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From: Thaddeus Russell [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Dear colleagues, I am developing a hypothesis that because slavery forcibly separated African-Americans from the repression of Victorian culture, slaves and their descendants were able to establish cultural forms that celebrated freedom and pleasure. For example, improvisation and sensual rhythms were forbidden in bourgeois (white) music, but were allowed in the slave quarters because, ironically, whites considered blacks incapable of acquiring "higher," more restrained musical sensibilities. Similarly, the creative and playful character of black vernacular, which now even presidential candidates of all colors use without shame, was shunned in Victorian white culture and punished in white schools. Also, Anthony Kaye and other scholars have shown that slaves' attitudes toward sexuality and romantic relationships were far more open and fluid than 19th-century white norms of sexuality, which dictated life-long monogamy as the only proper sexual relationship. Attitudes toward work, Eugene Genovese and others have shown, were similarly far freer among slaves than among Victorian whites. I wonder if we might say that, in many ways, whites actually enslaved themselves, and that by separating blacks from such a repressive culture, slavery had the unintended consequence of allowing for the flourishing of a culture that is now envied by millions all over the world. Has anyone made this or a similar argument? I welcome any comments, including critical ones, and suggestions for sources. Thad Russell www.thaddeusrussell.com