BlackHistory101Class#2 Black Enslavement Why Native Americans Failed

Black History 101 Textbook: Ten Lessons: An Introduction to Black History.

Instructor: Mba Mbulu

Class #2

Read Lesson #2. The Outline to Lesson #2 appears below. Be able to expound on the following issues:

(1) Why native Americans ("Indians") failed to successfully defend their land and their way of life

(2) Why Black People were enslaved.

(3) Why human nature is a relevant historical factor.

(4) The roles sex, fear, religion and personal allegiances have played in the evolution of human history.

(5) The following quote is on page 45. Give some in depth thought to it.

"Thus, a cruel attitude bolstered by explosive power is what the Indians were up against. A People who loved to kill and destroy life so much that they had to invent weapons that would help them do it is what the Indians were up against. A people who placed no large amount of value on ideas like love, peace, humanity and human rights, etc., is what the Indians were up against. A people who had a relatively warped psyche is what the Indians were up against. They were up against this attitude, this explosive power, this warped psyche and a person carrying all three of them. Partly because they did not recognize what a driving force each of these factors was, the Indians were overrun by all of them."

Questions? Email aset@asetbooks.com and list your course title as the subject.

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LESSON 2 OUTLINE (From Ten Lessons: An Introduction to Black History)

I. Tidbits

A. Human Nature

(People do things for very practical or personal reasons; "noble" acts are few and far between.)

1. Fear (An emotion spurred by the natural desire to avoid pain and keep threats to your personal welfare and well-being from harming you.)

2. Sex (The natural attraction of men to women and women to men that causes events to develop in the political arena that probably would not have developed otherwise.)

3. Personal Allegiance (The tendency to act in a manner that evidences concern for only a small number of persons; e.g., an individual, his or her family, etc.)

B. Religion

(Religions are Ethnically and/or Racially-Centric)

1. Religious Wars

2. Amenhotep IV

II. White Peoples' Attacks on Other Peoples.

(No other race of people in the world has treated human beings as viciously and inhumanely as the white race has.)

III. Why the American Indians Failed to Successfully Defend Themselves Against White People.

A. Human Nature (As evidenced by their social and political, including "military", institutions and practices)

1. Started resisting too late

2. Were disunited and uncommitted (a.) preferred to "get away"

3. No real leadership (in the European/white sense of the word)

4. No organized or concerted plan of action (either military or otherwise)

5. Inadequate knowledge of who the enemy was

a. they made it possible for white people to survive

b. they made military alliances with white people

6. Inadequate knowledge of what the enemy was

a. the enemy was machines/technology

b. the enemy was a product of cruel environmental conditions

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IV. Why Black People Were Enslaved

A. Rationalizations (A rationalization is a "made-up" reason.)

1. We (Black People) were savages 2. We needed to be Christianized/civilized

B. Reasons

1. Human Nature

(a.) We could not defend Ourselves adequately

2. White people recognized that We were accustomed to the settled, civilized, agricultural way-of-life that they wanted to establish in the new world. It was therefore to the whites' advantage to enslave Us because:

(a.) We were able to do the work that would be needed to build the type of country white people wanted to build

(b.) We had the skills needed to build the type of country white people desired

(c.) We were a humane people; therefore the whites concluded that We were not likely to rebel viciously against them for enslaving

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