34 pages • 1-hour read
The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South
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Index of Terms
Juba
Juba was a type of music that enslaved people performed by clapping their hands. Observers noted the “high degree of rhythmic complexity” in the clapping (125).
Mammy
“Mammy” was the traditional term for an enslaved female whose primary duty was to care for and raise white children on a plantation estate. In John W. Blassingame’s words, “It was the black mammy who often ran the household [...] and in general served as [a child’s] second, more attentive, more loving mother.” He argues that the mammy had a tremendous influence on the development of the white children in her care (266-68).
Maroon
Maroon communities mainly comprised escaped enslaved people and sometimes Native Americans and poor whites. Since these were outlaw communities, they often survived by looting plantations and robbing white people. They established themselves in less accessible locations, such as mountains and swamps (208-10).
Sambo
The “Sambo” was one of the most stereotypical images of the enslaved person. He was a “submissive half-man, half-child” (xi), a “slave who allegedly viewed his master as his father and identified with his interest” (203). On the other hand, the Sambo stereotype was sometimes thought to be sly and capable of faking his loyalty and becoming a fugitive (203-204).
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