“I wept for the future of America, then I made pie.”
…I became painfully aware that my students, as part of the public at large, have been indoctrinated into a culture of “achievement” and “self-help” to the point that that they do not have the language to describe relationships of power or the fight for justice. I’m seeing the students attempt to evaluate abolitionist tactics — the ways that a handful of people attempted to eradicate a system of human property — using a wholly inadequate narrative.
In this narrative, if you work hard enough, if you believe enough in yourself, if you persevere, then you will succeed and have a better life. From students’ introductory assignments — the ones that I have them complete at the beginning of online classes to get an idea of who these faceless names are — this is the narrative that gets them through their lives…
I don’t mind them finding inspiration in the lives of historical figures like Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman because that is their own business; but I doubt that either Douglass or Tubman would see the problems facing slaves or abolitionists as personal weaknesses or a poor work ethic. They both spoke of systems of power. They spoke of injustice that prevented hard-working, determined, persevering people from being anything more than chattel. They intended to end that injustice by attacking the system, slavery. Examining the hows and whys of that is part of the purpose of studying history.
It’s worth reading in full.
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July 21st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Well, Douglass did speak of those systems of power, but his autobio reads very much like those bootstraps narratives. He deliberately obscured details about how he escaped in order to shield the people on the underground railroad. it’s less clear why his wife barely rates a mention. I spent 5 semesters teaching for a professor who used that book expecting students to learn to critique Douglass’ embrace of free labor ideology. that professor never taught any of the discussion secitons.