Annotated Bibliography

Derek Madison English 102
April 6, 2010
Zinn, Howard, and Anthony Arnove. Voices of a People's History. 2nd Edition ed. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Seven Stories. Print.
Exemplifies some of the well known and also little know facts about American History through the eyes of the people. This book begins with documented letters and journals from real historians from their perspective as it actually took place. Chapter 2: The First Slaves: This chapter is most relevant to my topic of choice about the desire of the slaves in America to become free people based the equality of all humans during the times of African American Slavery. In Benjamin Banneker’s, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, Banneker suggests to The former President, that the cruelty and suffering that he endured while rising up against the rule of the British was indeed similar that of the suffering that was being endured by the African slaves of that generation. Banneker illustrated some of the quotes and exerts from the Declaration of Independence such as “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. “Zinn p. 60” Banneker tried to respectfully demonstrate the hypocrisy that was the justification for the enslavement of millions of Africans. During the time when the letter was written, slaves were thought of as merely property but the emergence of children born of dual ancestry lead to some confusion and controversy in the following years. While researching this topic I have found ironically that Thomas Jefferson actually fathered children from one of his slaves Sally Hemmings. I believe that the history of these relationships has been silenced throughout American History. I will analyze the reasoning behind the secrecy of the sexual relationships between not only slave owners and slaves but also of free men and women from the slave era and through modern times.

Baptist, Edward E. ""Cuffy,"Fancy Maids," and "One Eyed Men": and the Domestic Slave Trade in the United States." The American Historical Review (2001). Web.

This essay describes how the slave trade was used for more than just the labor for a plantation and depicts slave owners as merely pimps and rapist. Baptist describes how some women especially mulatto women were sold for only sexual purposes and the extension of selling these slave women turned into the development of houses strictly used for prostitution. As opposed to the conventional selling of slave women, some owners would allow guests to pay per visit thus introducing slave women to a life of forced prostitution.

Broyard, Bliss. One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life : a Story of Race and Family Secrets. New York: Little, Brown and, 2007. Print

This book tells the story of an American man who had two parents of biracial ancestry and how they keep their African roots hidden in order to provide a better life for themselves and their son. Bliss Broyard describes her quest to find her own identity after the realization upon her father’s wish upon death to reveal his and her secret African roots. This story will be applicable to my paper because it represents the identity crisis which biracial children and adults in America must endure.

Jones, Suzanne W. Race Mixing. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins UP, 2004. Print.
Book about the culture of America and the segregation that some say still plagues us today even after the election of a nationally proclaimed “Black” president. Jones analyzes a plethora of books and movies on the subject of the combination of cultures and also reveals scientific studies on modern day interracial couples. Although not every chapter of this book will be applicable to the topic of this paper, I have found the topics of Chapter four “Tabooed Romance”. Jones suggests that the influence of literature and movies helps to accommodate and reinforce certain superstitions and stereo types about not only interracial dating but race relations as a whole. Jones suggests that the reasoning that some of the latest fictional stories about interracial relationships have been thought about for years but denied because of the influence they may have and also the cover up story behind interracial relationships since the beginnings of what we now know as the United States of America.



Jordan, Jr., Ervin L. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees In Civil War Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1995. Print

Describes real life accounts of the events that happened during the Civil War as it pertains to African Americans. Jordan puts to good use the stories of slave women and men while depicting the reality about these times involving African Americans that is rarely remembered in American history. Chapter 5 YOURS UNTIL DEATH. Sex, Marriage, and Miscegenation uncovers a rarely told story about the cruel treatment of Slave men and women involving rape, family separation and the denial of the sexual relationships that has taken place across the color line for so many years. Not only does the chapter reflect on the relationships between white men and black women but also gives examples of black men and white women which most believe was non-existent during that timeframe in history. Page 125 reveals a chart from the Bureau of Conscription showing the number of black men with either blue or green eyes and fair skin that could potentially pass for whites. This is clear evidence of a mixed culture or race whether they are acknowledged as such by society or not.

Lewis, Jan E., and Peter S. Onuf. Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson. Pittsboro, North Carolina: University of Virginia, 1999. Print
Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson. This factual gem of information involving the multiracial relationships of the former president of America has been resurfaced and edited by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. While all the chapters in this book are largely focused on interracial affairs, this book also depicts the overall common knowledge of these types of relationships that some may still try to deny. In general these relationships between white men and slave women were thought of as an entitlement of the slave owner and were not seen as a problem unless motivated by some political agenda very similar to the media today. James Callender was a journalist during the Thomas Jefferson Administration who tried to demonize his former hero by informing the American Public of his relationship with a slave girl named Sally Hemmings. Not only did he accuse Jefferson of having a sexual relationship with his slave Hemmings but also accused him of being the father of her children which has now through dna evidence been proven to be accurate. For the purpose of my paper these facts will be exceptionally persuasive in helping my argument in that bi racial children in America have not been recognized as white children even still to this day.


Rothman, Joshua D. Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families across the Color Line: Virginia 1787-1861. University of North Carolina, 2003. Print.
While similar to some of my other sources this book breaks down the initial means of identification that slave owners may or may not use to determine the race of an individual who was perceived to be of mixed blood. Chapter six reveals the various different terms used to describe the different complexions of the biracial people who lived in Virginia at the time. Rothman describes how eventually an individual of mixed bloods race could be determined by investigating their lifestyle and the associations of an individual. If it was determined that you were light enough to pass for white and your lifestyle reflected the perceived actions of a white person, then for a short while in American history you could be deemed as white. This thought process encouraged me to ponder that if a person’s actions based on stereotypes could be the reasoning behind attaching race, certainly the savage stereotype that had been given to black men of the time could also be given to the whites.

Sollors, Werner. Inerracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law. Oxford; New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print INTERRACIALISM. Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law.
This book is a written history of the laws and ideology behind the legal aspects of miscegenation during pre civil war and the post civil war era. The author eludes to the similarities between the miscegenation laws of the past to the similarities between the denials of same sex marriage in the United States. In contrast most other countries in the world also have a ban on same sex relationships but the author notes that no other countries in the world have had the same resistance to interracial relationships between blacks and whites and provokes contemplation about why this was only true in America. In the matter of applicability to my paper I have found great hypocrisy in the laws that were implemented in the past which still have an effect on the perception of race mixing today. The documentation this book provides is exactly what I will need to illustrate the theories and misleading ideology behind miscegenation that is still prevalent today.

Audience Atomization.

An Idea quite worthy of reflection, the blog about Audience Atomization set off a domino effect of ideas about not only the media, but also Americans and modern civilization as a whole. Although very hopeful in the idea that blog websites could lead a new way of understanding politics and the government, Jay Rosen excludes from the blog the system with which any type of mass media relies on. While the idea sounds great that we could begin to interpret our legitimate views which may lay outside the sphere of legitimate debate it would be extremely difficult to find the type of funding that it takes to release these ideas to the general public.

Blogs do have the potential to be very powerful tools with which to study and become informed but; in the world of technology with an ever growing demand for Liquid Crystal Display televisions and sports, “at least in the U.S. The information that we can relay to each other via a blog website has already been passed down through the mass media. The luxury of sitting home at a computer and expressing your beliefs to others is an incredible joy to some but media and news doesn’t come from the people who are sitting in front of their computers, it comes from the people who actually make the news happen, the soldiers, athletes, politicians, terrorists etc. The interests that we have will always come from the mannerisms in which we are raised.

Personally speaking I come from a generation of sports, sex, and technology. Also included in this generation is crime and war but what generation is without it. I relate the political struggle for power in this country with the competition of athletics in this country. Everyone wants to root for a winning team. The difference with Politics and say for example the NFL is that there are multiple teams to root for that have the potential to win where as in politics there are only two. How many independents have ever become President? If we know that it is only possible for 1 of two teams to be victorious why would we root for a team that we know is not capable of winning? Sure the notion of standing up for what we believe in should inspire us to choose our leaders wisely and without bias but “If you can’t beat them, join them”.

Blogging about what we deem to be legitimate is healthy for our writing styles and inspiration. Let’s say for example that a blog website or even private news paper became so popular that the general public began reading it every day. The demand for this Paper or website would become so high that it would have the opportunity to become a lucrative business. Sponsorship and Big business partners would come into play and then eventually regulation. No amount of independence or rational thinking will ever overcome the power of persuasion that money has. Money is rational and even when it’s unethical or seemingly barbaric the different routes people will take to get it all involve competition. Things that people are willing to do for wealth is the basis for nearly everything in this life, a mere competition if one person wont, another will.

The journalists who claim to not to realize that they have a political influence actually do. They are merely skilled writers in a certain language who are capable of getting points across through words on a computer or paper. Whether or not they believe in the things that they do write is not the issue. They don’t choose to write articles based on what they actually care about! The overwhelming majority of published journalists do it because that is how they make money. Journalists understand and portray ideas well, even if those ideas are not their own. If your job is to make pizza at a Papa John’s, you don’t one day decide that you would like to sell Cheeseburgers and start making them at Papa John’s, it’s not how business works. To think that journalism is anything other than a business or rather to deny that being a journalist has a lot to do with business is unrealistic.

The fact that as Americans we do have access to computers by the masses is incredible in comparison to the rest of the world. Without a doubt we are in a privileged position to have access the finest information tools in the world but how did we become so lucky? That I don’t believe I have time to answer but it seems to me that the more I learn the less I really know. Although as typically American as it sounds, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Although I do believe politics affects most of us dramatically I don’t actually believe that which is supposedly in the sphere of consensus “No matter where you come from you can succeed in America” I guess since I don’t believe that I can be thought of as a negative person but maybe my ideas don’t deserve to be thought of as negative but merely in the circle of deviance? I believe that serenity by definition is what a person needs for true happiness. I know that if I look for deceit in this life I will surely find it but that is something that I can now easily accept. I just choose not to look for it.