IB HOA ~ Unit 1 Day 2 What is Historiography? Ms. Phillips via Kristina DuRocher Wilson Objective: SWBAT… 1.define historiography. 2.describe the scholarly changes in slavery historiography. Agenda: Review ? → Turner Thesis? Critiques of the Turner Thesis? discuss handouts discuss The West handout HW schedule: next class Lecture: on historiography & the historiography of slavery – w/ handout receive graded papers

If the following people had to describe you as a person, would they all say the same thing…? – parents – classmates whom you don’t know well – coaches – 2 nd grade teacher – last year’s science teacher – Friends – colleagues – boss No is correct. This is why academic historians NEVER rely solely on one source when they write a research paper, journal article, or book – and also why the EE requires approximately 15 sources (and why students should not rely on 1-2 sources too much).

What is historiography? (…“hiss – store – ee – og – ruh – fee”) 1) The interpretations and perspectives that historians use as they analyze history. Historiography addresses: “How does the source (novel, book, film, theatre, comic, political cartoon, newspaper, etc.) through which historical information is conveyed influence its meaning?” 2) The lenses through which history is viewed are varied and can include – but are not limited to: – bottom-up history vs. top-down history – race, class, sex, ethnicity – (SPICE) Social, Political, Interactive (cooperation & conflict – e.g. diplomatic and military history), Cultural, & Economic

Historians (that’s you!) often discuss historiography topically – e.g. Through different lenses (SPICE) … the historiography of Catholicism or the historiography of the West. Today, we will discuss the historiography of slavery….

The first historians of slavery analyzed the economic strand of slavery by asking... Was slavery profitable? – And if it wasn’t, why did it persist for so long? – Also, why fight a war over it?

In 1908, U.B. Phillips published American Negro Slavery: Survey of the Supply, Employment, and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime Phillips’ Thesis: slavery was an unprofitable system for slave owners, but was good because it civilized slaves (yikes!) – slavery was maintained for racial and cultural reasons, not economic self- interest (i.e. profit). – P. portrayed slavery as a benign, “civilizing” institution and plantations as benevolent communities. – Stated slaves were passive by nature and did not abhor slavery. Ulrich Bonnell Phillips

A Societal Shift that changed the historiography of slavery: The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) affected historians’ views on slavery.

In 1956, Kenneth Stampp published The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Antebellum South Kenneth Stampp’s thesis - which countered Phillips’ thesis - was: slavery was NOT beneficial to slaves, but rather, highly exploitative (economically & physically). – Whereas Phillips had seen slavery as mild but economically inefficient, Stampp saw it as harsh but profitable, and he saw slaves as victims.

Soon after Stampp, Stanley Elkins published Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (1959) Elkins’ thesis: He also argued that slavery was exploitative, but also, he was the first historian to analyze the psychological impact of slavery, rather than the economic or physical. – Elkins compared the brutal experiences of Holocaust Jews with that of slaves, arguing that slaves were victimized – but mostly in a psychological way.

Elkins argued slavery had infantilized slaves, making them Sambos (i.e. derogatory term for submissive slaves)- reduced by brutality to a dependent, child-like status – without the ability to create and/or sustain any culture of their own. Elkins caused a generation of slavery scholars to respond/disagree…. …by examining the many roles slaves played in creating their own distinct culture from whites.

Eugene Genovese’s Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1976). Genovese: – focused on the negotiated relationships between masters and slaves (reciprocity) G’s thesis: Masters and slaves shaped each other (and cannot be discussed or analyzed in isolation). – Slaves created a distinct culture for themselves (e.g. social traditions, religious customs, etc.), & it’s insulting merely to treat slaves as victims….Genovese gave slaves agency. – Interestingly, although he viewed slavery via a Marxist lens…i.e. that the bourgeoisie (slave owners) profited from the proletariat (slaves)…that a few benefited off the labor of the many, he included lots of agency in his work. To G., slaves were not just victims. Genovese

11. What is agency ? This term used among historians OFTEN. power, action In the subject of history? … ↓ assertiveness; fighting back (in whatever form) – Note: Throughout history, most groups of people have employed some sort of agency, but historians have not necessarily written about all of it.

By the 1980s, women’s history had gained recognition and influence, and scholars began to examine the female slave experience. Deborah Gray White’s, Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South, published in White researched social history through a gender-based lens. White’s Thesis: slavery was different for enslaved women than men – slave women had their own, unique experiences. Deborah Gray White

Cultural history (e.g. identity formation – i.e. how people learn who they are): – Michael Gomez in Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South (1998), considers slave identity from the individual perspective of African Americans. – Gomez’s Thesis: Even though enslaved Africans brought their ethnic identities with them to the Americas, eventually, this merged with white culture. Thus, Africans ultimately lost all of their (African) cultural identity as slaves b/c what they did preserve was ultimately blended with white culture. Michael Gomez

In his most recent book Many Thousands Gone (2000), Ira Berlin examined slavery through a geographic lens, focusing on time and space.... – Berlin’s Thesis: Slavery and slave culture evolved differently in three chronological and distinct eras in four geographical regions of the US – so different in southern colonies than northern colonies (circa 1600s). Ira Berlin

Societal changes affect how historians view the past. – e.g. It is no coincidence that women’s history (or the study of history through a gender- based lens) emerged during the 1960s/70s – i.e. during the Women’s Rights’ Movement. As each generation of scholars learns more and creates new arguments based on their research, new historical perspectives emerge. Again, historiography = The methods of techniques, theories, and principles of historical research and presentation, leading to varied interpretations and perspectives. – Historiography is the history of history….

So what is it that historians do? (That’s you.) They find unique angles to examine, research, and/or analyze. – As you are choosing research topics over the next two years in IB, ask yourself how you can apply a unique analysis to your topic…. Analysis = you must ARGUE, not report.