Is Professor Tribbe full of crap? Do you agree with Professor Tribbe’s argument that Bacon’s Rebellion (1675-76) was a major turning point in Virginia’s shift toward becoming a slave society, with racism fully instituted in its laws? Or does the evidence from this week’s readings tell you something else? _x000D_
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you need to think about the nature of the laws you’re reading concerning race and slavery before and after Bacon’s Rebellion. There is no doubt that laws concerning slavery were already solidifying the institution before Bacon’s Rebellion. But do you think these laws before 1675 were designed to also create a strict race-based society by institutionalizing a kind of racism that elevated all white Virginians over all Blacks in Virginia? Or do we only see such attempts to create this kind of systematic racism in Virginia after Bacon’s Rebellion? In other words, do the nature and goals of the laws change after Bacon’s Rebellion, or do you see a more natural evolution of laws whose development seem to have little relation to Bacon’s Rebellion?_x000D_
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Reference specific laws as you make your case, and don’t be afraid to call Professor Tribbe full of crap if that’s what you think–this is a question that historians disagree on.