Sugar in the Blood (by Andrea Stuart) First Name and Last Name Class Date “Sugar in the Blood” is a book written by Andrea Stuart, female from diverse racial setting. She was born and raised in the Caribbean Island, in particular, the Barbados. Stuart decision of writing this book comes from inspiration from her earliest ancestors while she was sitting in a library located in Barbados Museum. The library appears to be harshly air-conditioned showing the pathetic condition of her ecological niche. Stuart used census records as the primary source of information and data. Despite the limitations of genealogical study present in the library, she builds various ideas from the sources even if it yields the skeleton and not …show more content…
The book expounds more information on race information of the slaves in the land of the Caribbean. It further clarifies on the sexual relationship that existed between the masters who owned the slaves and enslaved women of color in the Caribbean Island. The author gives more light on the sexual assaults against young black girls had to undergo while in the hands of white planters who owned large track on sugar plantation on the Island, unlike the white who lived freely. Though Stuart is girl barely out of childhood age, she sees the glaring proof of affection as well as obligation on her part do something concerning dehumanization of women through sexual assault. Stuart knows pretty well that she can hardly speak of dedication or desire or choice in such unequal situation may be living in a hell of sexual assaults. Despite the unpredicted harsh life conditions, she still managed to develop her deductions to debate the plight on wives of slave planters in the sugar …show more content…
Stuart gave well historical accounts of how the much mixing of people from different cultural background and race conglomerate to form cultural setting currently present in the Caribbean islands. The literature from this novel can be successfully applied in learning institution teach race and ethnic relation courses to assist students in gaining a significant understanding the Barbados inhabitants history. Though the author of the book speaks of the assimilation race in a very compassionate way, she efficaciously demonstrates the how the spectrum of color originated in this Island. According to her, this societal predicament connects to colonialism; the slave trade from Africa to American as well as the oppressive injustices came with the expansion of sugar plantations to meet the booming market demand during the period. The slaves worked under a harsh environmental condition where their masters denied them fundamental rights of human being. The slaves’ men had to do manual labor in the sugar plantation throughout the day and guarding the same at night. They had no rights of getting an education since their masters presumed that doing so will enlighten them. The slaves were denied the fundamental principle of life such as education, the right of having a family. For instance, Stuart was the only black student in the
The chapter covers various cases in which there were lies that were being told by the white women regarding them being raped by the Afro-Americans. The chapter covers the how the white women who had black children were treated in the society, and this is regarding being considered as outcasts, and they were divorced, disgraced, and in other cases, they were cashed from their homes. The third chapter of the book is “the new cry.” This chapter covers the plea of sympathy that was done by the southerners towards the northerners and this is because the whites who had sympathy for the lunching were deemed to have no sympathy for the white women who were victims of rape from the Afro-Americans.
This book overall is effective on establishing how hard it was to begin a life on the island, how plantations developed and how the slaves were treated. The novel describes how hard it was to go to the island of Barbados and start a new life. Andrea Stuart’s ancestor George Ashby arrived from England on a ship to Barbados. She describes the journey as a hard one because
There weren't as many slave’s working in the small farms. The slave’s had to do the same amount of work as the slave’s in plantation, if not then more. In the book it asserts, “You are a slave, not a person”(41). This demonstrates how the owners looked at the slaves. They treated them very badly and acted as if they were any different then
The working conditions were frustrating and stressful. Genders and different cultures were not treated equally and nicely. The living conditions were terrible and in one small little hut made of grass you would have to share it with like forty people. It was very unsanitary and they had to give up living with family and in their own house for three years and little pay.(stated from the article “Plantation Life”)
Slaves had to work hard all day for no money and only to get treated horribly later in the day by the slave owners. In Sugar Changed the World the text illustrates “Cleaning and weeding was done as many as 3 times a day while the cane grew it was some of the worst labor”( by Mac Arison and Marina Budhos on page 38 of Hell). Slavery was brought up to do the dirty
These slaves were required to obey their masters and work the fields all day. The increase in slavery changed the social systems down South; the order now went African American slaves, poor white males, and at the top was wealthy white plantation owners.
Families were separated and were treated as property. There was little food and shelter, and the slaves had to work 16-18 hours a day. Even with diseases, there was zero medical attention. Most died from the horrific treatment.
Although slaves demonstrated some agency through rebellion, slaves were dehumanized through the labor they performed and the ways they were forced to work. Slaves spent most of their time working, and, as former slave Harry McMillan stated in an interview, the conditions under which they were forced to work were horrendous; “Q: ‘How many hours a day did you work?’ A: ‘Under the old secsh times every morning till night- beginning at daylight and continuing till 5 or 6 at night’ Q: ‘But you stopped for your meals?’ A: ‘You have to get you victuals standing at your hoe; you cooked it overnight yourself or else an old woman was assigned to cook for all the hands, and she or your children brought the food to the field.’ ‘Q: You never sat down and
Slaves cut down all stalks of sugar which was one of the hardest jobs on the plantation (Document 8A). Since there was so much work to do on a plantation a 500 acre plantation could have a minimum of 300 slaves working long painful days (Document 6A). Slaves were put through tons of work and since they were slaves they were not paid and the only people that were paid were overseers (Document 7A). Slaves were highly common on plantations and did the hardest and the majority of the jobs
To be specific, she situates the imminent feminist struggle by highlighting the legacy of slavery among black people, and black women in particular. “Black women bore the terrible burden of equality in oppression” (Davis). Due to her race, her writing focuses on what she understood and ideas that are relevant to black females. Conversely, since white men used black women in domestic labor and forcefully rape these individuals. These men used this powerful weapon to remind black women of their female and vulnerability.
The owners only had to feed the slaves enough so that they could work the next day. The living conditions of the slaves were horrendous, they pretty much lived on top of one and another in small quarters that were located in the backyard of the house of the owners. Similar to the treatment of indentured servants, slaves were being harassed and
The novel Through It All by Giselle Mills plot took place in St. Kitts located in the Caribbean region. The issues highlighted in the body of the novel are racism and social class. Racism is the prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Social class is a status hierarchy in which individuals and groups are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige acquired mainly through economic success and the accumulation of wealth. Social class may also refer to any particular level in such a hierarchy.
In A Small Place, the root of Kincaid’s anger is from British colonization in Antigua (her homeland) and the effect it had on the government and society. The postcolonial lens looks at the consequence that external forces have on native people and their land. She loathes the fact that the English used to rule Antigua. Since they destroyed Antiguan government and “left an impoverished society” (Metzger 1165).
Understanding the role the women played in the slave trade and community is important to offer a new dynamic to the study of slave culture in general. Not only were slave women subordinate because of race but they also shared the trials of the oppression of the female gender. Women slaves played a key role in the development of slave communities through the development of African Sexuality, Family Structure and Economic Productivity. It is therefore infinitely important that we must understand the slave trade from a female perspective to understand the development of these slave communities.
At another level, it is a clear narration of how internalized concepts of beauty works in the minds of blacks and they themselves become their oppressors. All through the novel we can find numerous instances where “whiteness” is the measure for beauty. This is evident in all the characters in the novel who degrade themselves for not being fair and lovely like the whites. The novel is narrated through the eyes of a ten-year old girl Claudia McTeer who witnesses white hegemony around her as well as this superiority being unquestioningly accepted by the blacks. Sexism is one