17th Century
Code Noir – 1685 Louis the XIV – rules of treatment of black slaves in the French Islands of the Caribbean
- There were 49 articles in total.
- FIRST article that preceded all others.
19th Century - abolitionists
William E. Channing
- For ages Jews were thought to have forfeited the rights of men, as much as the African race at the South, and were insulted, spoiled and slain
- The bitter prejudice against the colored race, is as inhuman and unmanly as the old hatred and contempt of Christendom for the Jews.”
(יא) וַיְהִ֣י ׀ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֗ם וַיִּגְדַּ֤ל מֹשֶׁה֙ וַיֵּצֵ֣א אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו וַיַּ֖רְא בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם וַיַּרְא֙ אִ֣ישׁ מִצְרִ֔י מַכֶּ֥ה אִישׁ־עִבְרִ֖י מֵאֶחָֽיו׃ (יב) וַיִּ֤פֶן כֹּה֙ וָכֹ֔ה וַיַּ֖רְא כִּ֣י אֵ֣ין אִ֑ישׁ וַיַּךְ֙ אֶת־הַמִּצְרִ֔י וַֽיִּטְמְנֵ֖הוּ בַּחֽוֹל׃
(11) Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. (12) He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(יב) וַיָּ֥פֶץ הָעָ֖ם בְּכָל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לְקֹשֵׁ֥שׁ קַ֖שׁ לַתֶּֽבֶן׃ (יג) וְהַנֹּגְשִׂ֖ים אָצִ֣ים לֵאמֹ֑ר כַּלּ֤וּ מַעֲשֵׂיכֶם֙ דְּבַר־י֣וֹם בְּיוֹמ֔וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר בִּהְי֥וֹת הַתֶּֽבֶן׃ (יד) וַיֻּכּ֗וּ שֹֽׁטְרֵי֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁר־שָׂ֣מוּ עֲלֵהֶ֔ם נֹגְשֵׂ֥י פַרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר מַדּ֡וּעַ לֹא֩ כִלִּיתֶ֨ם חָקְכֶ֤ם לִלְבֹּן֙ כִּתְמ֣וֹל שִׁלְשֹׁ֔ם גַּם־תְּמ֖וֹל גַּם־הַיּֽוֹם׃
(12) Then the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. (13) And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “You must complete the same work assignment each day as when you had straw.” (14) And the foremen of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten. “Why,” they were asked, “did you not complete the prescribed amount of bricks, either yesterday or today, as you did before?”
Legree’s plan was to turn Uncle Tom into a co-conspirator in the evil of slavery. When Legree declared that Lucy had failed to meet her quota, he instructed and then demanded that Uncle Tom whip her. When he refused, Tom was beaten severely. Uncle Tom’s words would have resonated with the Israelite foremen. “I am willin’ to work night and day, and work while there’s life and breath in me; but this yer thing I can’t feel it right to do; - and, mas’r I never shall do it, - never!” Later he added, “The poor crittur’s sick and feeble; ‘t would be downright cruel, and it’s what I never will do, nor begin to. Mas’r if you mean to kill me, kill me; but, as to my raising my hand agin any one here, I never shall, I’ll die first.
אנקעל טאם'ס קעבין - Jewish Actors Present “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in Yiddish to a Ghetto Audience in Glickman’s Theater: Chicago Tribune Feb. 28, 1903.
(א) וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃ (ב) וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃ (ג) וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃
(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
When he was a year old, they called him beautiful. The little vine was taking deep root in my existence, though its clinging fondness excited a mixture of love and pain. When I was most sorely oppressed, I found solace in his smiles. I loved to watch his infant slumbers; but always there was a dark cloud over my enjoyment. I could never forget that he was as a slave. Sometimes I wished that he might die in infancy. God tried me. My darling became very ill. The bright eyes grew dull, and the little feet and hands were so icy cold that I thought death had already touched them. I had prayed for his death, but never so earnestly as I now prayed for his life; and my prayer was heard. Alas, what mockery it is for a slave mother to try to pray back her dying child to life! Death is better than slavery.
What's in a name? and a Family Unit?
(א) וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ בָּֽאוּ׃
(1) These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household:
(כב) וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשִּׁטִּים (במדבר כה, א), הֲלָכָה, בִּזְכוּת כַּמָּה דְבָרִים נִגְאֲלוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם, שָׁנוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ בִּזְכוּת אַרְבָּעָה דְּבָרִים נִגְאֲלוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם, שֶׁלֹא שִׁנּוּ אֶת שְׁמוֹתָן, שֶׁלֹא שִׁנּוּ אֶת לְשׁוֹנָם, וְלֹא גִלּוּ מִסְטוֹרִין שֶׁלָּהֶם, שֶׁמּשֶׁה אָמַר לָהֶם (שמות ג, כב): וְשָׁאֲלָה אִשָּׁה מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ כְּלֵי כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב, וְהָיָה הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה מֻפְקָד אֶצְלָם שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ וְלֹא גִּלָּה אֶחָד מֵהֶם לַמִּצְרִיִּים, וְלֹא נִפְרְצוּ בַּעֲרָיוֹת, שֶׁכֵּן כְּתִיב (שיר השירים ד, יב): גַּן נָעוּל אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה, אֵלּוּ הַזְּכָרִים, (שיר השירים ד, יב): גַּל נָעוּל מַעְיָן חָתוּם, אֵלּוּ הַבְּתוּלוֹת, תֵּדַע לָךְ שֶׁהֲרֵי אַחַת הָיְתָה וּפִרְסְמָהּ הַכָּתוּב (ויקרא כד, י): וַיֵּצֵא בֶּן אִשָּׁה יִשְׂרְאֵלִית.
(22) “And Israel abode in Shittim…” (Bamidbar 25:1) This is the law. Israel was redeemed from Egypt in the merit of many things. Our Rabbis taught: Israel was redeemed from Egypt in the merit of four things. They did not change their names, they did not change their language, they did not reveal their secrets. Moshe said to them “…and every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that live in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold…” (Shemot 3:22) They kept this command hidden between them for twelve months and not one of them revealed it to the Egyptians. They did not breakdown into forbidden sexual relationships, as it is written “A locked up garden is my sister, my bride…” this refers to the men, “…a locked up spring, a sealed fountain,” (Shir HaShirim 4:12) and this refers to the virgins. You should know this, because there was one who transgressed and the Torah publicized it “Now, the son of an Israelite woman and he was the son of an Egyptian man went out among the children of Israel…” (Vayikra 24:1)
Bible actually says Israelites wore fancy Egyptian clothing when they left Egypt.
(כא) וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔ עֲבָדִ֛ים הָיִ֥ינוּ לְפַרְעֹ֖ה בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וַיּוֹצִיאֵ֧נוּ יְהוָ֛ה מִמִּצְרַ֖יִם בְּיָ֥ד חֲזָקָֽה׃
(21) you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the LORD freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand.
Political Slavery with individual abuse
- Rav - Brutality - no escape - faceless - no Joseph opportunity - earn favor with master
- Maintain cultural identity
- Family structure only under partial attack - assigned to far away work projects - Pharaoh's plan to reduce birth rate
- Slaves had to respond to any name. - Hey .... or You.....
- However, Supreme Court of Louisiana 1827 - "Slaves being men are to be addressed by their proper names."
- Marriage not recognized
- Wife subject to rape
- Constant threat of family breakup - sell husband, wife or children
- Blacks yearned for the privilege of marriage and family - mass weddings after emancipation
- Travel by train across South looking for family - newspaper ads
וַיַּרְא אֶת-עָנְיֵנוּ. זוֹ פְּרִישׁוּת דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, כְּמָה שֶּׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּדַע אֱלֹהִים.
"And He saw our affliction" - this [refers to] the separation from the way of the world,(husband and wife) as it is stated (Exodus 2:25); "And God saw the Children of Israel and God knew."
“Burden him with intolerable loads and at the same time rob him of the family for which he would gladly accept all the difficulties and burdens of life, is a form of misery compared with which all political and social oppression appears unimportant. God alone knows the deep, indescribable pain that this causes, for it is His love that has woven the family bonds, whose delicate threads have here been broken by the brutal savagery of tyranny"
Charles Ball, a Maryland slave, was sold away from his family and sent to Georgia. He recorded his first thoughts: “My heart dies within me. I felt incapable of weeping or speaking.” Later he dreamed of his wife and children “beseeching and imploring my master on their knees not to carry [me] away from them.
(ט) וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֶל־עַמּ֑וֹ הִנֵּ֗ה עַ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל רַ֥ב וְעָצ֖וּם מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ (י) הָ֥בָה נִֽתְחַכְּמָ֖ה ל֑וֹ פֶּן־יִרְבֶּ֗ה וְהָיָ֞ה כִּֽי־תִקְרֶ֤אנָה מִלְחָמָה֙ וְנוֹסַ֤ף גַּם־הוּא֙ עַל־שֹׂ֣נְאֵ֔ינוּ וְנִלְחַם־בָּ֖נוּ וְעָלָ֥ה מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
Fears of Slave Rebellion
(9) And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. (10) Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.”
- American Revolution (20,000 left with British , thousandss fled,but 7,000 North Freedmen fought with Washington)
- Haiti - Sided alternately with Spain or France ==> all whites fled or murdered.
- South - more than 50% of population in deep South. Often hugely outnumbered whites in isolated plantations
- In 1831, one writer cautioned the South that “[t]he slaves are men. They have within them that inextinguishable thirst for freedom, which is born in man. They are already writhing in their shackles. They will, one day, throw them off with vindictive violence.”
-
The number of slaves “was now felt to be so alarmingly great that many people never lay down at night without fears that their throats might be cut in this sleep.”
(יא) וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּ עָלָיו֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מִסִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן עַנֹּת֖וֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם וַיִּ֜בֶן עָרֵ֤י מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ לְפַרְעֹ֔ה אֶת־פִּתֹ֖ם וְאֶת־רַעַמְסֵֽס׃ (יב) וְכַאֲשֶׁר֙ יְעַנּ֣וּ אֹת֔וֹ כֵּ֥ן יִרְבֶּ֖ה וְכֵ֣ן יִפְרֹ֑ץ וַיָּקֻ֕צוּ מִפְּנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (יג) וַיַּעֲבִ֧דוּ מִצְרַ֛יִם אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃ (יד) וַיְמָרְר֨וּ אֶת־חַיֵּיהֶ֜ם בַּעֲבֹדָ֣ה קָשָׁ֗ה בְּחֹ֙מֶר֙ וּבִלְבֵנִ֔ים וּבְכָל־עֲבֹדָ֖ה בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה אֵ֚ת כָּל־עֲבֹ֣דָתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־עָבְד֥וּ בָהֶ֖ם בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃
(11) So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. (12) But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. (13) The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites (14) the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.
Stages of enslavement
11. Labor tax to contribute construction of major public works ==> separate wives and husbands
12. Oppression did not work
13. Egyptian individuals and Israelite individuals
14. making bricks and working the fields
Hirsch - stages
"In Egypt, the cleverly calculated lowering of the rights of the Jews on the score of their being aliens came first, the harshness and cruelty followed by itself.”
be-phorech - ruthlessly
Ancient Egyptian text from the Satire on the Trades paints a picture of the brick maker.
“He is dirtier than vines or pigs from treading under his mud. His clothes are stiff with clay; his leather belt is going to ruin. Entering in the wind, he is miserable…. His arms are destroyed with technical work…. He is simply wretched through and through.”
Fredrick Douglass - working for slave breaker
“If at any one time of my life than another, I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during the first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey. We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot nor too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow too hard, for us to work in the field. Work, work, work, was scarcely more than the order of the day than of the night. The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights, too long for him."
Hirsch notes, “One can even be a slave, have to work hard, but not have annoying spiteful treatment, refined, thought–out spite, to embitter every spark of life.”
Midrash
- Pithom and Ramses the Israelites built were tenuous and fragile, continually collapsing or built on quicksand
- taskmasters reversed the work duties of men and women as part of an elaborate scheme to break the spirit of the Israelites
- Establish strict discipline
- Create sense of personal inferiority
- Slaves should be in awe of master’s enormous power
- Slave should take interest in success of master’s project
- Make the slave feel helpless and perfectly dependent on master.
Feeling like a stranger with few rights - More relevant than slavery
(ט) וְגֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
(9) You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.
(ט) וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֛ה צַעֲקַ֥ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בָּ֣אָה אֵלָ֑י וְגַם־רָאִ֙יתִי֙ אֶת־הַלַּ֔חַץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִצְרַ֖יִם לֹחֲצִ֥ים אֹתָֽם׃
(9) Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
“The degree of justice in a land is measured not so much by the rights accorded the native born inhabitants, to the rich, or people who have at any rate, representatives or connections who look after their interests, but by what justice is meted out to the completely unprotected stranger.”