Essay Database

Davidson and Lytle pose an interesting question about racial and class perceptions in their chapter entitled "The View from the Bottom Rail." Seeking to demonstrate that our understanding of what it meant to be a slave is far from complete, they ask the reader to consider context, expectation, and caste in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of the "peculiar institution." This social history attempts to supplement, and perhaps even refashion, our understanding …

…suggest that there was an equally forceful expectation that Ladson would want to hear a certain type of account. Although Hamlin had nothing to fear or gain from Ladson, there was still reason to augment her story. It would seem that the moral of this chapter is to exercise caution and a healthy, although not enervating, degree of skepticism when we approach evidence. We must be aware of its merits as well as its limitations.