pages of a polished, multi- paragraph essay analyzing “President Joe Biden’s Speech from Septembwr 1st, 2022

HRM 630 Recruitment and Selection Midterm Short Answer questions What is the

HRM 630 Recruitment and Selection

Midterm Short Answer questions

What is the public policy exception to employment at will? Give one example of a termination that may be construed as an exception to employment at will based on
public policy.

A public policy exception can be defined as employers who discipline or discharge employees for reasons prohibited by a constitution, statute, or any other expression of clear public policy. These actions may be deemed to be in violation of the employment-at-will doctrine in states with the public policy exception. Under the public policy exception, there are four types of actions protected from adverse employment decisions. These actions are,

Refusal to perform an act prohibited by state law (SLLG, 2022)

Reporting a violation of law (SLLG, 2022)

Engaging in acts of public interest (SLLG, 2022)

Exercising statutory right. (SLLG, 2022)

An example of a termination that may fall under an exception to the at will law based on the public policy is an employee being terminated for taking off time from work to perform jury duty. This violation falls under an employee exercising statutory rights.

(2022) SLLG. Public Policy Exception to Employment at Will – When is It Wrongful Termination. Retrieved from: https://www.shouselaw.com//ca/labor/wrongful-termination/exceptions-to-at-will-employment/public-policy/

2. Define disparate impact and disparate treatment. How do they differ?

The term disparate impact refers to policies, rules, and regulations, as well as practices which appear neutral, but impact one group more severely than another. Disparate treatment is defined as discrimination in the workplace based on a person’s race, gender, orientation, family status, marital status, color, or ethnicity. The main difference between disparate impact and treatment is one is viewed as intentional and the other unintentional. A form of disparate treatment is being treated less favorably than employees in a protected class. (Workplace Rights, 2021) Pay disparities between men and women are an example of disparate treatment. On the contrary, a disparate impact example might include a company that asks applicants to answer questions that are culturally sensitive that immigrants may not comprehend.

(2021) Workplace rights and laws. Disparate treatment vs disparate impact. What’s the difference? Retrieved from: https://workplacerightslaw.com//library/discrimination/disparate-treatment/

3. Define job description and job specification and describe how they are used.
A job description includes basic information about a specific job, which is beneficial when advertising the position and attracting top talent. Typically, it includes job titles, job locations, job summaries, nature and objectives of a job, tasks, and duties to be performed, working conditions, and reporting structure, among others. The Job Specification is the document that explains the minimum qualification requirements for performing a particular job. It explains what a candidate must possess in order to be considered for the job. To be eligible for a particular job, a candidate must possess educational qualifications, specific qualities, level of experience, physical, emotional, technical, and communication skills, as well as responsibilities

4. Compare and contrast replacement charts and succession planning?

 In replacement planning, the organization chart is assumed to remain unchanged. Generally, it identifies “backups” for top-level positions as listed on the organizational chart, and stops there. In a typical replacement chart, there are generally three back-ups listed for each top-level position and a rating of how ready each member is to assume the role of the existing employee. In contrast, succession planning goes far beyond merely naming people as replacements. Succession planning aims to build deep bench strength within the organization so that, when a vacancy occurs, the organization has a wide pool of qualified candidates internally that may be considered for promotion.

5. Discuss the different ways in which a firm can deal with temporary employee surpluses.

An employer’s employee surplus can be characterized as the excess of employees within the company. It occurs when the actual work force exceeds the current workforce.  If there is an employee surplus, the organization should proceed as follows:

Organizations should reallocate the surplus employees to other areas in need or they can assign the work of other areas to the surplus employees.

Having a hiring freeze can help prevent aggravating an existing labor surplus in large organizations with many departments and a large workforce. In the face of the freeze, managers downstream must discover other ways to fill labor needs without adding to the company’s payroll.

In times of a labor surplus, it makes sense to discontinue the use of employment agencies.

It may seem obvious to reduce a labor surplus through layoffs, but much depends on the reason for the surplus. Consider hiring and training costs in comparison to staff retention costs in cases of temporary surpluses.

Shpak, S. (2018) USA Today. How to handle a labor surplus. Retrieved From: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com /handle-labor-surplus-13844.html

HRPD-702 CENTENNIAL COLLEGE Contemporary Organizational Behaviour Individual Dimensions Assignment Requirements Course Code:

pages of a polished, multi- paragraph essay analyzing “President Joe Biden’s Speech from Septembwr 1st, 2022 Writing Assignment Help HRPD-702 CENTENNIAL COLLEGE Contemporary Organizational Behaviour

Individual Dimensions Assignment Requirements

Course Code:

HRPD-702

Course Name:

Contemporary Organizational Behaviour

Directions: Read and follow the directions about the Individual Dimensions Assignment.

Due Date and Worth: as noted on eCentennial course site

Rationale

This INDIVIDUAL assignment requires you to explore different individual dimensions [facets] of the composite hypothetical construct “personality. You will do this by studying and reporting on the results of various self-administered tests.

Certain tests assess a singular dimension [facet], while others, like the MBTI, DISC, and Big 5, measure multiple dimensions [facets] explored in the one test.

To interpret the result[s] properly, you will need to investigate / study / research to understand each of the dimensions measured by, or within, each test.

This means when you are explain what the test is measuring, you will need to locate and use at least one academically valid reference and citation.

You may

use your OB text, but not for all, as a reference / citation

for at least 4 of the tests you must have / use an academically valid reference [cited properly in-text], such as an appropriate journal article – these can be accessed via Centennial library on-line resources

Do not use any other OB textbook as a reference

Do not use instructor lectures, notes, or any postings

PLEASE make sure you use proper academically valid references and CITE properly for every test / dimension you are explaining.

PLEASE NOTE: Lecture notes, slides, or other posted materials are NOT considered academically valid references

Directions

PART 1 –COMPLETE ALL THE TESTS from the sites listed at the end of this document.

You are to self-administer [take] each of the tests listed.

Go to the site where the tests are located and complete them on-line.

At least one website is noted from where you can self-administer the test.

DO NOT USE ANY OTHER test /questionnaire.

Complete the questionnaires on-line and make sure you take screen shots or keep pdf’s of your work/results.

The pdf’s and / or screen shots showing you took, and received results, for the tests, are to be included in an APPENDIX section of your paper [i.e. separate section, after References page, at END].

Make sure you properly organize your paper before you submit.

PART 2 – YOUR PAPER – CHART RESULTS AND WRITE PAPER

Everyone is to

identify the test

explain what the test is measuring

identify the results / score you received for each

apply your understanding of what the test is measuring [b] to your interpretation of what the results mean about you

Please note – your paper is to based on the results of the tests – not your assumption about yourself.

It is quite acceptable, in a paper wherein you are reporting about self-administered tests and results about you, to speak and write in 1st person.

When you prepare and present your paper, do not copy instructions into your paper.

Use a chart as noted below and present in LANDSCAPE format.

It is quite acceptable for this portion to present the chart:

11 pt font; [Arial preferred]

1.15 X spacing, instead of 2X spacing.

BUT ALWAYS 8 ½ x 11 inch paper

leave cover page, and any other pages with explanations, and References, and Appendix in PORTRAIT format

Please remember do not copy the instructions into your paper

Name of Test

What are the dimensions assessed?

Explanation of the personality dimension, or dimensions, measured by this personality test ? DO NOT forget to cite/reference properly and DO NOT merely use as an explanation of the dimensions measure only what is provided on the test site – find another

What score[s] did you get for each [piece]?

For each [piece] what does it mean about you?

Your interpretation [application] must demonstrate your understanding of the test dimension[s] meaning.

1

MBTI

2

DISC

3

Big 5

4

Locus of Control

5

Type A

6

Self Control and Self Monitoring

7

Self Esteem

8

Machiavellianism

9

The Narcissist Test

Other:

Since you will be, in part, reporting about you, it is quite acceptable to write these portions in 1st person.

You may add an Additional commentary/discussion Section, after the above required information, as you think necessary.

This should be in regular portrait, 12 pt font, 2x spacing.

You should also identify / review / discuss / analyze / explain – in this section – ALL instances where 2 or more tests say similar or contradictory results.

PLEASE REMEMBER:

When taking personality tests, you typically need to respond based on your PREFERRED way of being, not necessarily how situations in the past have required / compelled you to be.

People are rarely a “pure” form or completely one way or the other – most are an amalgam – so when responding to any question on any personality / psychological test, go with your first instinct as to what the best response is for you, – so do not state circumstances change what you will do, or how you would react, etc…

Be sure to follow carefully Assignment Submission requirements and APA formatting [info posted on course eCentennial site].

Accountability

INDIVIDUAL PAPERS ARE INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS

Each student’s submission must be unique.

You should not be collaborating with anyone else.

Copying, or using in any manner, work from someone else, is an Academic Integrity Violation [AIV].

Cutting and pasting from sources is a violation of Academic Integrity even if in quotes and cited. [typical standard is up to 10% of a paper may be direct quote].

A serious breach of Academic Integrity can result in a paper receiving an F [or even “0”] grade

2nd chances are not “automatic”

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING AND ADHERING TO ACADEMIC INTEGRITY REQUIREMENTS IN ALL COURSES / PROGRAMS.

https://library.centennialcollege.ca/help-services/research-help/academic-integrity/

https://www.centennialcollege.ca/pdf/new-website/about_centennial/policies/academichonestyandplagiarismpolicy.pdf

People are what they do – not what they think they would do.

If the response to a test defines you in a certain way, think very carefully about how you answered the questions because the answers you provide to the questions reveal what you actually [think you] would do, which is what / who you are, not necessarily what / who you think you are.

You must make sure, in explaining the test results about you, you use the information about what the test is about, and the related dimension or dimensions, correctly / accurately, and unambiguously.

Personality Tests and where you can find them

You are required to:

1- go to the site [choose 1 of the sites if there is more than 1 noted below for each test]

2- complete the test

3 – print out and/or take screen shots to show [a] you started answering questions on the test, and [b] your test results – all these MUST BE SUBMITTED with your paper- make note of which site you went to

4 – FOLLOW instructions carefully on Assignment Requirements for the “write up” submission, and make sure you cite reference properly!

Name of Test

Where to find it

Where to find it

1

MBTI

https://www.16personalities.com/

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

2

DISC

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=4093

3

Big 5

https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=4058

4

Locus of Control

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=704

http://www.psych.uncc.edu/pagoolka/LocusofControl-intro.html

5

Type A

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1126

6

Self-Control and Self-Monitoring

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=2815#2815

7

Self Esteem

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3105

8

Machiavellianism

https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/

9

The Narcissist Test

https://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1039

© 2020 CENTENNIALCOLLEGE.CA All rights reserved. 3

The Discussion Post should be written in complete sentence form with punctuation,

The Discussion Post should be written in complete sentence form with punctuation, proper grammar and correct spelling.

Please answer the questions with at least five complete sentences for each question.  The respond to two other students’ posts.

1.  Explain and define, what is a microagression.  

2.  Have you experience an microaggression? Give details.  

Respond 1

1.  Explain and define, what is a microaggression.  

     Simply put, microaggression is when someone passes on their own personal implicit biases towards another person through subtle non-verbal and/or verbal remarks, insults, or messages. Often, people may not realize they are passing on a micro-aggressive comment because they are naive to the impact their words or actions come across to the other party. Other times, someone may intentionally say things that are considered micro-aggressive because they are trying to show power, status, or more and this is simply not okay. Some examples of a micro-aggressive comments include the following:

-How much money do you actually have? 

-How did you really get this high level position? 

-You are actually really intelligent for being a woman in this industry. 

     All in all, microaggressions can be based on a person’s gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, race, etc, and can be very impactful to the receiving end of the comment. Educating and being aware of the comments that come out of our own mouths can help decrease the spread of hurtful remarks, even without knowing it. 

2.  Have you experience an microaggression? Give details.

    As a young woman going into the Financial Advising world, I have experienced a couple micro-aggressive comments in the past and expect to hear more when I go full time in my role (unfortunately that is the nature of the business). My first related microaggression in this regard was about a year ago. I was in my college finance class, and we were about halfway through the semester when people started having trouble with a specific topic. I was sitting by a fellow classmate, and he knew I was understanding the material as I was doing well on assignments, quizzes, and tests. When receiving an “A” on my test that was handed to me, the student next to me said “Wow, how is the only girl in class understanding this stuff but we can’t”. He said it in a joking way and laughed after saying it so I just let it brush off my back, but I was a bit taken back by the bluntness of the comment. To be frank, it just motivated me to keep doing my thing by doing great in the class. Although I was motivated, it did get under my skin because it’s the assumptions that just because I am a girl, I don’t know how to work with numbers. I do not think the classmate sitting next to me meant it ill-intentioned, but it was a micro-aggressive comment that could have been avoided if he knew better. 

Respond 2

1. Microaggressions are considered actions or statements that negatively target a persons personal identity based on their membership to a particular group. These points of commentary or actions commonly involve prejudice attitudes. Becuase society has been built around so many stereotypes, it is common for people to subconciously perform microaggressions. Microaggressions can occur in many different circumstances including the workplace, sports teams, and the classroom. These impacts marginalized groups that are different from what is considered the majority in the community. 

Examples:

You speak English pretty well.

Can I touch your hair?

You don’t act like your black.

2. Yes I have experienced microagressions as a Puerto Rican who is bilingual. People will frequently tell me that “I speak english well”. This is aggressive in nature because it is insinuating that I should act or speak a certain way. As a person with brown skin and curly hair I have also had people compare their sun tans to my natural skintone. This is a microagression because it is humorizing my genetics. As a minority many of my physical features have been highlighted with microagressions because they are clearly different from the majority of my peers.

HRM 630 Recruitment and Selection Midterm Essay Questions 1. During the Lyndon

HRM 630 Recruitment and Selection

Midterm Essay Questions

1.

During the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration, “President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, giving the Department of Labor authority over administration and enforcement of the Order, which prohibits contractors from discriminating against qualified applicants or employees based on race, color, religion, or national origin.” (AAAED,2022) Affirmative action itself can been defined as “any measure, beyond simple termination of a discriminatory practice, adopted to correct or compensate for past or present discrimination or to prevent discrimination from recurring in the future.” (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Statement on Affirmative Action, October 1977.) While affirmative action programs focus more on outreach and recruitment than preventing discrimination, they also eliminate barriers to equal employment opportunity. According to the Executive Order, affirmative action and discrimination are inversely related. Equal employment opportunities are enabled by affirmative action. An affirmative action plan (AAP) is a tool used by an organization to ensure they are maintaining equal opportunities amongst all applicants and exist employees. This program is mandatory under the U.S. Federal regulations to remain in compliance with the law. These programs are implemented to address barriers that minorities groups may face when seeking employment. Effective AAP’s include auditing from an internal standpoint within an organization as well as reporting to analyze any progress employers are making as it relates to equal opportunity hires. In conclusion, affirmative action is viewed as the process of ending discrimination, creating new opportunities for women and minorities that had previously been denied. 

References

2022. Upcounsel. What is an affirmative action plan? Retrieved from: https://www.upcounsel.com/affirmative-action-plan#:~:text=AnAffirmativeActionPlanAAPisatool,levelsarerequiredtohavesuchaprogram.

AAAED. (2022). The American Association for ACCESS, Equity and Diversity. Retrieved from About Affirmative Action, Diversity, and Inclusion: https://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/About_Affirmative_Action__Diversity_and_Inclusion.asp

2.

Dear CEO,

While reviewing the organizations webpage I recognized that we are not standing out as an employer of choice to potential candidates. Highlighting key attributes about our organization is essential if we want to stand us amongst our competitors. I have researched the three companies provided, Nugget Markets, Wegmans Food Market, and Whole Foods Market and recognized that all three organizations promote the image of the company to be identified as an “employer of choice” On the career pages specifically the content being marketed is about the organizations core values, mission, and success stories rather than speaking on compensation and benefits. Taking these factors into consideration I would like to suggest incorporating additional sections on our career page about who we are and what we do. This will allow potential candidates to look beyond the total rewards package and see the company as an amazing place to work. I also recommend mentioning some of the career paths that are available to employees who work here. This will allow prospective candidates to see a future within the organization beyond the scope of the role in which they are initially applying into. Providing testimonials from current employees or stakeholders on how rewarding it has been for them to be a part of our organization can potentially engage a highly qualified talent pool. Also, I believe it would be beneficial to include a section that outlines what is expected of new employees in their first year with the company, including the deliverables they are expected to meet. All these options are suggested if we want to strive to make our company an employer of choice and to compete on the same level with other prominent employers. To obtain this goal, it is necessary to have active presence on all social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram along with a robust career section on the company’s webpage which will encourage and motivate future and prospective employees to work for us. I am confident that the suggestions mentioned in this analysis will yield positive results as it relates to our recruitment and retention efforts. I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thank You,

Taneka Nelson

References

Heathfield, S. (2020) The Balance Careers. Are you an employer of choice? Retrieved from: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/are -you-an-employer-of-choice-1918112

Part A

To Whom this may concern,

I am writing on behalf of Ron Whyme as it relates to his claim of intentionally being discriminated against for the position of Corporate Claims Specialist (CCS) on the premise of his age. This came about when WDE decided to reorganize their claims function by eliminating the four regional offices and dividing those offices into several smaller field offices. By doing this, Ron Whyme’s position of Reginal Claims manager (RCM) was eliminated, and 5 CCS positions were created. WDE goal was to staff these new positions from internal employees within the claims department. Ron is a 53-year-old male. The Senior Vice President (SVP) informed him to apply for one of the CCS positions along with the three other RCM’s who were affected. I want to note that all these individuals are over the age of forty. Ron nor any of his fellow RCM’s were considered for the position and were passed over. The positions went to five claims specialist and supervisors within the Reginal offices two of which were direct reports to Ron during his time as an RCM. During a thorough investigation it was discovered that there was no formal job description for the role of CCS to outline the qualifications a candidate must possess to be considered. Furthermore, the position was never posted internally to allow qualified applicants to apply. The SVP and two MCC (managers) only browsed the personnel files of the applicants they were interested in, and the ones offered the positions. All these applicants were under the age of 40. Lastly, Ron’s manager was never made aware that he was not being considered for the role for he felt strongly that Ron had the appropriate experience and expertise to do well in this role and was more than qualified. When employees or applicants are treated differently than other employees or applicants because of (or partly because of) their membership in a protected class, it is intentionally discriminatory and is referred to as disparate treatment. In this particular case the protected class would be age.

Part B

WDE denies any claims that Mr. Ron Whyme’s was subjected to disparate treatment. The SVP and 2 MCC managers compiled a list of all eligible internal candidates they thought would be interested in the role. Mr. Whymes was included in the list. Mr. Lincoln was made aware that there were a large number of candidates who were more qualified than Ron that were interested in the role and upon narrowing down the list of candidates Ron was dispositioned from consideration. It was determined that Ron did not possess the expertise we were seeking as it relates to his technical ability and communication style. The personnel files of Ron were not considered in our decision to dismiss him from consideration. Only the personnel files of the selected candidates were reviewed to ensure that their performance was at expectation and that there were not any corrective actions on their record. Age is not a factor in the execution of performance evaluations currently or in the past. The reason the supervisor of Ron was not consulted with is because the decision to be impartial. Based on all factors stated above we found that for this new position of CCS the abilities and execution of diverse workers were the best fit. We are saddened by the disposition of Ron’s position. A great deal of hard choices had to be made, and they were made without any bias or disparate treatment.

References

(2022) UMGC Week 2 Course Readings. Disparate Adverse Impact and Treatment. Retrieved from: Disparate (Adverse) Impact and Disparate Treatment Slideshow Notes – HRMD 630 9041 Recruitment and Selection (2225) (umgc.edu)

Historio week 6 sources 1 Peter Parish lays out the common ways

Historio week 6 sources

1

Peter Parish lays out the common ways that writers describe slavery in the American South in Slavery: History and Historians. Parish says recent scholarship on slavery has yielded results. New thought has stressed the human aspect of both slaves and owners. Parish mentions several factors scholars now consider, such as home life, environment, mental effects of forced labor, vestigial native culture, and the saturation of White European culture (pp 64). 

Parish attemps to describe the condition of slaves at the personal level. He describes various personality archetypes slave owners used to describe their slaves. Parish compares Stanley Elkins’s idea of Sambo as a defensive mechanism. “. . . docile but irresponsible, loyal, but lazy, humble but deceitful – the sterotype of the American slave.” (pp 67) to Charles Joyner’s ideas. Elkins believed the psychological effects of bondage were more to blame for the behavior of slaves, while Joyner looked more to the simple material deprivation. Elkins reinforces the idea that slaveholders hold sole responsiblilty for slave’s pathology. Elkins compared American slavery to the “total instititions” of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany  (pp 68).

Parish then examines the sterotypes mentioned by Blassingame. Blassingame gives two other personality types for slaves, “Nat” and “Jack.” Sambo, goofy but harmless, is thought to be most useful. “Jack” is less so. “Nat,” almost certainly derived from Nat Turner, is the most dangerous. Parish reminds readers that these sterotypes are white inventions used to corral black behavior. (pp 70).

Parish discusses the rarity of slave revolts. He says that the lack of major revolts is more a matter of slave practicality than cowardice. Revolts, in the American South, never went very far. (pp 71).

Parish goes on to describe slave religions, and the adoption of Christianity. Historians are divided as to the depth of slave faith. Blassingame says “the church was the single most important institution for the Americanization of the bondsman.” (pp 84). Sterling Stuckey puts less importance on African belief in European Christian faith. He looks to slave Christianity as a front for African-European syncretism. “Christianity provided a protective exterior beneath which more complex, less familiar (to outsiders) religious principles and practices were operative.” (pp 85).

Parish further describes the creation of a seperate, distinct slave culture. Parish cites Lawrence Levine in Black Culture and Black Consciousness as being skeptical of pure African culture surviving in America. Levine seems to think searching for African folkways glosses over the real contributions of black people to a new African-American culture. “The question is not one of survival but of interaction and transformation.” (pp 90).  Parish closes by noting the move from focusing on the wounds caused by slavery, to recognizing the creativity and resiliance of enslaved people (pp 92.)

Vincent Brown’s Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War goes into great detail about the Coromantee War and Tacky’s Revolt in eighteenth century Jamaica. Tacky’s Revolt follows Wager, a Coromantee slave, John Cope, an English functionary stationed in Africa, and Arthur Forrest, a British adventurer who owned a plantation in Westmoreland. We follow Wager (Apongo) from his arrrival to his execution by Thomas Thistlewood. (Brown, pp 199)

Brown takes the reader to the source of the African slave trade, and examines how it functions. The first chapter, War’s Empire, looks at the Gold Coast. The map on page 24 illustrates the African kingdoms involved, and the European strongholds they serviced. Actually learning about how the Oyo, Dahomey, and Asante traded captives for guns brings some clarity to the whole issue.(pp 25 – 26) 

Tacky’s Revolt is dense. Like Berlin, Brown has a heavily sourced book with a great deal of information. Wading through the names and dates can be a slog. The cartographic timelines on page 134 – 135, 170 – 171 and again on page 202 are very helpful. I have not seen a map-timeline hybrid like this before, but it provides a great visual guide for the action. 

Tacky’s Revolt, compared to the first three books we have read, is much more coherent. Brown writes the story of Wager’s African and Caribbean world as a narrative, and this makes the writing easier to follow. The timeline skips around, depending on the geographical focus, but this is neccessary for a book of this type. If I had a complaint, it would be the bouncing from Africa, to London, to the Caribbean. Though much more focused than the survey books by Berlin and Gomez, we still jump around quite a bit. But, this book draws a solid picture of the slave society of sugar cane cultivation on Jamaica. The readings are becoming less general, and are starting to zoom in on specific bits of the antebellum world.  

I would like to ask one question. I still am fuzzy on the concept of “Coromantee.” The book describes a Coromantee as being from a specific geographic area on the Gold Coast. Brown says “Coromantees spoke more than one language and came from many different regions and kingdoms, from which they brought a variety of historical experiences.” (pp 91) I still cannot tell if “Coromantee” denotes a place, or a station. The book says Coromantees have a special military training, but come from many places. Are they a caste? Do they have a specific rank, like a Sioux war chief? I’m lost, here. If you guys know more from another class, I’d love to hear it. Maybe Dr. Rosa can fill me in.

2Vincent Brown examines Tacky’s Revolt and the Coromantee War in 1760s Jamaica as indicative of the martial nature of colonial Atlantic slavery and how this martial nature linked together the histories of Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Brown writes that “the slave trade forced all enslaved people to remake and renegotiate their sense of affiliation and belonging, while the massive dispersal of Africans across the Atlantic also scattered the seeds of military conflict throughout the Americas,” and numerous enslaved Africans, particularly enslaved Africans from the Gold Coast, acknowledged “that slavery thrived as the fruit of war” and “that slavery was itself a form of war” (14, 72, 92). Given slavery’s association with war, Vincent argues that slave rebellions such as Tacky’s Rebellion constituted “permanent wars” and “wars within wars,” as these conflicts “amounted to borderless slave war: war to enslave, war to expand slavery, and war against slaves, answered on the side of the enslaved by war against slaveholders, and also war among slaves themselves” and “connected the constituent elements of empire, diaspora, and insurrection” in upholding the patriarchal and imperial authority of European planters and bureaucrats amid a constantly shifting and contested imperial order (7). While slavery was the foundation of colonial Jamaica’s economic, social, political, and cultural order, it was an unstable institution that required near-constant displays of authority by white Jamaican planters, overseers, and politicians through brute force, violence, and physical domination. Brown notes how Jamaican slaveholders engaged in an “everyday war against the enslaved, writing that “martial masculinity valorized violent self-assertion, absolute control over black subordinates, and sexual dominance of women. These were the prerogatives of mastery, akin to rights of conquest, and were apt expressions of a man’s capacity to act forcefully upon his environment. The coercive power of slaveholders was seldom questioned, and slaves had little formal protection from punishment, rape, torture, or even murder” (59, 123). Slavery in Jamaica, then, was defined by an environment of domineering violence that asserted the authority of the Euro-Jamaicans’ social, political, and economic authority over the minds and bodies of Black enslaved Jamaicans, many of whom perceived of their explicit and implicit resistance to this domineering authority as acts of war against “the master class” (127, 238). 

Brown’s monograph effectively reveals how Tacky’s Revolt and the Coromantee Wars can be best understood as a reflection of social, political, economic imperial conditions as, according to Brown, “the Coromantee War was at once an extension of the African conflicts that fed the slave trade, a race war among black slaves and white slaveholders, an imperial conquest, and an internal struggle between black people for control of territory and the establishment of a political legacy. The economic, political, and cultural consequences of this war within wars reverberated out from Jamaica to other colonies, across the ocean to Great Britain, and back again to the island, where the revolt reshaped public life and lodged deeply in collective memory” and was shaped by the memories many enslaved Africans retained from wars waged in Africa (73, 209). When paired with Gomez and Berlin’s texts that reveal the centrality and the agency of Africans in the transatlantic world, Brown’s Tacky’s Revolt demonstrates the individual and collective agency enslaved men and women in Jamaica asserted in resisting and combatting a violent and dehumanizing social and economic system, testifying to the incomplete conquest inherent within chattel slavery in the Americas and the highly contested imperial American world. 

3

 Brown sets the stage for the Jamaican slave conflict, known as Tacky’s Revolt, into a much wider socio-political context than simply a local insurrection of slaves seeking freedom from the oppression of a Jamaican slaveocracy.  He extends and elaborates his analysis on the courageous, almost in a Spartacus-esque drama, of slaves who fought the imperial might of a far superior British military force, with the inhumane Jamaican slaveholders’ aid–the passages that Brown describes on captured rebels is very sombering.  He brings to light human savagery of the slaveholders in its most disgusting form: the burning alive of caught rebels, the placing of executed rebels’ heads upon pikes, and the left hanging bodies of the executed rebels to rot.  Broadening his framework from simply being set in Jamaica for this “revolution”, Brown informs that this “rebellion” was actually the product of a much later development, as it had its existential roots tied to a much earlier time, and a much distant land. Conflicts of an intra-African nature, which continued amongst Africans themselves, since these conflicts “did not end when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean.” (84)

     The rebels had honed their impactful guerrilla-style assaults, replete with even additional psychological weaponry of their constant beating of drums, from the internecine wars waged an ocean away, back on the topography of the African continent. They had benefited from their previous experiences of combat, of skillfully staging war strategies, and of continuing an overlapping scenario of battling more “wars within wars,” which the Jamaican conflict was just one more battle, from their African experiences; which did lend a fortuneate hand to their struggle, though, as Brown remarks. (163) Brown accentuates this critical point of suggesting that the rebels’ action to wage war against the Jamaican elite was simply an expanding and refashioned intercontinental mentailty of conflict that had previously occurred on the African continent, as much as a desperate act of freedom from slavery within the Island’s social structure. I was sort of taken aback by this line of reasoning in his arugment.Having always assumsed that the revolt was simply an act against slavery, I was a bit incomplete the more I think about it.  Brown’s assertion makes sense. Slaves lives were not just the “childlike” state that had been unfairly placed upon them in their Jamaican environment, but instead, their lives had always been more full, and dramatic, back in Africa, with the full range of human experiences, both good and bad, e.g., war between rival kingdoms, or the push for nation-building, both which battles between the warring  African nations had situated. War was not a new thing for the rebels…Jamaica was just a different geography.

     Yet the rebels were not of an ordinary or random collection of blacks, as Brown repeatedly points out. Instead, the rebels were composed of a special type of African, very special indeed. They belonged to group of Africans known as Coromantee, known for their warring abilities back on the African continent. Regarded as the most “soldier-like” of slaves brought to Jamaica, they were very cognizant of sucessful counter-offensive measures to take against an enemy. While prized by the slaveholders for their intense stamina for physical tasks, almost as a status symbol, they were “feared” the most due to their mental strengths. As an example, they took advantage of the natural geography of Jamaica to wage their revolt to their advantage…much as another group rebels did in their struggle…the American Revolution. Tacky (Court) was but one man, an icon for the reistance movement..as there were others would were as equally important in the struggle for freedom, e.g., Wagner, Simon,or even the Obeah “who helped the rebel bands to solidify their unions.” (107)

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Brown’s Tacky’s Revolt is a well narrated account of Tacky’s Revolt, as well as the larger revolt (or wars) that occurred in Jamaica in the 18th century. In Brown’s view this revolt, and the subsequent revolts like that led by Wager/Apongo were part of an interconnected series of “wars within wars.” At first while reading this book I assumed the “wars within wars” would be limited to the revolt being situated within the seven year’s war, and then examined for the internal conflicts. However, Brown actually situates the revolts within four wars. He situates this first as a race war, then as a war within the imperial war between Britain and France, then as a part of the broader (West African) slaving wars, and finally as a war amongst the slave community. This was perhaps the greatest feat of the book, as this placement situates the revolt as part of the broader transatlantic struggle.

I think this work, though not my favorite, pairs excellently with out other reads. Throughout this book there appeared to be endless connections between Brown’s work and the other works we’ve read. I was particularly struck by the connections between the historiography of Tacky’s Revolt and Trouillot’s points about power in Silencing the Past. The first histories of the revolt were recorded by the planters Edward Long and later Brian Edwards. These histories, as Brown points out, created the canonical history of the Coromantee War centering Tacky’s revolt and silencing the subsequent revolts like the one led by Wager/Apongo. This silencing, as far as I know, is one that continued through to the present day and is only jut now being challenged by works like this one. I certainly had never heard of the revolt lead by Wager/Apongo or of the ways in which this was truly a war in itself.

Additionally this work also calls back to Gomez and Berlin’s in several ways. Brown highlights, continually, the interconnectedness of the Atlantic world and how events beyond the borders of Jamaica effected the Coromantee war and vice versa. In particular Brown highlights how this war was, in many ways, a continuation of the wars occurring in West Africa. This interconnectedness corresponds to the connections Gomez highlights when discussing how African Americans, despite their forceful removal from their homes, retained their cultures and how their lives continued to be affected by what occurred in Africa. These two works also both spend time discussing the ways in which enslaved people created new communities (or ethnicities) in their new locations and how these ethnicities interacted and came to be defined. Similar to Berlin, Brown also highlights the important role that Maroons played both in finding freedom as well as in capturing run-away slaves or suppressing revolts. I have also found it interesting to learn, from both Berlin and Brown, how big a role the literal geographical landscape was to finding or fighting for freedom.

            Parrish’s “The Lives of Slaves,” asked several questions that I found fascinating. One of these was the notion of “types” of slaves. Parrish mentions explicitly the stereotype of “Sambo,” which we have discussed before. However, when thinking about Browns work, I found myself wondering if there was very much of a difference between labelling slaves “Sambo” or “Coromantee” (though I realize the Coromantee was more about a developing ethnic identity, it was an identity that carried a specific stereotype). Another question Parrish raises that I hadn’t considered is how even history from the “bottom up” can create stereotypes or allude to a singular experience among the lower classes when in reality their experiences were varied. I found this an interesting opposition to Berlin’s choice to do history from a more “bottom up” perspective to avoid the same issue.

            It seems to be a habit of mine to end with a quote I found fascinating, and I would hate to break with tradition. Often these quotes help me think through big picture historical or moral questions and have been especially helpful in thinking through my thesis. This week I found this sentence to be especially striking:

“In response, late-eighteenth-century abolitionists would rally around the image of a kneeling supplicant begging to be recognized as a man and a brother, as if the condemnation of evil required the meek innocence of its victims.” [emphasis added] (17-18)