Economics 101 - For the Humanities Major

In Mightier Than the Sword, author David S. Reynolds gives a scholarly, in-depth portrayal of the life and times of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of the famous and infamous Uncle Tom's Cabin. What a fascinating look into American history by way of work of fiction, turned mythic.

For whatever else one may think of Uncle Tom's Cabin , published in 1850, it did raise popular consciousness about the grisly, perverted, sickening aspects of slavery in the United States - slavery happening in what we now call 'real time'. Up until the advent of this epic novel, slavery was viewed as an economic institution, protected by the laws and force of the U.S. government.

I read Stowe's book as a young idealistic teenager, and other books, by Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass and other former slaves. What I was left with, because I am a woman for whom motherhood and family are the highest aspirations, is the brutality and injustice which is inherent in the system of owning humans as chattel.  I did not yet make the connection to economics, which is the strongest link in the chain.

Now, with  #Occupy Wall Street, and many solidarity occupations in other U.S. cities happening in real time, I can see that 'economics' is still at the heart of human suffering and exploitation.

When Harriet Beecher Stowe began to form the seeds of her famous characters, it was through hearing the stories of morally good black women servants in her kitchen who told the tales of being 'owned' by a master, who then became what they referred to as a 'husband'. Their bodies were co-opted for gratuitous sex, and as slave producing vessels. They did not want this life, but they managed to live and have children they dearly loved. Children for whom they wanted a different life, but who were, often as not, 'sold' away from them when the child reached working age.

So slavery is an economic model. The people who enforced it were protecting the 'investments' and the 'assets' of white business men. One epic novel, written by a housewife and mother of five, read by thousands, maybe millions, was able to turn the hearts of at least part of a nation. The pen vs. the sword, a human story vs. esoteric dogma.

History is fascinating, and right now we are seeing it play out in the form of people taking to the streets, many of whom have not much left to loose. Economics might be framed in any way which benefits the rich and powerful. Human suffering might only be understood on the street.