Summary Of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery

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My initial response to expert from “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism,” was that I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. Shown just from the title where Baptist clearly states how people continue to lie about slavery. This semester I’m also taking Black Literature and read first hand experiences from slaves recalling the horrors of slavery, from Harriet Jacobs's autobiography to Olaudah Equiano’s slave narrative, all show the depravity and the senseless violence that people can depict on one another just because of their skin color. Each of this shows the brutally honest view about slavery, however our history books don’t reflect this truth. Baptist writes, “America’s first generation of professional historians were justifying the …show more content…
Baptist states, “Many northerners had only supported Benjamin Butler and Abraham Lincoln’s moves against slavery because they hated the arrogance of slaveholders like Charles Mallory. And after 1876, northern allies abandoned southern black voters.” I think this idea has a lot to do with the concept of a white hero or a white savior. Even though the real reason why people actually fought to end slavery was for their own selfish reasons and not for the core concept that all people should be endowed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although in some ways I understand their ignorances because slavery didn’t directly affect the Northerners because they were neither black or a slave, they would never truly understand the subjection of their family and brutality of slavery. I think Baptist sums this concept up when he writes, “But slavery also killed people, in large numbers. From those who survived, it stole everything.” If you were up in the North you were allowed to remain ignorant and in some ways it justified why they could help the cause in such a materialistic and shallow