Audio file m4a format, 20 min.
The institution of slavery in North America was not merely a system of labor exploitation; it was also a sophisticated exercise in public relations. The concept of slavery as public relations refers to the manipulation of public perception and discourse surrounding the institution of slavery to justify its existence, minimize opposition, and maintain social control. This tactic was often employed by slaveholders and proponents of slavery to present a sanitized or
distorted image of slavery that obscured its brutal realities and justified its continuation. The manipulation of information, imagery, and narrative was central to both the perpetuation of slavery and the subsequent regimes of racial violence that followed emancipation, including
lynching and segregation. This course has seven parts:
Part One: The Institution of Slavery as PR
Part Two Historical Context: The Emergence of Public Relations in the Age of Slavery
Part Three Manipulation of discourse around slavery as Systematic Social Engineering
Part Four Racial ideologies as instrument of shaping, justifying, and perpetuating slavery in North America
Part Five The Role of Abolitionist Counter-Narratives
Part Six The Transition to Racial Violence and Segregation
Part Seven Implications for Law and Social Science
