Analysis: Not Slave Not Free

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Recommended: Racism in the United States World War II

Long after the emancipation of slavery in the United States, African Americans still faced economic struggles that forced them to do whatever they could to make it in society. In the novel “Not Slave Not Free” the author Jay R. Mandle expresses these struggles and explains the migration of African Americans from cities to a very rural south. This story’s focal point is the first southern society before World War II. Mandle explains the roles of African Americans in this society and the massive effect they had on the society. Mandle was also a very qualified writer when it comes to the economical circumstances in the south during post-emancipation America. He has written several novels dealing with income inequality in America, as well as being an economic specialist. Mandle is also a W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics at Colgate University. All of these qualities that Mandle possesses make him a competent writer when it comes to economic situations in the South. This book is also the second edition and was republished in 1994. The publisher of the novel was the University of Pittsburg Press and the story was also modified in the first chapter. So now let’s go through the levels of how poverty rose in the South that Mandle accurately described in the book. The first part of the South that Mandle analyzed was the economic standing of the South before the World War II era. Mandle speculates the fact that the South was the least developed area in the entire United States. He also considered that the fact it was so underdeveloped was a key aspect that accounted for the poverty of African Americans in the years before the War. Due to the fact that the south wasn’t advanced, it didn’t offer African Americans a chance to work and ... ... middle of paper ... ...mericans were migrating from the South, there were fewer hands to work in southern areas. This issue was also a key factor in the economic downfall of the South during post World War II America. This book was fairly interesting to me and it opened my eyes to a different view of the United States during struggling times. It made me realize that everyone was having difficulties with sustaining life as well as sustaining an economy. I never realized the massive impact that African Americans had on the economy of the South, but now I understand that they are one of the reasons it took so long for the United States to get back on its feet. I thought Mandle did an excellent job at keeping the reading interesting and that he had an abundant knowledge about the subject. I enjoyed reading this book and it increased my knowledge vastly about The South before World War II.

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