GVSU Honors Blog!

Joe, you make an interesting point! We often completely forget about the slaves' feelings. You mentioned Manzano, and I think this is an excellent example. He may not have physically suffered as much as slaves on plantations, but the callousness and cruelty of his mistress still scarred him. It is good that we keep that aspect of slavery in mind.

From time to time in this class, the issue of postmodernism has come up, and many tend to view it in a positive light. On the surface, it seems like the ideal worldview. Just today, we discussed the fact that race and gender are considered to be fluid. This would imply that a person can pick his/her race and gender, and can actually pick a different race and gender at a different time. The emphasis is on freedom for the individual. In short, there are no absolutes with postmodernism. Society can function this way for a while...until one person's "truth" and moral standards come at the expense of someone else's basic human rights. This is exactly the problem that Latin American slaves faced. Their owners exploited them, abused them, and neglected them, all in the name of their own personal gain. And postmodernism offered no options to slaves. If abusing other people is part of the slave owner's moral code, then that's just his version of morality; according to ...

Hi Amanda! You have a really nice perspective, having a sibling that is black. It makes the whole issue so much more personal. And you are absolutely right that people of different races are no different in essence. I also agree that we have come incredibly far in racial equality since the days of slavery. Some races are arguably still treated differently than others. As a whole, though, our society is much better now at accepting a person regardless of his or her skin color.

This week, we talked about slaves and how they were treated. Among other things, we read the Byrd article and watched the film Quilombo, both of which painted in graphic detail the horrible experiences of the average slave. I obviously already knew that slaves were the victims of a great deal of brutality, since we learn that in school, but I never really internalized what actually took place on those ships and those plantations. To be packed in a ship with the bare minimum of food, water, and personal space to even survive - humans should never treat fellow humans that way, for any reason. I am thankful that this class helped open my eyes to what really happened to those slaves. It is so easy to sit back and not think about these things, but that is unacceptable. I hope that we can all make extra effort to treat all humans with equal respect.