Contrasting Responses to Oppression: Negro vs. Indian

Key Insight

The Negro exists at the 'ultimate extreme of servitude,' owning nothing, not even his own person, and finds it difficult to make decisions without committing 'larceny.' He tries repeatedly to enter white society, adopting oppressors' tastes and opinions, and aspiring to become indistinguishable from them. Believing his race to be naturally inferior, he is ashamed of himself and sees slavery in every feature, wishing he could repudiate his own identity.

The Indian, conversely, lives at the 'outer limits of freedom,' being his own master from the moment he can act, largely unconscious of family authority and never having bowed to another's will. He knows nothing of law and equates freedom with escaping nearly every social bond, reveling in this 'barbarous independence.' He would rather perish than sacrifice any part of it, clinging to barbarity as a distinctive sign of his race and rejecting civilization, perhaps out of fear of resembling Europeans.

This fundamental difference leads to distinct, tragic fates: the Negro's servility 'dooms him to slavery,' while the Indian's pride 'condemns him to death.' An observation of a white child interacting with an Indian woman and a Negress illustrates this. The child displayed a sense of superiority, contrasting with the Negress's servile fear and the savage woman's free, proud, and almost fierce tenderness, highlighting the vast distance placed between them by prejudices and laws.