Documentary access:

The documentary is available through a database the library subscribes to. You may have to sign into your UCF Federated Identity first. You do not have to pay for access. Find the "The Downward Spiral" here.

Introduction:

The documentary series, Slavery and the Making of America looks at the origins of slavery in the North American colonies that would become the United States and how slavery would both change over time and influence the development of the larger society in which the bondage of men and women played an integral part.

We're watching the first episode, "The Downward Spiral," which looks at slavery in the seventeenth century and how it hardened into the lifelong, race-based institution that it would remain through the Civil War. Perhaps surprisingly, in the seventeenth century, the lives of enslaved and free were not so different as they would later become, at least in certain circumstances.

People of different races could be found in both the free and unfree categories. There were free white people, of course, but also a number of free black people. There enslaved people of African descent, but also indentured servants from Europe, who while never legally enslaved were not free either since. They were bound to serve a "master" for a temporary period.

Question:

To what extent were the lives of enslaved Africans different from the lives of European indentured servants in the seventeenth-century North American colonies? That is, was the difference between slavery and indentured servitude significant? Or were both basically the same? 

Post Guidelines:

• Please post a thoughtful response of 200 to 300 words.
• Cite, in an academic style (Chicago, MLA, APA...), your sources.
  • This means, when you refer or use evidence from a source to support your argument, you must say where that information comes from.
  • For help with citation style, I've  posted a citation style reference page.
    • If you do not have a preference, please use the Chicago Manual of Style
• For max points, I recommend the following template:
  • Answer the question and/or state your argument in your opening paragraph.
  • Follow with a few paragraphs of supporting evidence from the prompt's source(s).
  • Sum up your argument with a conclusion paragraph.

Advice:

• The question asks "to what extent..." so be sure to indicate an extent. For example, you might say the lives of Africans and Europeans had nothing in common. Or that they were fundamentally the same. You may have a split opinion. That's fine.

  You can say something like "although indentured servants and enslaved people lived in similarly deprived physical conditions, the difference in their legal status made their lives very different."

  Or, you could say "early in the seventeenth century conditions were so deadly that no one really lived any better than anyone else regardless of race of freedom status, but by the eighteenth century significant racial differences emerged." 

  You get the idea. Specific distinction in time, place, and status can help make your point.

Reminders:

• You have a choice of 2 discussion questions. You participate in only 1 discussion, however, not both.
• The early posting bonus date is 11:59 pm on Sunday, 8/29. You receive half-point (0.5) bonus if you post before that date. There's no penalty for posting after that (well, as long as it's before the unit ends).
• Replies are optional, but you will receive a half-point (0.5) bonus for making a quality reply to another student. Your reply must be in the same discussion topic as your post, so no posting here and replying to someone posting in the other discussion .
• Please make sure to use frequent line breaks.  Otherwise, your post will appear as a big block of text, which is very difficult for me to read. You'll need to start a new paragraph much more often than you would in a tradition paper written in Word.