In the writing "Slave and Citizen", the author speaks of how there was a difference in slavery in the United States and Brazil. He states how not only did the darker colored persons owned their own slaves but they had more opportunities in Brazil that they did not have in the U.S. They were able to acquire their freedom several ways in Brazil, for example: slaves could by their freedom, obtain their freedom on special occasions, etc. In the United States, slaves weren't given the same chances. If a child was born into slavery, they that's where they would stay unless a miracle happened. The reason for this being is because the slave masters didn't was to take any chances of losing money. It was all about greed and how much more money they could make in their pocket at the end of the day. The more slaves they had, the more they could make a living by having others do their work for them. Without getting paid.
I never new that dark skinned people owned slaves. That was something that wasn't taught to me. I couldn't imagine people of the same background enslaving their people, but I guess that's what make them more lenient towards freeing their slaves.
You started off strong but seemed to have lost the reason for writing this piece towards the end. It's obvious you are writing about Tannenbaum but it seems like you are generally summarizing the text instead of choosing a main point. You might want to start by choosing a focus. For example you state that dark skinned people could own slaves. Why not give an example from the text and go into more depth as to why this is so strange and unlikely in the U.S versus Brazil. You also touch upon the subject of manumission, the act of freeing a slave, which is an important topic in Slave and Citizen you might want to expand on that subject using quotes from the text. Lastly you were trying to give your opinion but it wasn’t very clear whether you agreed with Tannebaum’s theory of not. Heres some things to think about: Why was manumission easier for slaves in Colonial Brazil? Why could people of African decent own African slaves of their own? What passages from the text can I use to prove my point? This is a good first draft all it needs is a bit of structure. Good work!
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