> Thought I'd share this little anectdote from yesterday's American Literature class:
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> While discussing William Wells Brown's _Clotel_, the conversation naturally progressed to the American slave trade, and why it thrived for as long as it did, the nature of enslavement, the concept of the social "other", and why it was/is so easy to dehumanize this "other.
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> The professor started on a tangent regarding the Native Americans, and the first settlers' opinion of them. He then posed the question "Why did the settlers not enslave the Native Americans?"
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> Among other ridiculous answers were these two gems:
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> "Because they wouldn't have made good slaves. Indians are thin and weak."
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> and...
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> "Because they wouldn't have worked as hard as other slaves. Indians are lazy."
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> Each of these responses were followed by a look of fright on the professor's face (though surprisingly few students shared his expression). He asked "Where did you learn that?" And they each confidently replied: "In high school."
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> Now, I went to an white, conservative, relatively culturally-insensitive high school, and even *I* was never taught such trash. So now I'm wondering, where is this sort of thing professed?
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> This all, by the way, took place in a so-called upper-level course at a major university.
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> Gr"somewhat frightened"ace

I hate to drop this on you, Grace, but that was taught when I was in school in the 40's and 50's.
We didn't believe it. Tonto and Little Beaver had
already taught us that "Indians" were loyal, intelligent, strong, talented people who were bursting with energy. I rather think they were too strong-willed to be enslaved. By the time the Africans had survived the journey to America, their will had been broken. They were weak and hungry, in a strange country, and they didn't have a tribe of armed relatives living just over the next hill.
Howard