The Slave Community is a book written by historian John W. Blassingame. Published in 1972, it is one of the first historiographies of slavery in the United States to be presented from the perspective of the enslaved. The Slave Community is a revisionist study challenging previous scholarship that suggests African American slaves were docile and submissive "Sambos" who enjoyed the benefits of a paternalistic master-slave relationship on southern plantations. Using psychology, Blassingame analyzes fugitive slave narratives published in the 19th century to conclude that an independent culture developed among the enslaved and that there were a variety of personality types exhibited by slaves other than the Sambo. Although the importance of The Slave Community was recognized by scholars of American slavery, Blassingame's conclusions, methodology, and sources were heavily criticized. Historians critiqued the use of slave narratives that were seen as unreliable and biased. They questioned Blassingame's decision to exclude the more than 2,000 interviews with former slaves conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Historians argued that Blassingame's use of psychological theory proved unhelpful in his interpretation. Blassingame defended his conclusions at a 1976 meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History and in 1979 published a revised and enlarged edition of The Slave Community. Despite criticisms, The Slave Community is a foundational text in the study of the life and culture of slaves in the antebellum South.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1535:

French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence River and reached the Iroquois fortified village Hochelaga on the island now known as Montreal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cartier

1835:

Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales, Texas encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle of Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales

1928:

Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei, a worldwide organization of lay members of the Roman Catholic Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei

1941:

World War II: Nazi German forces began Operation Typhoon, an all-out offensive against Moscow, starting the three-month long Battle of Moscow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow

1967:

Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall

1992:

In response to a prison riot, military police stormed the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, killing at least 100 prisoners. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

heterographic (adj): 1. Misspelled; of or pertaining to an incorrect spelling or a spelling that differs from accepted standards. 2. (linguistics) Of a writing system in which a particular symbol represents more than one possible sound http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heterographic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I am one of you and being one of you

Is being and knowing what I am and know. Yet I am the necessary angel of earth,

Since, in my sight, you see the earth again, Cleared of its stiff and stubborn, man-locked set

And, in my hearing, you hear its tragic drone Rise liquidly in liquid lingerings,

Like watery words awash; like meanings said By repetitions of half-meanings. --Wallace Stevens http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens