The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia

by Mechal Sobel

In the recent past, enormous creative energy has gone into the study of American slavery, with major explorations of the extent to which African culture affected the culture of black Americans and with an almost totally new assessment of slave culture as Afro-American. Accompanying this new awareness of the African values brought into America, however, is an automatic assumption that white traditions influenced black ones. In this view, although the institution of slaver is seen as important, blacks are not generally treated as actors nor is their "divergent culture" seen as having had a wide-ranging effect on whites. Historians working in this area generally assume two social systems in America, one black and one white, and cultural divergence between slaves and masters.

It is the thesis of this book that blacks, Africans, and Afro-Americans, deeply influenced white's perceptions, values, and identity, and that although two world views existed, there was a deep symbiotic relatedness that must be explored if we are to understand either or both of them. This exploration raises many questions and suggests many possibilities and probabilities, but it also establishes how thoroughly whites and blacks intermixed within the system of slavery and how extensive was the resulting cultural interaction.

Genres: History, Anthropology, 18th Century

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Grady Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worlds Converged: Cultural Entanglement in Eighteenth‑Century Virginia;
An individual’s worldview is the cumulative product of influences, be it their cultural roots or present environment, which have acted upon the individual during their lifetime. The New World connected a large expanse of peoples, each of which carried their own reflections into the world around them. According to Mechal Sobel in The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia, black and white worldviews integrated one another, forming a, “deep symbiotic relatedness,” which must be recognized to fully understand each group.
​Sobel’s book is organized thematically. The primary focus of her work is within eighteenth-century Virginia, and she organizes sections based on time, space, and causality. This organization allows Sobel to achieve a scholarly Venn-diagram-Esque analysis of African worldviews alongside English worldviews. Consequentially, it makes her writing much more difficult to follow. Nonetheless, Sobel successfully identifies and proves her thesis that, “blacks deeply influenced whites’ perceptions, values and identity.”
​Within her sections, Sobel discerns correlations between black and white worldviews. Sobel’s first argument depends on each culture’s view of time. Using quotes and historical reasoning, she dissects the English interpretation of time and elucidates the African connotation of time. The author argues that ideals regarding time were inseparable among the poor: black or white. Sobel additionally calls upon the homogenous views regarding spirits, and the integration of home—architecturally or symbolically—amongst black and white inhabitants of Virginia. Finally, she outlines the cultural influences of African slaves on the Christian church. Sobel adequately identifies African values within the church that, in eighteenth‑century Virginia, was structurally European but increasingly shaped by African presence. Collectively, Sobel displays that eighteenth‑century Virginia was marked by deep, unrecognized cultural overlap.
​The author makes extensive use of primary sources and real photographic images to supplement her arguments which resolve her otherwise scholarly prose. Because Sobel’s work contains dense prose and academic jargon, it is clearly targeted at a higher academic audience; however, her use of primary sources alongside visual imagery allows her argument to be slightly more accessible.
Throughout her literary work, Sobel successfully argues, employing a diverse array of methods, that by the end of the eighteenth century, black and white inhabitants of Virginia—despite the variety of worldviews held amongst the groups—shared inseparable values.

[Rudyard L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was simultaneously interesting and boring. The thesis makes a lot of sense, Africans were 40 percent of Virginia’s population and thus it would make an immense amount of sense if the Black community influenced the White. However, the thesis was somewhat muddled. For a lot these, the author posited an African origin for a cultural factor, but also posited an English or geographic origin that negated it. This book was interesting and I learned a lot, but it felt generally underwhelming.

[Larry Lamar Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written by an Israeli scholar, is another “outsider” look at a time we think we know. It shows from contemporary documents how much whites and people of African descent interacted and influenced each other in the early years of the United States.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting points, but the first time it was repetative and a hard read in the sense of making myself finish it. I was required to read the book a second time for another class and I found it much easier and more interesting the second time around.

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at early slavery in North America.

[Rita]

interesting, covers several aspects of interaction and influence between white and black people in virginia, discussing how values and attitudes changed.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into this one at all.