When I learned about using the term, "enslaved person," it blew my mind because it named the fact that enslavement requires enslavers to keep doing the enslaving. Nobody is born a slave and nobody wants to stay a slave. Enslavers have to keep doing the work of enslaving. The word, "slave," naturalizes the condition that is anything but natural.
Jim Elliott Sir, I do not think you understood this video or my comment. My point is that people are born people and enslavers must actively maintain a system that enslaves people. My point in commenting on this video was to try to support NotYourMommasHistory and to speak up for language that de-naturalizes slavery. My goal was to be anti-racist and dismantle white supremacy. I am here to learn to be better at those things. What brought you to watch this video? Are you now going to change your language?
Jim Elliott Again, what brought you to this video and NotYourMommasHistory? It is clearly an anti-racist channel with the goal of furthering viewers’ education and understanding about race and American history. What brought you here? And after watching the video, are you going to change your language? Is this video the first time you have heard about changing the term “slave” to “enslaved person” and the term “master” to “enslaver”?
@@Risaala no because forcing someone to do something they arent ok with is by definition slavery. Stop being the "white" supremicist. They are enslaved people, but they arent the only ones. Call them what you want or think is kind, but acknowledge slavery or enslaved people, extends beyond this person's ancetory of colored people. There are also just as large or larger groups of white enslaved people nobody gives to cakes for. Slaves or enslaved people are litterally the same thing so long as you know that controlling people is not correct it shouldn't need to be re-adressed.
I grew up in Virginia and went to so many living museums as a kid in the 80s, where we heard about slaves sometimes but not often - "Yeah, they're here, but these folks are good masters so they're happy" nonsense. I noticed that most of the reenactors and historians at Monticello, Mount Vernon, Colonial Williamsburg, and Jamestown this past summer used the term enslaved person and I realized that it did make me see their humanity more easily... which made the whole torture of slavery that much more uncomfortable. Monticello also had an excellent exhibit reckoning Jefferson's misuse of Sally Hemings and bringing more of their descendants to light. I loved the change as a historian.
for me, to say "servant" is showing the person has a choice of their position. "Slave" does tend to dehumanize. I like the idea of using the word "enslaved person". Good call.
This is so helpful. I think it also focuses that slavery was done to them rather than a state of being. And that they are a person who should have been free. it also personifies the fact that someone - a person - did this to them.
Thank you for helping me understand and articulate something I know I've felt awkward about for years. A slave is not a servant. Servants get paid, and hypothetically have the freedom to leave if they wish. An enslaved seamstress is a description that gives more innate dignity to the humanity and skill of the woman, rather than just calling her "a slave who sews". Slaves hardly get to choose any aspect of their own lives. I think a lot of white people (me included at one point) just feel so bad at the guilt of belonging to the bad guys in this narrative that it's a very strong impulse to "pretty it up" as if it weren't so bad, so that WE (and our ancestors) don't have to look so bad. It has been a journey for me to learn how racist I once was, and to work to change my own attitudes, and be humble enough to learn. Thank you so much for helping, and for being so patient! I don't blame the people for whom it is all an exhausting mess they don't want to get involved in. But I'm grateful to anyone who helps me learn how to be a better person. Racism was so common in my childhood, and still persists to this day. Most racists I grew up with still have no idea they are racist at all. Nobody wants to admit they are that, because it's an ugly word. But I say that only by facing the truth can we STOP being ugly and become better. I'm still working on it all the time.
Thank you SO MUCH. This had been an argument between my husband and I. I always felt uncomfortable using “slave” to refer to a person for the very reasons you mentioned (it robbed them of their personhood) , but my husband always felt like NOT calling them a slave felt like a whitewashing of history. I feel “enslaved person” covers both grounds - not ignoring the awful past but still recognizing the inherent, god-given humanity which can’t be stolen - regardless of man’s labels or cruelty
Thank you for this. Language does matter. I study speech-language pathology and have been taught in school to use first person language. I am also someone with a substance use disorder and in recovery; I am intentional when I don’t say drug addict. It’s important for us to give humanity back to people who have been hurt& oppressed. I’m starting to see this come up a lot more now and it makes me happy. Thank you again
Interesting, I also studied Speech Pathology but never learned about speaking/using first person. Thank you so much for sharing. Is there a preferred term other than drug addict we can better use?
As a teacher, this terminology is so helpful. It allows the speaker to restore some dignity to our enslaved ancestors and relieves us of using the word "master" which I've never been comfortable with. A "master" is one who has authority based on their nature (in the case of God) or through extensive study and experience (in the case of a teacher or guru) or through rightful ownership (as in the case of a land or pet owner). Using the same term for someone who is a tyrant in the eyes of natural law has never seemed right to me. It's almost like legitimizing their crimes.
I soooooo appreciate your kind approach to making changes in the way history is recounted, instead of throwing punches. You have my ear all day long. I'm completely willing to learn from you.
I know I’m watching and responding to this video 3 years after it was released, but better late than never, right? First of all, I didn’t know anyone was referring to slaves as servants. That’s just plain wrong - and inexcusable if it’s used by tour guides at a historical site-. That said, I really appreciate learning to use the adjective enslaved rather than the noun slave. - for all the reasons you stated! - Thanks for the help that gives me!!!
This just shows how important language is, I think more and more as we wake up to racism and sexism and people start to speak up, it makes others feel scared or unsure what to say or how to articulate? For example, I’m racist not through choice, but I’ve been conditioned as a white English person to be so, I never met someone who was black until I went to university. Now I want to be an ally and speak up however I get afraid of how to do that what words to use when to stand up and when to allow someone living that truth to speak for themselves? By changing language and educating one another it allows people who don’t want to be what society breeds them to be to be an ally by just the words they use, if that makes sense? So yes if I ever visit America I will try and remember to ask more about specific roles and use this wording because I think people who run these homes may feel embarrassed by the history but it’s so important we don’t allow that to erase truth. Keep speaking up you are an incredible person doing amazing things and I hope you come back to making videos regularly because you are speaking up for those who went before you in these homes, is it called a home there or plantain is that the name of the farm or of the house? Eek my terrible American knowledge from only movies is showing I’ll grab my coat lmao xx
From one ally to another, you're off to a good start. A few books I've read lately to help educate myself about being a better ally: So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, and Between the World & Me by Ta-Nahesi Coates. All of them have excellent audiobooks, too. Happy learning!
Wow..at first I thought "Great way to explain it!" then how you explained it blew my mind. It shows such a respect to the people and to the history. We can respect the history while knowing how horrific parts of it were. Thank you for this!
I admit that so many word changes leave me unimpressed. I don't care if a female running a committee is called a chairman, chairwoman or chair. But wow I find the switch from Slave to enslaved person is profound. It frames the discussion in ways that challanges us all.
THANK YOU. As someone who had enslaved ancestors and I’m also learning about Latin American history in school this phrasing is VERY helpful in speaking respectfully about enslaved peoples. Thank you so much.
This is so important!!! Never thought about this until I heard you saying enslaved persons, I think there’s a huge difference. This is what I’m gonna start using because “slave” isn’t their identity. This shit was done against their will. And like you said, they definitely were NOT servants, that’s just insulting.
Thank you so much for putting this so clearly and for all the work you do to help educate. I work at a living history museum in New Hampshire and portray a member of a family that enslaved two men at different times. We've had a lot of discussions about using servant vs slave, and this video really helps our management's cause in getting everyone, including roleplayers, to say "enslaved servant." I'm so grateful to learn what language to use from someone who has the amount of experience you do.
I am with you on using ajectives to describe enslavement. I am a white teacher and I ask my students to think about what enslavment or enslaved notes about the enslavers. I ask them to try to use this language in the classroom.
Just found your channel and already love it. I have heard people start using Enslaved instead of just slave and it does make a big difference. Great channel!
Young woman, you are so amazing. I love your channel. I have learned so much from you! The change from slave as a noun to enslaved person as an adjective is so very powerful. I try every day to monitor my usage to enslaved person. I am a 69 year old woman who grew up in the military where schools were always integrated. When my dad retired my mind was blown when I went into public schools. I would love to sit down to coffee with you and just talk an afternoon away. Thank you for your channel!
As a Slav, knowing that the term originated from twisting our name to mean something "lowly", it makes me double comfortable to know that the term is at least somewhat being dropped. "Enslaved person" no longer dehumanises black folks that were forced into this, and it also distances itself from its origins, hurting us less in the process.
I meet a lot of people who don't understand how language shape reality and culture. I have never heard 'enslaved person' but it makes so much more sense and really invokes something different than slave.
I think I may be your parent's age. I really like the way you use Enslaved Persons. I think it is much more accurate. I also like the use of Enslaver. I learned this from you. I have been trying to learn more about the real history of our country and you are helpfull.
Hi. I’m a new subscriber and I’m loving your channel and re-enactments. What a valuable history this is. I’m born and raised NY and never thought to use the term enslaved persons until I started watching your videos. I’m old and still learning. We were not raised in a racist household and racism makes me sick. I recently had an incident in my office (background: a child of one of my clients made me a beautiful dried flower bouquet and over the years it’s been falling apart, so I was salvaging some of the sprigs to decorate my office). One of my African American clients came in last week and I noticed her eyes narrow in on one of the art pieces on my wall. I turned to see what she was looking at and said “ohh that’s a Mucha print. Isn’t it pretty?” She sat for a minute and didn’t say much and I looked over at it again. You guessed it. Idiot me, I accented my Mucha print with a sprig of cotton. It was part of that old bouquet as mentioned above. I uncomfortably asked if it was offensive as I removed it from the wall. She confessed that yes, it was a little offensive. I threw it out. I am so upset to think that I’d offended any of my clients. I’m grateful for educators such as yourself. I’m grateful for my African American clients who aren’t afraid to speak up when I’m inadvertently stupid and even more importantly, I’m forgiven. Thank you for your channel. Thank you for being living history. Your channel is amazing. Cheers from Buffalo NY 🦬
I am so happy this came across my feed. I am a white child(16) and I did a Socratic seminar on the book Kindred and when I used the term “slave” to describe a character it felt demeaning. I had seen one of your videos previously and I saw a comment, I believe, that spoke about using “enslaver” instead of “master” and I have adjusted my vocabulary to switch words. Thank you for a great video and lesson! Unfortunately I can’t change my language of my seminar but I’ll be changing out “slave” for enslaved person. :)
Thank you, that was concise and to the point. I had never condsidered the ongoing dehumanization in the use of 'slave'. Enslaved person does re-humanize , and makes it hard to marginalize descendants.
I hadn’t thought of this before, thank you for bringing this up! It makes me think about how free black people who were born into slavery were talked about when I was in school as well. They were kind of considered the gold standard of black historical figures. I don’t think regarding slavery as something you could pull yourself up by the bootstraps and beat is good and it seems damaging to the histories of enslaved people but I wonder what black historians have to say about this narrative.
Thank you so much for this video. I've learned a lot and will change my language to enslaved person instead of those other words. It makes so much sense!
I'm a writer.. and I'm going to start on a book soon, (fiction, based on a true story) about an enslaved woman, living on a plantation in the 1800's. Thank you for this heads up about the proper way to address these people, whom I'm about to write about.. these characters I'm about to create.
thank you for this clarification and why. can i ask a favor? i love your channel but sometimes the music is really loud in relation to your speaking voice so i turn it up to hear you then i wince when the music comes back on. :)
It's so tricky but so important. I've definitely transitioned to saying "enslaved person." I try to say "legally owned" instead of just "owned" to emphasize that this were laws that men just made up, not a phenomenon created by nature. I'd love to hear your opinion on that, especially since adding an extra word can make language feel clunky. I don't tend to say "enslaved servant" because whenever I hear "servant," I think of someone working in a house of their own freewill. They might need money to feed their family and they might even be beaten in particularly bad households, but they can say, "I'm leaving" and walk out the door. Even if that might lead to a hungry night, there is still power in that, which enslaved people were not given.
I’ve been using “slave labor camps” for “plantations.” Because I’ve found “forced labor camp” doesn’t have the same emotional impact/visual punch. Think World War 2 POW slave laborers on the Burma railroad, Korean slave laborers in brothels and coal mines, Stalin’s gulag slave laborers, Hitler’s “concentration camp” slave laborers, and on and on.
Oh. I was wondering in the first video of yours I saw (day in a lady's maid) why not just use slave etc. I totally understand now, thanks for making this video explaining why. Humanity, as soon as you said it I was like "Oh, duh."
While there are documented circumstances in history of people selling themselves into servitude willingly (more or less), this was NOT the case with the captives brought forcibly from Africa and sold as chattel. I feel this specification of enslaved person, therefore, is extremely relevant to the purpose and should become mainstream. Have loved your work since I came to know of you through Abby Cox.
Alternatively if you are writing a dystopian novel say slave instead of enslaved person because is dystopian works its better to give the reader a sense of dehumanizing
I get it and I’m really not going to argue but doesn’t it soften what slavery was a little? Their humanity was stripped of them. That’s the disgusting reality. I haven’t landed on an opinion. I’m new to this concept. I have to process. Definitely would never use “servant.” Although she’s right that a servant can represent a multitude of stations, the first thing that comes to my mind is a hired servant. So free and willing. Miles away from slavery. In any event, I’m glad I found this channel. Just found it today and I’m so impressed!
I know what you mean about not wanting to soften or sanitise what was done but I think saying "enslaved person" actually forces us to remember that they were actively being oppressed. The word slave exists in the abstract, the word enslaved indicates that somebody has done that to them. Every white person who "owned" enslaved people was making an active choice. Even if they were brought up in that system, even if they inherited enslaved people. It was still a choice not to free them. I think using more active language more accurately reflects that.
Ooooh I like this. As a white person, I feel very uncomfortable saying slave outside of a bdsm context. This terminology really respects the humanity of these people.
Tbh this is why I don't like certain translations of the Bible. Some where indentured and some were slaves, just calling everyone "servants" sounds like they could quit. I would love a translation that used enslaved person and properly included context for how the institution of slavery in the Bible worked.
wonder is this is specific to the spoken language. how would this work in Spanish? If I think "slave" I'm fully aware that that is violent unnatural thing. There is no way to say "enslaved" in Spanish, is there? I am out of practice in my mother tongue though. Servant seems vague.
Do you have a sweet term for the word "whipped"? Flogging, maybe?? I am 65 years old and I believe in calling it exactly what it is. I can understand you wanting to soften it up a little. But why?? To make it a little more pleasant?? There was nothing pleasant about slavery. These people that you speak of were SLAVES. They were called slaves by their masters. Nothing has changed. Come on, you can do it. Say it with me....SLAVES. It does not feel good using that term. Just like another term that we are called. Nothing pleasant about it at all. If you are going to reenact, then do it precisely. Make them feel it just like our ancestors felt it. Reenactment at its' finest.
When I learned about using the term, "enslaved person," it blew my mind because it named the fact that enslavement requires enslavers to keep doing the enslaving. Nobody is born a slave and nobody wants to stay a slave. Enslavers have to keep doing the work of enslaving. The word, "slave," naturalizes the condition that is anything but natural.
Jim Elliott Sir, I do not think you understood this video or my comment. My point is that people are born people and enslavers must actively maintain a system that enslaves people. My point in commenting on this video was to try to support NotYourMommasHistory and to speak up for language that de-naturalizes slavery. My goal was to be anti-racist and dismantle white supremacy. I am here to learn to be better at those things. What brought you to watch this video? Are you now going to change your language?
Jim Elliott Again, what brought you to this video and NotYourMommasHistory? It is clearly an anti-racist channel with the goal of furthering viewers’ education and understanding about race and American history. What brought you here? And after watching the video, are you going to change your language? Is this video the first time you have heard about changing the term “slave” to “enslaved person” and the term “master” to “enslaver”?
Larisa Shaterian Jim Elliot has left the chat. Good thing.
@@Risaala no because forcing someone to do something they arent ok with is by definition slavery. Stop being the "white" supremicist. They are enslaved people, but they arent the only ones. Call them what you want or think is kind, but acknowledge slavery or enslaved people, extends beyond this person's ancetory of colored people. There are also just as large or larger groups of white enslaved people nobody gives to cakes for. Slaves or enslaved people are litterally the same thing so long as you know that controlling people is not correct it shouldn't need to be re-adressed.
I grew up in Virginia and went to so many living museums as a kid in the 80s, where we heard about slaves sometimes but not often - "Yeah, they're here, but these folks are good masters so they're happy" nonsense. I noticed that most of the reenactors and historians at Monticello, Mount Vernon, Colonial Williamsburg, and Jamestown this past summer used the term enslaved person and I realized that it did make me see their humanity more easily... which made the whole torture of slavery that much more uncomfortable. Monticello also had an excellent exhibit reckoning Jefferson's misuse of Sally Hemings and bringing more of their descendants to light. I loved the change as a historian.
for me, to say "servant" is showing the person has a choice of their position. "Slave" does tend to dehumanize. I like the idea of using the word "enslaved person". Good call.
This is so helpful. I think it also focuses that slavery was done to them rather than a state of being. And that they are a person who should have been free. it also personifies the fact that someone - a person - did this to them.
Thank you for helping me understand and articulate something I know I've felt awkward about for years. A slave is not a servant. Servants get paid, and hypothetically have the freedom to leave if they wish. An enslaved seamstress is a description that gives more innate dignity to the humanity and skill of the woman, rather than just calling her "a slave who sews". Slaves hardly get to choose any aspect of their own lives. I think a lot of white people (me included at one point) just feel so bad at the guilt of belonging to the bad guys in this narrative that it's a very strong impulse to "pretty it up" as if it weren't so bad, so that WE (and our ancestors) don't have to look so bad. It has been a journey for me to learn how racist I once was, and to work to change my own attitudes, and be humble enough to learn. Thank you so much for helping, and for being so patient! I don't blame the people for whom it is all an exhausting mess they don't want to get involved in. But I'm grateful to anyone who helps me learn how to be a better person. Racism was so common in my childhood, and still persists to this day. Most racists I grew up with still have no idea they are racist at all. Nobody wants to admit they are that, because it's an ugly word. But I say that only by facing the truth can we STOP being ugly and become better. I'm still working on it all the time.
Thank you SO MUCH. This had been an argument between my husband and I. I always felt uncomfortable using “slave” to refer to a person for the very reasons you mentioned (it robbed them of their personhood) , but my husband always felt like NOT calling them a slave felt like a whitewashing of history. I feel “enslaved person” covers both grounds - not ignoring the awful past but still recognizing the inherent, god-given humanity which can’t be stolen - regardless of man’s labels or cruelty
Thank you for this. Language does matter. I study speech-language pathology and have been taught in school to use first person language. I am also someone with a substance use disorder and in recovery; I am intentional when I don’t say drug addict. It’s important for us to give humanity back to people who have been hurt& oppressed. I’m starting to see this come up a lot more now and it makes me happy. Thank you again
Interesting, I also studied Speech Pathology but never learned about speaking/using first person. Thank you so much for sharing. Is there a preferred term other than drug addict we can better use?
I had never thought about it this way when Ive been working in living history or teaching it. Thanks for the correction and why.
As a teacher, this terminology is so helpful. It allows the speaker to restore some dignity to our enslaved ancestors and relieves us of using the word "master" which I've never been comfortable with. A "master" is one who has authority based on their nature (in the case of God) or through extensive study and experience (in the case of a teacher or guru) or through rightful ownership (as in the case of a land or pet owner). Using the same term for someone who is a tyrant in the eyes of natural law has never seemed right to me. It's almost like legitimizing their crimes.
I soooooo appreciate your kind approach to making changes in the way history is recounted, instead of throwing punches. You have my ear all day long.
I'm completely willing to learn from you.
I know I’m watching and responding to this video 3 years after it was released, but better late than never, right?
First of all, I didn’t know anyone was referring to slaves as servants. That’s just plain wrong - and inexcusable if it’s used by tour guides at a historical site-.
That said, I really appreciate learning to use the adjective enslaved rather than the noun slave. - for all the reasons you stated! -
Thanks for the help that gives me!!!
This just shows how important language is, I think more and more as we wake up to racism and sexism and people start to speak up, it makes others feel scared or unsure what to say or how to articulate? For example, I’m racist not through choice, but I’ve been conditioned as a white English person to be so, I never met someone who was black until I went to university. Now I want to be an ally and speak up however I get afraid of how to do that what words to use when to stand up and when to allow someone living that truth to speak for themselves? By changing language and educating one another it allows people who don’t want to be what society breeds them to be to be an ally by just the words they use, if that makes sense? So yes if I ever visit America I will try and remember to ask more about specific roles and use this wording because I think people who run these homes may feel embarrassed by the history but it’s so important we don’t allow that to erase truth. Keep speaking up you are an incredible person doing amazing things and I hope you come back to making videos regularly because you are speaking up for those who went before you in these homes, is it called a home there or plantain is that the name of the farm or of the house? Eek my terrible American knowledge from only movies is showing I’ll grab my coat lmao xx
From one ally to another, you're off to a good start. A few books I've read lately to help educate myself about being a better ally: So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, and Between the World & Me by Ta-Nahesi Coates. All of them have excellent audiobooks, too. Happy learning!
Lynn Shallue oh thank you so much I’m trying to find good books to read thank you so much xx
Wow..at first I thought "Great way to explain it!" then how you explained it blew my mind. It shows such a respect to the people and to the history. We can respect the history while knowing how horrific parts of it were. Thank you for this!
I admit that so many word changes leave me unimpressed. I don't care if a female running a committee is called a chairman, chairwoman or chair. But wow I find the switch from Slave to enslaved person is profound. It frames the discussion in ways that challanges us all.
THANK YOU. As someone who had enslaved ancestors and I’m also learning about Latin American history in school this phrasing is VERY helpful in speaking respectfully about enslaved peoples. Thank you so much.
This is so important!!! Never thought about this until I heard you saying enslaved persons, I think there’s a huge difference. This is what I’m gonna start using because “slave” isn’t their identity. This shit was done against their will. And like you said, they definitely were NOT servants, that’s just insulting.
Thank you so much for putting this so clearly and for all the work you do to help educate. I work at a living history museum in New Hampshire and portray a member of a family that enslaved two men at different times. We've had a lot of discussions about using servant vs slave, and this video really helps our management's cause in getting everyone, including roleplayers, to say "enslaved servant." I'm so grateful to learn what language to use from someone who has the amount of experience you do.
Mind blown. I never thought of it like that. Thank you. Now I will teach my children the right way to speak of this.
I am with you on using ajectives to describe enslavement. I am a white teacher and I ask my students to think about what enslavment or enslaved notes about the enslavers. I ask them to try to use this language in the classroom.
Just found your channel and already love it. I have heard people start using Enslaved instead of just slave and it does make a big difference. Great channel!
Interesting 🧐 I hadn’t even realized all this and it makes total sense. Thanks!
Young woman, you are so amazing. I love your channel. I have learned so much from you! The change from slave as a noun to enslaved person as an adjective is so very powerful. I try every day to monitor my usage to enslaved person. I am a 69 year old woman who grew up in the military where schools were always integrated. When my dad retired my mind was blown when I went into public schools. I would love to sit down to coffee with you and just talk an afternoon away. Thank you for your channel!
As a Slav, knowing that the term originated from twisting our name to mean something "lowly", it makes me double comfortable to know that the term is at least somewhat being dropped. "Enslaved person" no longer dehumanises black folks that were forced into this, and it also distances itself from its origins, hurting us less in the process.
I meet a lot of people who don't understand how language shape reality and culture. I have never heard 'enslaved person' but it makes so much more sense and really invokes something different than slave.
I only found you today and I am just adoring you! New sub!!
I think I may be your parent's age. I really like the way you use Enslaved Persons. I think it is much more accurate. I also like the use of Enslaver. I learned this from you. I have been trying to learn more about the real history of our country and you are helpfull.
Hi. I’m a new subscriber and I’m loving your channel and re-enactments. What a valuable history this is. I’m born and raised NY and never thought to use the term enslaved persons until I started watching your videos. I’m old and still learning. We were not raised in a racist household and racism makes me sick. I recently had an incident in my office (background: a child of one of my clients made me a beautiful dried flower bouquet and over the years it’s been falling apart, so I was salvaging some of the sprigs to decorate my office). One of my African American clients came in last week and I noticed her eyes narrow in on one of the art pieces on my wall. I turned to see what she was looking at and said “ohh that’s a Mucha print. Isn’t it pretty?” She sat for a minute and didn’t say much and I looked over at it again.
You guessed it. Idiot me, I accented my Mucha print with a sprig of cotton. It was part of that old bouquet as mentioned above.
I uncomfortably asked if it was offensive as I removed it from the wall. She confessed that yes, it was a little offensive. I threw it out.
I am so upset to think that I’d offended any of my clients. I’m grateful for educators such as yourself. I’m grateful for my African American clients who aren’t afraid to speak up when I’m inadvertently stupid and even more importantly, I’m forgiven.
Thank you for your channel. Thank you for being living history. Your channel is amazing. Cheers from Buffalo NY 🦬
I am so happy this came across my feed. I am a white child(16) and I did a Socratic seminar on the book Kindred and when I used the term “slave” to describe a character it felt demeaning. I had seen one of your videos previously and I saw a comment, I believe, that spoke about using “enslaver” instead of “master” and I have adjusted my vocabulary to switch words. Thank you for a great video and lesson! Unfortunately I can’t change my language of my seminar but I’ll be changing out “slave” for enslaved person. :)
I am going to try and use enslaved person instead of slave from now on. Thank you for this video.
I really like this as a turtorial. It makes so much sense. Thank you.
Thank for for encouraging people to be clear about the status of the people they are portraying/talking about.
Thank you!!
Thank you, that was concise and to the point. I had never condsidered the ongoing dehumanization in the use of 'slave'. Enslaved person does re-humanize , and makes it hard to marginalize descendants.
I hadn’t thought of this before, thank you for bringing this up! It makes me think about how free black people who were born into slavery were talked about when I was in school as well. They were kind of considered the gold standard of black historical figures. I don’t think regarding slavery as something you could pull yourself up by the bootstraps and beat is good and it seems damaging to the histories of enslaved people but I wonder what black historians have to say about this narrative.
To clarify, I think the white narrative around them is damaging, not that these historical figures aren’t admirable and don’t deserve recognition.
Thank you so much for this video. I've learned a lot and will change my language to enslaved person instead of those other words. It makes so much sense!
Very enlightening.Thank you so much.
That’s a really nice way to put it. Never thought of it that way.
I love your videos! You are so informative! I appreciate all you do!
Really important distinctions!
I'm a writer.. and I'm going to start on a book soon, (fiction, based on a true story) about an enslaved woman, living on a plantation in the 1800's. Thank you for this heads up about the proper way to address these people, whom I'm about to write about.. these characters I'm about to create.
Thank you for this enlightenment!
Really good point. Gonna try to remember that
thank you for this clarification and why. can i ask a favor? i love your channel but sometimes the music is really loud in relation to your speaking voice so i turn it up to hear you then i wince when the music comes back on. :)
It's so tricky but so important. I've definitely transitioned to saying "enslaved person." I try to say "legally owned" instead of just "owned" to emphasize that this were laws that men just made up, not a phenomenon created by nature. I'd love to hear your opinion on that, especially since adding an extra word can make language feel clunky. I don't tend to say "enslaved servant" because whenever I hear "servant," I think of someone working in a house of their own freewill. They might need money to feed their family and they might even be beaten in particularly bad households, but they can say, "I'm leaving" and walk out the door. Even if that might lead to a hungry night, there is still power in that, which enslaved people were not given.
I’ve been using “slave labor camps” for “plantations.” Because I’ve found “forced labor camp” doesn’t have the same emotional impact/visual punch. Think World War 2 POW slave laborers on the Burma railroad, Korean slave laborers in brothels and coal mines, Stalin’s gulag slave laborers, Hitler’s “concentration camp” slave laborers, and on and on.
Thanks for explaining!
Oh. I was wondering in the first video of yours I saw (day in a lady's maid) why not just use slave etc. I totally understand now, thanks for making this video explaining why. Humanity, as soon as you said it I was like "Oh, duh."
Thank you for the video.
Thank-you!
While there are documented circumstances in history of people selling themselves into servitude willingly (more or less), this was NOT the case with the captives brought forcibly from Africa and sold as chattel. I feel this specification of enslaved person, therefore, is extremely relevant to the purpose and should become mainstream. Have loved your work since I came to know of you through Abby Cox.
Alternatively if you are writing a dystopian novel say slave instead of enslaved person because is dystopian works its better to give the reader a sense of dehumanizing
I get it and I’m really not going to argue but doesn’t it soften what slavery was a little? Their humanity was stripped of them. That’s the disgusting reality. I haven’t landed on an opinion. I’m new to this concept. I have to process. Definitely would never use “servant.” Although she’s right that a servant can represent a multitude of stations, the first thing that comes to my mind is a hired servant. So free and willing. Miles away from slavery. In any event, I’m glad I found this channel. Just found it today and I’m so impressed!
I know what you mean about not wanting to soften or sanitise what was done but I think saying "enslaved person" actually forces us to remember that they were actively being oppressed.
The word slave exists in the abstract, the word enslaved indicates that somebody has done that to them.
Every white person who "owned" enslaved people was making an active choice. Even if they were brought up in that system, even if they inherited enslaved people. It was still a choice not to free them.
I think using more active language more accurately reflects that.
i didnt know the difference but i see now
Ooooh I like this. As a white person, I feel very uncomfortable saying slave outside of a bdsm context. This terminology really respects the humanity of these people.
thank you!
Thanks for this!
I like « enslaved person » Yes acknowledging their Humanity!
Having to specify IS historically accurate!
Tbh this is why I don't like certain translations of the Bible. Some where indentured and some were slaves, just calling everyone "servants" sounds like they could quit. I would love a translation that used enslaved person and properly included context for how the institution of slavery in the Bible worked.
Much like the word Savage
You are beyond adorable ❤️ so pretty!!
Seems like semantics to me. A slave is a human being who is compelled, again their will, into the service of another.
wonder is this is specific to the spoken language. how would this work in Spanish? If I think "slave" I'm fully aware that that is violent unnatural thing. There is no way to say "enslaved" in Spanish, is there? I am out of practice in my mother tongue though. Servant seems vague.
Persona esclavizado/a instead of esclavo/a.
Thomas Jefferson used the term Servant to define people he owned and sometimes sold. Nice try, Tom!
*Miranda Wrights*
100 %
Do you have a sweet term for the word "whipped"? Flogging, maybe?? I am 65 years old and I believe in calling it exactly what it is. I can understand you wanting to soften it up a little. But why?? To make it a little more pleasant?? There was nothing pleasant about slavery. These people that you speak of were SLAVES. They were called slaves by their masters. Nothing has changed. Come on, you can do it. Say it with me....SLAVES. It does not feel good using that term. Just like another term that we are called. Nothing pleasant about it at all. If you are going to reenact, then do it precisely. Make them feel it just like our ancestors felt it. Reenactment at its' finest.