[lit-ideas] The Yorkshire Terrier (Was: Wilberforce)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:30:02 EDT
Judy:
>or you could see the movie...
_http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/187136/Enslavement-The-True-Story-of-Fanny-Ke
mble/overview_
(http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/187136/Enslavement-The-True-Story-of-Fanny-Kemble/overview)
Mmm. Interesting. I should revise dates. One 'movie' I did see recently is
the rather boring "Amazing Grace" about this Wilberforce ("A Yorkshire terrier"
as he is described in the film). Very little about what I was expecting to
see but as my friend told me, "What you expected to see has been seen zillions
of times in things like "Roots").
So, if Kemble was London-born, and there was no _slavery_ in London then, I
would think her anti-abolitionist attitudes could have originated from the
British (or English) background. "Amazing Grace" depicts the Brits of the 19th
century as pretty confident that slavery was (_contra_ Aristotle, or _pace_
Aristotle) a big abomination. Weren't they always airing _that_ as their main
criticisms to what they thought was "American" backward views on slavery?
For what it was worth (a lot) In Argentina, slavery, was officially
abolished in 1913. I know because that is one of the key questions in any
history
quizz of Argentina worth its name.
Borges has some recollections of 'slave-families' in Buenos Aires. He would
remember that former slave families had (as in the USA) adopted the 'family
name' of their holders. This, to patrician Borges, was a bit of a puzzle,
because it would mean that a 'family surname' would _not_ necessarily indicate
'the breed' or 'nobility'.
Since there are no lead mines in Buenos Aires (or cotton fields) I believe
the slaves's main job was to bathe themselves (and the laundry) in the (rather
dirty then, I believe) waters of the warm River Plate.
Only one historian I know, of Yale, has attempted the connection between the
TANGO and Buenos Aires slavery.
The book is called:
"Tango: The Art History of Love"
by R. Thompson, New York: Pantheon
which relies, inter alia, on:
"The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800-1900", by G. Andrews.
Along with Spanish-speaking titles:
"Cultura negra en el cono sur", by Alejandro Frigerio.
and
"Cosas de negros" by Vicente Rosas.
Cheers,
JL
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