This description of a broken spirit and an intellect that languished under the crushing weight of work recalls Black Like Me, the account of a white man, John Howard Griffin, who changed his physical appearance so he could experience blackness in the American South. In this account, Griffin writes that his “face had lost animation” after several weeks and that his mind dozed “empty for long periods” (p. 117; New American Library edition).

If we accept this testimony, we’re acknowledging that it’s possible to create in any person the mental conditions that supposedly justified enslavement of black people. In other words, while in the past it was a common belief that slavery was justified by black peoples’ mindlessness, Griffin’s account suggests that any supposed blankness of mind resulted from slavery, as opposed to being present in black people before they were enslaved.