Slavery as a practice can be found in almost every society throughout history. It has been well-documented that Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all kept slaves and long before Europeans arrived in the Americas, the Mayans and Aztecs were known to keep slaves. Even the Native Americans in North America were known to enslave their enemies. So, slavery as a concept is not a new idea .
However, the believe that the Black race specifically was inherently ‘doomed’ to slavery, is a particular case because it was justified by the use of the bible . This refers back to the book of Genesis, in which Noah condemned his son, Ham, for his sin. In Genesis chapter 9, Noah says, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” And since Ham is considered to be the father of the Black race, and Canaan is his son, it was reasoned that all of his descendants were pre-destined to live in slavery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version
These beliefs, supported by Christian leaders in the New World, were used to subjugate an entire race of people in America. These leaders used this rhetoric to convince an entire population to humbly accept their so-called lot in life because to do otherwise “…was to rebel against God and risk eternal punishment” . Not only does this concept imply that slavery can be inherited by bloodline, but it also implies that African slaves couldn’t be their own masters by the ‘order of god’.
It’s also important to note that the people of color who dared question this notion were dismissed. This was because they were thought of as less knowledgeable of the Bible in comparison to white religious leaders. which is ironic in the sense that this was a result of a system that was designed to disadvantage African Americans by limiting their access to education.
isn’t it funny how religion can be used to justify certain immoral beliefs and actions? This idea of being inherently doomed, is present in Passing and can be applied to Clare. She plays a very dangerous game, by “switching” races and expecting not to get caught. It seems like from the very beginning she is doomed. This looming fate is foreshadowed throughout the novel, as the characters mention Jack and what he might do if he found out.
I have no idea what happened to the formatting of this response i’m sorry
never mind everything looks fine, it looked weird on my screen.
Renad, Do you see religion being used to justify actions in Larsen’s novel? The first sentence seems to suggest that — but then the response moves into the idea of “inherently doomed.” Can you make the connection to the original post?
Thanks for this post, Rasha. The reference to “the curse of Ham” is something you will often come across when looking at slavery and its defenses in America. So your post is a helpful primer.
For more on how this singular Bible passage has been differently interpreted and used over time (for slavery and other things), see this fascinating _New York Times_ article – which also argues that the idea of Ham as “dark-skinned” is owed to a mistranslation:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/01/arts/from-noah-s-curse-to-slavery-s-rationale.html
And for a more scholarly engagement, see David Goldenburg’s book (especially the Introduction!), _The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam_. It is available here on JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7rm4x