FNL quiz moved to the 25thTexas at Mid Century: Black TexansIntro / ContextSlave labor brought planters great wealth during the 1840s and 50sSlaves annually picks crops that yielded money for their ownersThe state’s market economy far exceededCornWheatOatsHogsVeggiesIt also at the same time, slavery and cotton harvest, stimulated related sectors in the economyPlanters needed grains, animals, slaughter animals, to run their plantationsBut Texans like their counterparts in the lower south also saw slavery as a means to restrict or devalue people of colorWhites in antebellum Texas viewed themselves as virtuous, compassionate and religiously pious.They viewed slaves in the other extremeAs people inclined to beDirtyEvilBasidious (always thinking about sex)DepravedBeastialAll associated at the time with the color blackThese attitudes of their own superiority reinforced by racist thinking helped slave owners rationalize their need for a system of repressionAlso used it to rationalize poor treatment of blacksIn their eyes, the eyes of many Texans and southerners, slavery even benefited those that they enslavedThey argued that this institution uplifted and civilized blacks from the primitivism of their native African homeland (even though several blacks had been raised in the states, not Africa)Slavery necessarily fueled racism and racism fueled slaveryAs to it’s legality, the state’s constitution of 1845 considered Texas slaves to be personal propertyBoughtSoldSeparated from their familiesthe constitution defined slavery as a perpetual conditionIt forbade blacks from marrying or forming families in the legal sensefrom bearing armsfrom assembling together (no 1st or 2nd amendment freedoms)using the court system in legal cases involving whitesTo control slaves, the law specified the allowance for whipping or flat out beating someone or anyone found guilty for petty crimes such as theft or violating “proper” public behavior (such as insulting a white person)If a slave committed a heinous crime, the law called for the death penaltyWhites used lynching as a way for enforcing real or suspected infractionsBut in truth, whites could kill their black slaves whenever they felt like it.They were seen as livestock.It's their property and they could do whatever they wanted to them.Coping and Identity thru Culture and ChristWhile bondage did involve around exploiting human beings, the peculiar institution was never so totalitarian that it completely denied slaves to establish their own individual and social identitiesAfrican American culture dealt with many of the cruelties of slaveryFrom Christianity, slaves took tenants that all human kind was equal in the eyes of the lord and worthy of God’s redemptionLots of house churches formed at this timeBlack churches were crucial along all African American historyThey met in their homes and discussed how they and their white masters had an equal chance of getting God’s eternal rewardThis lessened the burden that slavery cast on their livesIn death, they would find freedom that had escaped them in lifeJust like anyone else, in slave family structure, they arranged structure just like anyone elseFamily ties were legitimized in slave society in different waysNot necessarily before a clergy, There was a common ritual of having an engaged couple jumping over a broomstick as a wedding ceremonyNot legal marriages, but masters allowed themThe slave familyBlacks were quick to take toPlanters allowed informal marriages and actually encouraged the creation of families, because this lead to reproduction and thus more valuable property for the owner.Moreover, masters encouraged marriage in families because it gave them greater control over the slaves.Instilled a fear in the slaves that something bad might befall the loved one should they disobey.Consequently, it made the slaves behave more, more dutiful and more productive.Familial relationships make people happy and happy people work moreSlave family arrangements,husbands went out to work the fields and supplemented family meals and income by hunting and fishing when the master permitted it (no guns)They could take odd jobs on their free time but only when masters permitted itWivesDomestic servitude in the master’s homesSometimes worked in the fieldsHad to tend to their demanding domestic dutiesRaising their childrenOnly after they had done their assigned workMany slaves didn’t resign themselves to committing to slaverySome didn’t resist at allAccepted the rules of slaverrespected their master’s wishesOthersWorked out personal understandings that gave them self worthMostDisplayed their discontent in several formsThousands ran away from Texas plantationsSome headed south to MexicoSome would go back to the Southern USTo look for loved ones or seek shelter with themMost common form was to sabotage the institution through all kinds of mischiefBroke toolsBurned shedsMaimed or killed the plantations domesticated animalsJust slowing downultimately gave rise to the overseerThe most desperate display of slave discontent was the slave rebellionAlthough no records exist of major slave uprisings, a wave of insurrection hysteria passed over in the 1850s, another incident in the 1860s known as the Texas TroublesSummer of 1860 with a string of mysterious Texas fires taking place mostly in northern Texas (Dallas - Fort Worth area)Lead whites to fear that slaves encouraged from Northern abolitionists were planning a wide-spread rebellionNo documentation to prove that this existedHave found records of 10 white men, Northern abolitionists from the US and more than 30 blacks were executed for their roles in this so called conspiracyHappened during the time before white paranoiaMexican Americans: Texas at Mid CenturyIntro / Context / DemographicsEstimates put their numbers between about 14,000 and about 23,000Since 1836, Tejanos had tried to find some niche in Anglo Texas society and they were alot better about accepting the new social orderBecause of racial prejudice and the Anglos need to maintain them in their social position as a pliable well behaved labor force, these Tejanos experienced constant obstacles in their quest for equality.Harassment and violence such as had occurred in the aftermath of the Texas revolution and the mexican American