Slavery and Racism in Toni Morrison’s A Mercy Essay

The study of African American history has grown phenomenally over the last few decades and the debate over the relationship between slavery and racial prejudice has generated tremendous amounts of scholarship. There’s a renewed sense of interest in the academia with a new emphasis on studies and discussions pertaining to complicated relationships slavery as an institution has with racism. It is more so when the potential for recovering additional knowledge seems to be limitless. Even in the fields of cultural and literary studies, there is a huge emphasis upon uncovering aspects of the past that would lead one towards a better understanding of the genesis of certain institutionalized systems. A careful discussion of the history of slavery†¦show more content†¦One could say that scholarly debate over the roots of race is a recent phenomenon even though its background stretches back to early anthropologists and sociologists. Franz Boas in his The Mind of Primitive Man ( 1911) rejects race as a determinant of culture, intelligence, or temperament (5-6). Articulating a concept of â€Å"cultural relativism,† Margaret Mead, in the year 1928, built on Boas’ assertions, articulated the idea that one must judge other cultures by their own criteria and not those of the observer’s community (234). Some anthropologists, by the 1940s, even rejected race and racism. Ashley Montagu offered such an argument in Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942). According to Anderson, the debate on the origin of slavery was a more recent ancestor of the history of race and emphasizes that â€Å"in the past, most scholars had uncritically assumed that both race and slavery had existed from the first contact of white Virginians and unwilling African immigrants. With the latter subjected to reevaluation, it became possible for the former to be questioned as well.† (91) As such, the categories ofShow MoreRelatedRacism By Toni Mor rison Analysis982 Words   |  4 PagesThe noble laureate winning author Toni Morrison comments that â€Å"racism hurts in a very personal way† (Bouson 103). This might be a hint towards the long term generational consequences that racism causes. Having the entire future generation jeopardized by the concept of racism is indeed a pain that will hurt anyone who has love for his/her community. Morrison believes that the lives and relationships of people are affected by racism as she remarks â€Å"Because of it, people do all sorts of things in theirRead MoreEssay on Themes in Song Of Solomon2113 Words   |  9 PagesToni Morrison is one of the most talented and successful African-American authors of our time. 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