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Mon 9 Apr, 2007 03:05 pm
The other day I was in a huge discussion with my wife, she's a native american, but really down to earth and cool... She's a high school history teacher so I want to impress her!!!
We were discussing the "American Identity", and how it came about. I was saying how much of an impact the King Phillips War had on the development of it. What do you think huh? And for sure I thought the Slave Trade of 1808 did "shape" the American identity. Let me know what you think and some strong points so then I can prove my wife that I'm a little bit smarter than she thinks!!! hahaha.., thanks guys...
Re: The American Identity.., hmmm...
SugarTea wrote:The other day I was in a huge discussion with my wife, she's a native american, but really down to earth and cool... She's a high school history teacher so I want to impress her!!!
Well, at least you're funny. Why not just come out and ask for help with your homework - we always find you out......
littlek, On another thread, someone suggested that people try to be more subtle rather than just asking straight out about a homework question. SugarTea is getting pretty good at it.
Depends on what they're going for - trying to trick us? Making it entertaining to us?
My husbands a Native American too.
But we never talk about King Phillip.
Personally I think because he's still holding on to some baggage about that whole casino thing.
Im cherokee
I would much rather discuss satanic lyrics
I am also Cherokee...and have yet to receive my blankets and bottle of fire water....forked tongue bastards.
King Philip...is that the guy that owns Marlboro?
...he is getting more creative...
Sick, sick and tired of this constant degradation of King Phillip. He never did nothing to me and if he wants to visit Syria I don't mind. In fact, he can build a palace in Dubai for all I care and name it Wonderland. He shot the sheriff but he did not shoot the deputy down. Tofu is best used for window putty and stucco if you don't mind your windows falling out.
well the truth is that i have an assignment on it ! actually a group presentation, and i chose this topic which is super hard!... what the freak does the slave trade hae to do with the shaping of an american identity.. , i can come up with why the king phillips war was so vital, but not the slave trade.. can anyone help...
im not married by the way
Slave trade seems the more obvious one to me. Some aspects:
- Allowed us to prosper financially in a way we wouldn't have been able to without it. Helped us develop the whole "self-made man" idea.
- Obvious implications for African-Americans -- the fact that their ancestors were slaves (for many if not all African-Americans) has major impact even today.
- The multi-racial/ multi-cultural idea, as slaves bore their owners' children and "races" became mixed. (Just finished a book about that idea called "Cane River," a fictionalized account of the authors' own history, as a succession of white men impregnated their increasingly light-skinned slaves, and then after the Civil War one of the light-skinned progeny fell in love with a white man and their children were so light as to be able to "pass" for white.)
- The idea of "races" in the first place, and that "race" is somehow important. (I think but am not sure that really rose to prominence in America when the slave trade started in earnest.)
The language is a bit flowery and this probably isn't the best source, but here's one thing I found that supports that last idea:
Quote:What should be clearly shown in the revamping of American history within the context of slavery is that the invented concept of race was and remains the conduit through which racism has been allowed to flourish and fester: slavery was an economic necessity that provided free labor for over two hundred years. To justify the inhuman and brutal treatment of this human labor pool, the concept of race was invented and it scientifically and religiously ranked whites as superior and blacks as inferior, thus, totally justifying the manner in which slaves were treated. Following the official end of slavery in 1865, the racial protocol of the nation, particularly in the South, had become firmly entrenched in daily patterns of behavior and socio-political interactions. Accordingly, the end result was institutionalized and individualized racism manifested in every major social, economic and political institution in the nation. Our schools, hospitals, employers and neighborhoods all were tainted by the poison of racism that had been spawned by slavery. Even in the beginning years of the twenty-first century, racism remains an ever-present cloud looming over the nation like an intractable albatross.
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/slavery06.htm
does anyone have any other opinions.., especially on the king phillips war? and or the shaping of the american identity, and how the slave trade efffected it
Sorry, Sugar Tea but I already raised my kids, and I didn't do their homework and I really don't see why I should do yours. Part of learning is 'finding out' for yourself. Don't be so lazy and go to it.
Come back and tell us all about it.
you know what.., i was doing some research and I think this wasnt a big factor. Slave trade started when the Americas were already colonized. I don't believe it was a main factor on the creation of global identity in the U.S. or elsewhere because a simple reason: there were many areas in the Americas were there was not plantations. For example, in the U.S. slavery was determinant for identity creation perhaps in the South, but I can't agree it was the same in the North or in the West.
and thanks for the help.., sorry i forgot to state that earlier , i love you
If you really are writing an essay on the shaping of the American identity- I agree that the fact that slavery was probably such an integral part of the economic development of the US and the subsequent issues of race/class/human rights that it engendered have surely played a role in the psyche of the American people.
But I agree that your thoughts that you believe this issue may be secondary and less pervasive an influence than other factors is valid.
I'd think about the characteristics that were common to the first settlers and passed down through familial lines from the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower, all the way down through the waves of immigrants who came to America in the mid to late nineteenth century and subsequent waves of immigration throughout the twentieth century.
I'd think in terms of exploration, liberation, and innovation and try to tie those concepts into what you believe to be some of the pivotal events in American history.
You might find that there is no "typical" American identity or psyche- but then again you may feel that there is- I'd be interested to see what you come up with.
What an interesting topic...I wish my history teacher had given us topics like this to write on.
I think slavery helped us develop as a society because if it werent for that then we wouldnt have been able to grow
The american identity was established as soon as after the king phillips war when the indians were annihailted by the english.., and then the english felt more american than the english in europe.., but how would the slave trade in 1808 shaped the american identity?>???!?~?
Re: The American Identity.., hmmm...
This is what I found quite interesting/funny/bemusing:
SugarTea wrote:The other day I was in a huge discussion with my wife, she's a native american, but really down to earth and cool...
Meaning native americans are not normally down to earth and cool?
lol
native americans are really bronce colored..., so that means they look mad all the time..,like with a a bad temper..lol.. true or false?
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