Week 1 Nived Soman "Subsistence"

 Subsistence: the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level.

"The Virginians needed labor, to grow corn for subsistence, to grow tobacco for export. They had just figured out how to grow tobacco, and in 1617 they sent off the first cargo to England. Finding that, like all pleasurable drugs tainted with moral disapproval, it brought a high price, the planters, despite their high religious talk, were not going to ask questions about something so profitable." (Drawing the Color Line by Howard Zinn - History Primary Source)

When I read this originally, I didn't know what the word meant. I looked it up and it means to support oneself at a minimum level. I feel that this word can be applicable in many different eras of history where a lower class may be struggling to support themselves.



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