Frederick Douglass in his autobiography noted that
slaves were given a week's holiday from the day after Christmas until the
New Year's Day. During this time, masters induced slaves to drink, in fact,
encouraged them to abuse it and frowned upon slaves who preferred to work and
earn a little bit of money, and on those who were preferred to be sober. Masters
placed bets on which slave could drink more than any other and encouraged
rivalry among slaves. Douglass noted that sobriety and useful work were thought
to awaken rebelliousness. On the other hand, masters believed that giving slaves
a false sense of liberty by indulging them to excessively drink would by the end
of the week disgust slaves that they would gladly return to "arms of
slavery".
Padma Manian
San Jose City College, San Jose, CA
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 9:39
AM
Subject: Re: liquor as white
privilege
For what it is worth, I am of the impression that during the
period of American Slavery in the deep south, the slaves were not "permitted"
or at least given alcohol because the slave masters worried about their
behavior when intoxicated. I seem to remember there were exceptions to this on
the plantations but for the most part it was generally desirable to keep
alcohol away from them.
This would certainly lend to a sense of "whiteness"
and privilege in Antebellum Southern American White Culture. I cannot speak to
the Canadian culture...
As for sources, I am on the road and do not
have access to sources...
Regards,
Steve
Powell
Odessa Pictures, Inc.
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On May
28, 2006, at 12:48 PM, Robert Campbell wrote:
Hello,
A colleague of mine has asked about secondary
literature on liquor as a white privilege, particularly in the Canadian
context. My work certainly has assumed that privilege, but it does not
discuss how access to alcohol can be part of the process of creating
"whiteness."
Regards,
Robert Campbell
Robert A. Campbell,
Ph.D.
Department of History
Capilano College
2055 Purcell
Way
North Vancouver, BC
Canada V7J 3H5
604.986.1911 x2477
FAX
604.990.7838
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