Blog Post for the Week of November 4

 This week, I found our discussion of slavery on plantations to be interesting. Specifically, I found the peasant breach to be a fascinating concept. The idea that some slaves could work to gain a little money and buy their freedom was new to me. I found it interesting, though, that the plantation owner or manager could keep the slave from buying his or her freedom. This makes sense, though, because when push came to shove the slaves still were not in a position of power. However, to me it seems to put the slaves between a rock and a hard place. If they didn't work very hard, they wouldn't be given free time and most likely would not have the opportunity to work their own land, keeping them from buying their freedom. They also could face punishments. But if they worked too hard, they would be given some land to use and could earn money towards their freedom, but in the end they wouldn't be able to because they were too valuable of a worker. So if a slaves worked too hard, it also would come back to bite them as they wouldn't be allowed by their master to buy their freedom. To me, this was interesting, as it seems even in a slight breach in the system where slaves could possibly work their way out of slavery, they were still put in a bind, as they had to find the "happy medium" of work, which probably wasn't up to them anyway.

Comments

  1. Lexie HartnagleNovember 5, 2021 at 9:24 AM

    Hello Joe, I also thought that the peasant breach was a really interesting topic to learn about. Now that you mention that the plantation owner or manager could reject a slave's request for their freedom after they have the money needed it makes it seem more like another way to break the hope that the slaves may gain over the years. It is nice to think that they had a chance to buy their freedom and finally be rid of the system that trapped them, but to think that after years of working hard and hoping to finally be free for it to be denied is awful. The peasant breach seems like just another way to control the slaves.

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  2. Médar SerrataNovember 9, 2021 at 6:59 PM

    Thank you, Joe, for your comment. What you say about slaves being put "between a rock and a hard place" is very interesting. It is true that if a slave worked hard the master would not want to sell them, but a disgruntled slave would not be good for the master either. So, a slave had some power too.

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