The Myth of the Saintly Slave in the Old South

FAIN: FT-10880-70

Donald G. Mathews
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350)

Analysis of concept of the "saintly slave" as part of the Old South's mythology concerning the black man. From the conversion of the first black, ministers commented on the peculiar religious sensitivity which Africans supposedly possessed, often wondering if their great suffering did not set them avove their masters in moral if not social terms. Though closely intertwined with the pro-slavery argument, this attitude created a tension with the general view of black inferiority. Fellow to relate the concept of the "saintly slave" to the thesis developed by Winthrop Jorden in White Over Black (University of North Carolina Press, 1968) concerning the sexual fascination of white for black.