Slavery altered slaves’ conditions but could not negate their being

Evidence

We now “know” what the master class certainly knew but for so long publicly denied only to be confronted with the truth in its nightmares, its sexual fantasies, and rotting social consciousness: the enslaved were human beings. But the more authentic question was not whether the slaves (and the ex-slaves and their descendants) were human. It was, rather, just what sort of people they were … and could be. Slavery altered the conditions of their being, but it could not negate their being. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 618

But the more authentic question was not whether the slaves (and the ex-slaves and their descendants) were human. It was, rather, just what sort of people they were … and could be. Slavery altered the conditions of their being, but it could not negate their being. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 618

Categorization

• XREF: Aligns with Toni Morrison’s insistence on defining Black identity from within rather than against the white gaze.
• DEEPTHINKING: This reformulation — from ‘were they human?’ to ‘just what sort of people were they and could be’ — reframes the entire historiographic project and grounds Robinson’s concept of a tradition that survives slavery’s conditions.
• DEFINE: Signals what ‘the black radical tradition’ means — a being/peoplehood that persisting through slavery constitutes the tradition’s substrate.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 618