Response to Crafts' Slave Narrative & Disability (Spring 2022) by Professor Diana Paulin https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev Choose a Disability Studies terms or concepts, and apply it/connect it to a scene from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (such as, intersectionality, crip, impairment, disability, able-bodied, etc.). Explain why (150-200 words) en-us 2022-02-10 18:36:43 UTC 2022-02-23 19:13:47 UTC hello@padlet.com ZoeAbrams https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2047022021 In the reading “Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom” a term that was used that was also used in class was the word “crip.” In the reading, the word crip was used to describe the master of the main character. When the term was used, it was used quite casually, and nobody seemed taken by its use. I believe that this term was actually quite commonly used in earlier time periods. Especially with this book being told from the 1800’s era I don’t think they recognized the offense that comes with this word and why it isn’t ok to describe someone as this. Although the word “Crip” was used, in the text, to describe a white man, it still places emphasis on how even those who were white and seen to hold power, and even own slave, can still be seen as a minority because of their ability or the lack thereof.]]> 2022-02-14 19:09:45 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2047022021 Response to Craft's Slave Narrative isabelleduval https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048008920 In the scene where Master Johnson (Ellen Craft) talks to the new religious convert (referred to as the lady), William Craft reveals how enslavement and disability intersect. The lady sells her disabled slave to a different plantation in New Orleans, a warmer climate than Virginia, in “hopes” that her slave improves in health. I put “hopes” in quotes because the lady’s language displays her implicit biases of disabled bondsmen, that they are invaluable if their impairment makes them unable to produce a product. The lady says, “she was as good and as faithful a nigger as any one need wish you have. But, poor thing! she became so ill, that she was unable to do much work; so I thought it be best to sell her…”(40). The enslaved woman’s impairment was not a problem for the lady until her impairment stopped her from working. The lady lost money from her failed investment in the disabled enslaved woman and the things the woman produced. Instead of granting the woman freedom, the lady sells the enslaved woman to recoup her losses. Her sale happens under the idea that her disability will not impair her to work somewhere else. This intersection of disability and slavery shows how disabilities are not perceived as a problem until it affects the means of production. 

]]> 2022-02-15 07:52:27 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048008920 professordianapaulin https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048577760

One vocabulary word that continuously ran through my mind while reading the book Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom is intersectionality. As a class, we discussed the definition of intersectionality as the acknowledgment of each individuals’ differences that may cause them feelings of marginalization or discriminating such as class, race, gender, etc. throughout this book not only is there any emphasis on the discrimination against the slaves but more so the female slaves. This double discrimination for being both female and a slave was shown in the scene where they were discussing the laws in the south. In this scene, the author writes, “any man with money (let him be ever such a rough brute), can buy a beautiful and virtuous girl, and force her to live with him in a criminal connection: and the law states a slave shall have no higher appeal than the mere will of the master, she cannot escape unless it is by flight or death” (Page 9). What this shows is the fact that not only are the female slaves marginalized for their skin color, but the female slaves are even more so because of their biological sex. In sum, throughout this book, there are many instances in which the intersectionality of the female slaves greatly contributes to their further marginalization.
]]> 2022-02-15 13:44:35 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048577760 Responce to Craft's Slave Narrative halliebachman https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048795626 In "Running A Thousand Miles For Freedom" a term that I connected to a few different scenes in the book, but particularly one was disability. We defined disability in part as "a social reality. How others perceive you and thus shape the world around you." This definition stuck out to me in middle of the novel, when William is talking about a conversation between his master and a lady. The lady says that letting her slaves free would be "undecidedly unkind to the servants themselves. It always seems to me such a cruel thing to turn n-words loose to shift for themselves, when there are so many good masters to take care of them" (33-34). This reminds me of the term disability because it is a socially constructed belief that slaves are not able to take care of themselves, much like it is socially constructed that people with disabilities are able to do less/function as less of a person in society. These socially constructed phenomena are similar because they put a social belief that certain parties (like able bodies and disabled bodies, and black and white people) are not able to survive without the other taking care of them.]]> 2022-02-15 15:12:20 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2048795626 Response to Slave Craft's Narrative mercyu https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2051391250 The part where it occurs to William that his wife could pass as a white slave owner reflected the social construction of race (and even gender). It's interesting how intersectionality has taught us that the black woman will experience discrimination for multiple parts of her identity. In this story however, the black woman completely changes the trajectory of her life. She achieves the highest level of social status–a slaveowner. The oppressed becoming the oppressor. It just made me think about how it's never truly about who you are, but who society sees you as. This concept reminded me on the class conversations we've had about disability studies. Disability is very much defined by society rather than by those it categorizes. My mind also thought- When we have the agency to present ourselves in any way we want, where are the lines drawn? In this case of this book, passing was a matter of survival. What type of psychic effect does this have on an individual? A life of less discrimination is obviously better, but there may be a loss of self.]]> 2022-02-16 17:14:04 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2051391250 Before taking this class I would only have picked up on race, gender and class to be the main themes throughout this book, but now I would add disability to these main themes. Before taking this class, I would not have seen that Ellen’s addition of disability ( bandages and poultice) was a key component used as a form of crafty deception. It was also really interesting to see how much her way of life changed after being seen as a white woman. henrybilicic https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2053500202 2022-02-17 15:51:42 UTC https://padlet.com/professordianapaulin/mn44t7ie4ur1i6ev/wish/2053500202