Neither Black Nor White Slavery And Race

Neither Black Nor White: Slavery And Race Relations In Brazil And The United States. Essay, Research Paper

Neither Black nor White by Carl N Degler (The MacMillan Company, New York: 1971) is a comparative analysis of the developments of slavery, with an emphasis on miscegenation between the United States and Brazil during the Colonial period. This work is an attempt to understand the nature of black and white relations in the United States by seeing such relations in a different national and social context. Mr. Degler’s original aim was to compare all of Latin American slavery to that of the United States, but after realizing the tremendous scope of such a task, chose to limit his analysis to a single Latin American nation. Brazil was selected because it rivaled the United States in size and because slavery played a major role in its history. Mr. Degler originally began exploring this topic with the intention of writing a scholarly essay to be published in a scholarly journal, but soon became fascinated with the topic and decided to turn the essay into a book. Mr. Degler engaged in writing this book with two questions in mind; Did slavery in Brazil differ substantially from that of the United States. And What accounted for the different development of race miscegenation in Brazil and the United States. Initially, Degler ascribed to the theory laid out by previous historians, that Slavery in South America was more humane, because of the sympathy of the Catholic Church towards slavery, and Portuguese Laws, which recognized the human rights of slaves. Believed to be in direct contrast with American slavery, which held that slaves were chattel property and possessed no rights the law was required to recognize. The Historians credited with advancing this position were; Frank Tannenbaum in his book Slave and Citizen: The Negro in the Americas (Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 1946) and Stanley M. Elkins in his book Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (Chicago University Press: 1959). However, after further examination Mr. Degler changes his opinion and within the text of his book Neither Black nor White, presents data that substantiates the claim, that there was little or no difference in the legal definition of slavery between Brazil and the United States. He also argues that Brazilian slavery was physically harsher, thereby less humane, than that of the United States. The author offers six chapters in an effort to support his conclusions. Chronologically outlined the chapters are; The Challenge of the Contrast, Slavery Compared, The Outer Burdens of Color, The Roots of Difference, and A Contrast in the Future.

The purpose of chapter One is two define the contrasts in background between Brazil and the United States. Degler systematically examines several topics including: history, education, literature, visual arts, segregation, and engineering. Within each topic Mr. Degler gives concise examples of how Brazil embraced Negro contributions where American counterparts either suppressed or totally negated the possibility of Negro contribution. By illustrating the differences between the two countries, the author is preparing the reader to explore the question; how did countries with similar systems of slavery develop such different ideologies with regards to the acceptance of Negroes in society.

The Second and lengthiest chapter of Mr. Degler’s book is entitled, Slavery Compared. As the title suggests the author closely compares slavery between the two countries. The basis for his examination is the nineteenth century. The two factors that facilitated the selection of this time period where, that slavery was well established in both countries, and a wealth of evidence existed for making the comparison, during the time period. Under the sub-title, Who Protects the Slave’s Humanity. The author chronicles the fact that there was virtually no difference in the legal definition of a slave between the two countries. This is offered in contrast to one of the traditionalist arguments (Tannenbaum & Elkins), which asserts that Brazilian law did not consider slaves as chattel property like their American counterpart, thereby making Brazilian law more humane. As evidence he cites court records from both Brazil and the United States, which grants slaves dual status, as property and as persons. After acknowledging the superior clarity in which Brazilian law recognizes the human rights of slaves, he focuses on the protection of slaves from unjust treatment by their masters under the law in both countries, which he asserts meant nothing due to the fact that plantation owners operated with virtual anonymity with respects to the treatment of slaves, again in both countries.

The traditional view also holds that the Catholic Church was responsible for making slavery more humane in Brazil by allowing slaves to join congregations, form religious fraternal brotherhoods and recognizing marriages. In refute of this point, Degler argues that like the government of Brazil, the Catholic Church was not in any position to affect a significant number of slaves, citing the fact that many slaves only came into contact with pastors once a year. The author’s opinion seems to be that the differences between Brazil and the United States with regard to the law and religion existed on paper and in doctrine but not in actuality.

Brazil contained a significantly la