pappy’s steps a-cryin’. De niggers wuz all gathered about, and iome uv ’em couldn’t stand it; dey hadda go inside deir cabins. Atter uhile, January, he couldn’t stand it no longer hisself, and he say in a hoarse, loud whisper, “Massa! Massa! Have mercy on’ dis poor nigger. “[4]
–William Colbert
It was essential that the slave except his fate. The slave was brain washed into believing that his ancestors were wild in Africa and he therefore needs a master to care for him in this new land.
“Ole Missus and young Missus told the little slave children that the stork brought the white babies to their mothers, but that the slave children were all hatched out from buzzards’ eggs. And we believed it was true. “”[5]
–Katie Sutton
‘We hadn’t been brung over an’ made slaves, us an’ us chillun dat cing educated an’ civilized would be naked savages back in Africa, now.”[6]
Tony Cox
[1] Wikipedia, Jane Elliot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott.
[2] Brown, The Negro in the American Rebellion, 127.
[3] John Finnely, Bull Whip Days, p238
[4] William Colbert, Bull Whip Days, p420
[5] Katie Sutton, Bull Whip Days, p39
[6] Tony cox, Bull Whip Days, p50