Takaki-Chapter 3

Ronald Takaki concludes in chapter three, “The ‘Giddy Multitude’: The Hidden Origins of Slavery,” that planters did not carefully think about the consequences of relying exclusively of Africans as a source of slave labor. He states that this action has caused significant problems for black people as well as American society.

Takaki begins with his example of The Tempest as he did in chapter two. He states that it is possible that some in Europe may have seen the savage Caliban as black due to the fact that there were a few blacks in England at the time. He then states how the common view of black was bad and evil while whites were viewed as good and pure. Africans were even thought to be cannibals. Takaki then goes on to explain slavery in the United States. The information presented is very similar to what we have read in chapter two of Zinn. He discusses how in earlier times much of the labor came from both white indentured servants and blacks. These groups shared a similar social class and saw themselves more as equals. These groups began to join together and rise up against authority. Planters became fearful of whites being involved in uprisings and turned more to black slaves which they could enslave for life. Blacks could be controlled more effectively because they could be denied rights based on the color of their skin. Furthermore, the Virginia elite pitted white laborers against black slaves. Takaki then explains Jefferson’s view on slavery. He felt bad about enslaving Africans but owned 267 slaves at one point anyways. Jefferson believed that blacks were inferior to whites by nature. He wanted to gradually abolish slavery but felt that the blacks must be removed from society because blacks and whites could never live along side one another. Takaki finally concludes that these actions may be to blame for the racist views in our society today.

What consequences does Takaki’s conclusion have on our society today? Takaki’s conclusion has great consequences on our society today. He concludes that the decisions of our forefathers caused the racist views in our society. This is very true. People continue to view blacks as being inferior to whites in our society. This view is what has gone on to cause the problems associated with privilege and oppression as well. Many of the privileges whites get that blacks are denied can be traced back to the institution of slavery.

I was not all too surprised while reading Takaki. I had already learned and been exposed to much of this information during my Early American History course last semester. I learned much about slavery and the proposed solutions to abolish the institution. None however were accepted and it ended up taking the deadliest war in American history to solve the problem.