School defends slavery booklet (Critic says text is 'window dressing')

News Observer ^ | Dec 9, 2004 | T. KEUNG HUI

[mac_truck]

Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools are reading a controversial booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures." Leaders at Cary Christian School say they are not condoning slavery by using "Southern Slavery, As It Was," a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't treated as badly as people think.

Principal Larry Stephenson said the school is only exposing students to different ideas, such as how the South justified slavery. He said the booklet is used because it is hard to find writings that are both sympathetic to the South and explore what the Bible says about slavery.

"You can have two different sides, a Northern perspective and a Southern perspective," he said.

'SOUTHERN SLAVERY, AS IT WAS' Here are some excerpts from the booklet:

* "To say the least, it is strange that the thing the Bible condemns (slave-trading) brings very little opprobrium upon the North, yet that which the Bible allows (slave-ownership) has brought down all manner of condemnation upon the South." (page 22)

* "As we have already mentioned, the 'peculiar institution' of slavery was not perfect or sinless, but the reality was a far cry from the horrific descriptions given to us in modern histories." (page 22)

* "Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence." (page 24)

* "Slave life was to them a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care." (page 25)

[mac_truck]

"As a classical Christian school, we think it's important for our students to be able to think and not be slanted to a particular position," Stephenson said. "We want them to think for themselves."

It's hard to argue with that sentiment, and as a private institution the school is not beholden to the government for resources.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

...another hit piece to hassle anything that competes with the NEA-run gummit skewls and their huge sucking sound.

[rdb3]

Defending slavery. 2004.

Beam me up.

[cyborg]

What a crock. Nothing defensible about slavery.

[skutter]

Schools have been hiding the truth about slavery ever since the War Between the States ended. Northerners ran nearly all of the slave trading ships, while a black lady in South Carolina owned the most slaves in the country. Also, approximately 25% of free blacks in the south owned slaves, which is a higher percentage than that of whites.

[Ellesu]

http://www.modbee.com/24hour/opinions/story/1916916p-9868385c.html

[Alouette]

I don't see a problem with teaching both sides of an important historical dispute. That's how you learn critical thinking skills.

Of course I've received a lot of hate mail for including (with disclaimers) the 1861 text The Bible View of Slavery on my website, even though the article is linked to two contemporary, anti-slavery essays.

[cyborg]

Slavery was wrong no matter who was doing it. What is the name of the lady who you say owned most of the slaves in the country? And was she BLACK or was she mostly white as most 'free people of color' were? It's a stupid booklet and I won't defend it just because the schools may not be PC.

[cyborg]

Mutual affection and confidence???? It's one thing to teach both side but another to excuse.

[mhking]

a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't treated as badly as people think.

This is a joke, right (and not a very good one at that)?

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[mac_truck]

I think the school's intent is to expose their students to differing viewpoints/perspectives on the subject of slavery with an eye toward understanding the mindset of mid-ninteenth century southern society. The booklet apparently is used as a counterbalance to the works of Harriet Beecher Stowe and others that are also part of the curiculum.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Now no. Once upon a time when slaves were actually conquered enemies it was actually the humane thing to do as opposed to killing them outright. But that was thousands of years ago.

[saquin]

Do they also have a booklet to explain "the other side" of the holocaust and how Auschwitz was actually more like a holiday camp?

[cyborg]

I'm skeptical in light of the discussions I've had with some followers of Doug Wilson and his ilk. Anyone can go and search out the different sides of a story. I've read similar booklets and it's all about making excuses. They don't want to appear to be giving into the likes of the SPLC (not that I can blame them).

[ladylib]

It was unfortunate that they used this material. At least they are trying to get their students to see all sides of an issue.

[contemplator]

Revisionist historians are also trying to claim the holocaust never happened.

Just becuase you can emphasize or de-emphasize aspects of a situation to suit your purposes and call it showing both sides of the equation doesn't mean you have a moral responsibility to do so.

Using that warped logic we should be extolling the positives of how drugs make you feel good and allow you to escape to a 'happy place' or saying that giving in to peer pressure will make you feel like part of 'the cool club' and that they really arent so bad as a counter-point to the 'Just say no' campaign.

[Larry Lucido]

Here, I'll try to explain it. You see, slavery in the south was more benign that folks realize, and would have gone away within a generation or two or three, Civil War or not. Folks just needed to be more patient.

On the other hand, if the city requires a permit to add a wing to your house, or if a cop writes you a seatbelt ticket, or if the city inspector writes you a citation for the junk car in your front yard, well, those are all outrages tantamount to slavery, and cause to take up arms to overthrow the government now if not yesterday.

Does that make it clearer?

[cyborg]

LOL

[E.Allen]

I don't think they're trying to justify what people did then, but just trying to give the slave owners viewpoint. That not all slaveowners were monsters, some saw themselves as good Christians and did treat their slaves fairly by their standards.

This might explain the not uncommon incidents of slaves hiding and protecting their owners property after the owners had fled and Union troops arrived. This behavior doesn't make any sense from the soon to be freed slaves viewpoint if the owners had treated them pooorly.

It was a strange system that warped peoples decisions and perceptions. The only upside is that this country ended up with a lot of great contributions from citizens that otherwise would have never immigrated here.