Organization of “Perspectives on Slavery” Article... Help w/ brainstorming for this?

How can I brainstorm for this? What should I be looking for in the historical diary entries.

Im not good at getting started and brainstorming, what would be a good method?



3 different types of slaves .. (Yes I read the excerpt!!)

Rural Slaves - Read an excerpt from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

This excerpt is from Harriet Jacobs' autobiography published following her escape to the North after hiding for seven years in an attic crawl space to prevent her master’s advances.

Plantation Owners - Read an excerpt from The Diary of William Byrd.

William Byrd II was born in Virginia in 1674 and inherited his father’s plantation and slaves. This is an excerpt from a diary he kept between 1709 and 1712.

Abolitionist - Read an excerpt from Journal of Frances Anne Kemble (May 1863). Frances (Fanny) Anne Kemble was a British actress who opposed slavery. While touring the United States, she met and married Pierce Butler, the wealthy owner of over 600 slaves. Fanny’s journal was written about her experiences living in Georgia on his plantation but was not published until 1863, long after their divorce in 1849.



I didn't want to put the actual diary entries in because it would've been to long, %26amp; I read it ... I just need ideas on brainstorming,



organization of “Perspectives on Slavery” Article

Paragraph 1 – Introduction. Explain the value of historical diary entries and what can be learned from them. State a position (thesis) about whether slaves were active or passive in their response to slavery.



Paragraph 2 – Use specific evidence from the Rural Slave diary about the impact of slavery (be sure to specifically refer to the diary and author also). Support or defend your position as to whether slaves were active or passive in response to slavery with relevant information, facts, quotes, or examples from the Rural Slave diaries.



Paragraph 3 – Use specific evidence from the Plantation Owner’s diary about the impact of slavery (be sure to specifically refer to the diary and author also). Support or defend your position as to whether slaves were active or passive in response to slavery with relevant information, facts, quotes, or examples from the Plantation Owner’s diary.



Paragraph 4 – Use specific evidence from the Abolitionist diary about the impact of slavery (be sure to specifically refer to the diary and author also). Support or defend your position as to whether slaves were active or passive in response to slavery with relevant information, facts, quotes, or examples from the Abolitionist’s diary.



Paragraph 5 – Conclusion paragraph. Reemphasize your position or argument (thesis) and summarize what you learned overall from the different historical diaries. End with a strong closing that is interesting and convincing.



Opinions, advice????Organization of “Perspectives on Slavery” Article... Help w/ brainstorming for this?
Well, one opinion I have is that it's interesting your teacher wants you to focus on diary entries rather than court records, fugitive notices and tallies regarding slavery. Maybe he or she is afraid you'll discover that there were many more white slaves than black ones in the American colonies, and that many more whites than blacks died during the trans-atlantic passage. Since whites are supposed to feel guilty and pay reparations in various social programs, it might backfire to let you know that slavery was a global phenomenon, and the only idea regarding slavery that whites had first was to abolish the practice. Naturally, making reference to any of this is a sure way to get you an F in the course, even though a black Princeton professor verified this as fact just last year.



The word "slave" comes from the word "Slav", a group of whites more enslaved throughout history than any other people - The Dictionary. The term "Slav" became the root of the word "slave" in almost every culture, because it was assumed your slave was a Slav. The slave traders were Jews and the primary enslavers were Arabs.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_…





Nell Irvin Painter - professor Emerita at Princeton University, winner of some Edwards award, and author of several books on black history (yep, she's African American) says this about slavery in the American colonies in her book "The History of White People" published just last year - 2010:

"By the middle of the 17th century, when Virginia's slave population numbered 11,000, only some 300 were African. Any of them - African, British, Scottish or Irish - were lucky to outlive their terms of service. Of the 300 children shipped from Britain between 1619 and 1622, only 12 were still alive in 1624." So 2 to 5 years later, 288 had died.



There were 4 white slaves for every black 1 in the American colonies - "White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America" by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh;

"Eighteenth-Century White Slaves: Fugitive Notices; Volume I, Pennsylvania, 1729-1760 (Documentary Reference Collections)" by Daniel Meaders



Half of all indentured servants never lived to see their freedom - "They Were White and They Were Slaves: The Untold History of the Enslavement of Whites in Early America" by Michael A. Hoffman II



And Africans enslaved Europeans first, as well as during, the American enslavement of Africans - "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Early Modern History)" by Robert C. Davis;

"White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives" by Paul Baepler



One huge difference is that white slaves were not allowed to reproduce. White male slaves in the Ottoman Empire were forcibly made eunichs, and many of them died from the forced castration. Even in America, the white slaves who were political prisoners from Ireland (shipped beginning in 1655 by Henry Cromwell), were often worked to death in the sun, called "redshanks", "rednecks", and "redlegs" before they expired from the heat. (The Redlegs of Barbados by Jill Sheppard)