To Be a Slave

There are two ways to enslave a person: through brute force and through the more subtle methods of brainwashing. Slave owners in America used both methods. Besides leveraging physical abuse and fear, slave owners also tried to convince slaves that they were inferior, and that slavery was in their own “best interests.” Slaves’ personal identities and even their names were erased, replaced by an identity and name tied to the slave owner.

Religion was used as a weapon of brainwashing. Preachers approved by slave owners taught slaves that they were created to be slaves and that God wanted them to work hard and respect their masters. Ironically, Christianity, originally used as a weapon against slaves, was transformed by them. Religion became a “means of resisting the dehumanizing effects of slavery” (55). Enslaved people began to look down on the religion of their masters, shaping their own ideas about heaven and expressing themselves in biblical language.

Black slaves were constantly dehumanized using language. The n-word is a prime example, but the slaves took this word and made it their own (57). The belief in Black inferiority and white superiority was entrenched in American society and articulated by men like