Master Slave is a Call to Action
Don’t just sit there. Do something. Act.
Then, as now, the exhortation applies. Few of us will be as bold or heroic as Ellen and William Craft, author a book about our efforts, or make history. But none of that is important. What is?
Act. Make a difference. We can all do that.
I live part of each year in the North (Michigan). In Michigan, State Rep. Josh Schriver (R, Oxford) is promulgating what is known as The Great Replacement Theory. GRT is conspiratorial, asserting that nonwhites are immigrating to the U.S. (among other Western countries) to “replace” white voters to achieve a liberal/progressive agenda. White Supremacists, anti-immigration groups, and other hate-laden groups/organizations believe in GRT, share its tenets, and act accordingly.
Don’t just sit there. Do something. Act.
House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) said he is removing Schriver from previously assigned committees, pulling his funding allotment for office functions, and reassigning his staff because of what he called “racist, hateful, and bigoted speech.” Schriver “has a history of promoting debunked theories and dangerous rhetoric that jeopardizes the safety of Michigan residents and contributes to a hostile and uncomfortable environment for others,” Tate said. (Source, Bridge Michigan)
I also live part of the year in the South (Florida). Mike Andoscia, a veteran high school civics/social studies teacher, has served students in the North Fort Myers, FL, school district for the past eight years. His classroom space includes a 600-book personal library, with those books available to his students. That situation changed on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, when Andoscia arrived at work and found the books removed from his classroom. The school administration was the source, with administrators responding to FL House of Representatives Bill 1069, which passed the FL Legislature in 2023.
Among other things, the wide-ranging bill (a centerpiece of Governor DeSantis’s culture war) “tightens restrictions on school lessons about sexual identity and gender orientation, which lawmakers say should happen at home. It requires libraries to pull books from shelves within five days if someone objects to the content. The measure is part of the push by Florida conservatives to uproot what they say is “indoctrination” in schools.” (Source, Politico)
Andoscia had been instructed to cover the books before parent-student meetings, which he did. It wasn’t enough, and his books are now stored in his garage.
Don’t just sit there. Do something. Act.
Andoscia resigned from his teaching position. “I did not want to tell the kids this is OK,” he said. But the story is not over. Andoscia was informed by the Professional Standards Director of the country school system that he remains “under investigation.” (Source: Fort Myers News-Press)
The narrative Dr. Woo shares in Master Slave happened a century-and-a-half ago, and the clips I just shared are happening today. But in a very real way, they are (as the malapropism goes) “the same difference.”
Extremely difficult and frightening times always require “good people” to respond to oppression. And no matter what the era, when people think the situation cannot get worse, it does. Counter-pressure is necessary in the form of wise and strategic action with conviction, courage, and concerted effort the antidotes to silence and inaction.
That’s what the Crafts’ displayed long ago, and it is what Tate and Andoscia display today. Any era. Any place. It is always “the same difference.”
Master Slave tells us a lot about America back then. It also helps us better understand America today. Among many things, it helps us see that the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act have contemporary equivalents (e.g., state laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public institutions) and that categorizing people can obfuscate reality (e.g., “The law of barbarism (Act of 1850) was passed…by Northern men.” (p. 205).
While I enjoyed and benefited from reading Woo’s narrative, let me say that my learning style caused me to take a break from reading the book from cover to cover. I needed more context to proceed. I sought out information about Dr. Woo, including why she decided to author the book, read a variety of book reviews, and then read the final chapter (Coda) before returning to where I had recessed my reading (several chapters in).
Walking that circuitous path made me appreciate Dr. Woo’s research diligence, and it also gave me the time and perspective to size up her offering. I tried constructing my own response but found that I could do no better than what Woo wrote on the book’s final page. I underlined nearly every word on p. 334; the words spoke to me.
“This space is ours to enter” are Woo’s final words. Those words are an apt conclusion to the Crafts’ story, and they are an equally compelling invitation to us.
Frank A. Fear is professor emeritus, Michigan State University, where he served as a faculty member for thirty years and worked in various administrative positions for nearly twenty years. Frank also writes about issues that intersect sport and society.
No doubt but that this book opens our eyes to ACT today. Thank you, Frank.