Perhaps, besides influencing
his life as a slave, his African background may have found its
way into other aspects of American society. However, it would
seem that because the African came to believe in his own
inferiority, there must have been very little conscious attempt
to keep his culture alive. Certainly, the recent Black Power
movement, which intended to revive pride in race and in the past,
bears eloquent testimony to the degree to which any conscious
link with the African past had been suppressed. Nevertheless,
mental and emotional habit can continue without any conscious
intention, and habits of this kind are important for the
formation of personality, Moreover, it is possible that the image
of "Sambo" as an exasperating child may tell as much about the
mentality of the white master who perpetuated the picture as it
does about the slave whom it depicted. Perhaps the picture of
the childlike slave is also a reverse image of the sober,
patronizing white master whose life was rooted in austerity. To
such a man spontaneity and exuberance might well have
seemed infantile.
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