Kenneth S. Greenberg

Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Humanitarianism, Death, Slave Rebellions, the Proslavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South by Kenneth S. Greenberg examines how the language of honor functioned in the Old South. Greenberg's use of the term "language of honor" is expansive. He's not just looking at what southerners in the Old South were saying; he's also interested in how southern practices such as nose-pulling, gift-giving, gambling, and hunting reflected and reinforced southern opinions about honor and the relationships between masters and slaves. Greenberg's approach is probably a little unorthodox, but his writing is winsome, engaging, and thought-provoking.… (más)

Kenneth S. Greenberg’s Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Humanitarianism, Death, Slave Rebellions, the Proslavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South explores honor culture in the American South during the antebellum period and just following the American Civil War. Greenberg draws upon the disciplines of social history, race history, economic history, and the history of sport. Greenberg principally seeks to answer, “who spoke the language of honor” in antebellum society (pg. xi).
Like Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Greenberg firmly situates the language of honor in a social world in which honor only had meaning in people’s relations to each other. In this way, Greenberg writes, “Southern men of honor were ‘superficial.’ They were concerned, to a degree we would consider unusual, with the surface of things – with the world of appearances” (pg. 3). Greenberg returns to variations on the duel in order to demonstrate honor in action. His discussion of dueling recalls Wyatt-Brown’s elaboration of how the practice served to stabilize society. Greenberg writes, “The duel included elaborate displays of respect as all participants moved toward healing the rupture by a meeting of equals shooting pistols at each other” (pg. 58). This focus on equals and their relation to one another serves to link the two concepts of honor and slavery in Greenberg’s title. He writes, “Honor and dishonor, like mastery and slavery, were total conditions. A man was usually in one state or the other and only spent a brief moment in transition” (pg. 62). This dichotomy drives Greenberg’s argument.
Also like Wyatt-Brown, Greenberg uses Freud to explain to qualify challenges to honor, specifically nose-pulling. He writes, “This concern for the body can be seen in many different contexts in the culture of honor” (pg. 15). An outward blemish reflected an inward failing. This world of appearances and psychology also permeated Southern politics. Greenberg writes, “Although many of these men [Southern elites] craved office as a sign that they had been honored by the people, they felt compelled to hide their desires” (pg. 77). An overeager Southerner was not a master of himself so he could not expect to wield mastery over others. Death, too, featured into this psychological world. Greenberg argues that Southerners felt it proper to face death bravely yet without submission if possible. A death in battle was ideal. Slavery presented an alternative to death, as it represented a submission in order to live and a rejection of honor. In this discussion, Greenberg links his argument to the paternalistic arguments of Eugene Genovese and Wyatt-Brown, though he links paternalism to these social and even biblical concepts of slavery and honor (pg. 111; Greenberg specifically addresses the biblical justification of slavery in which Southerners argued that Noah’s three sons represented white Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans. When Ham, the supposedly black son, saw his father naked, he forsook his honor and doomed his descendants to slavery).
Greenberg’s estimation of Southern honor draws heavily upon the framework Wyatt-Brown established in Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South. Additionally, he worked with Bernard Bailyn and Eugene Genovese in writing this monograph. Finally, Greenberg builds upon the work of John Hope Franklin, Edward L. Ayers, and Steven M. Stowe.… (más)

So many feelings about this work. Each of the essays was well-written, intelligent, thoughtful, researched, and so forth. However, due to the fact that they are all covering the same very narrow subject, many of them had a lot of overlap, where it felt like I was reading the exact same pages in a slightly different hand. This made for slower reading than I would have liked.

That said, there are essays that cover multiple different angles on the subject (of Nat Turner and his history and impact on history and black memory), plus a couple of interviews with some key figures, and as mentioned, they are well researched and insightful. This collection provides what is probably the most comprehensive definitive look at Nat Turner that can ever be produced. I am certain that I could not read anything else and wind up with any clearer, more accurate image of Nat Turner than this collection of essays has provided. His personal narrative (as much as is possible) is recreated here, alongside his, and the few other slave rebellion leaders who are known, impact on history. It is well worth a read.

Also worthy of note, I am appalled that William Styron won the Pulitzer for his racist demeaning white man's portrayal of a weak, indecisive, emasculated "Nat Turner" who comes solely from his own imagination and not history. I'd like to acquire a used copy of it (Styron certainly will get not a penny from me!) along with Ten Black Writers Respond, which will sit nicely next to each other on my shelves. I think it's very sad that he refuses to understand or accept the racist view that he portrayed is his own and not at all connected to Nat Turner, instead simply viewing his detractors as militants and communists.… (más)