HSY1512_A.2 100% TRUSTED Answers, guidelines, workings and references. Option B: Slavery at the Cape during the VOC period
Question 1: (Briefly explain why the free black community at the Cape
remained powerless during the VOC period.)
The free black population was very small due to many regulat...
Option B: Slavery at the Cape during the VOC period
Question 1: (Briefly explain why the free black community at the Cape
remained powerless during the VOC period.)
The free black population was very small due to many regulations placed on the
manumission of slaves. Slave owners were reluctant to free their slaves because it
meant that they wouldn’t get that labour done. Those that were manumitted were
subjected to imposing restrictions which included not being allowed to get certain jobs,
and even the jobs that were available for them to choose from were being occupied by
slave labour. They couldn’t get loans which made it difficult to buy land in order to
become self sufficient. Free blacks could also get enslaved again if they were found to
break the law, so we can see how they would be afraid to create any form resistance. 1
As a result free blacks were generally very poor. Socially, free blacks were generally
excluded from the white community. This didn’t allow many opportunities for the free
blacks. 2
Question 2: (Briefly discuss ways in which slavery may have had a
negative impact on the social [racial] order at the Cape.)
Slavery allowed whites to believe that they were the superior race. They believed that
blacks were the workers, thus creating a racially divided society. Whites developed
dislike for manual labour because they believed that slaves were responsible for this,
and if they had to do the same work it would be beneath them. As white trekboers
moved into the interior of the Cape they applied this same mindset to the indigenous
people they encountered, even they were legally free, because of their skin colour. The
authorities would often ignore this behaviour, and would even participate in raids for
livestock, sometimes taking women and children captive. Captives were made to work
under the ‘inboek’ system which was seen similar to slavery. Free blacks and people of
mixed descent were not excluded from being made to feel inferior and they were
constantly discriminated, falling to the lowest of society. Racial stereotyping also started
1 Tutorial Letter 502 for HSY1512, p 26-27
2 Tutorial Letter 501 for HSY1512, p 51
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