About slavery

[senior chef]

Absolutely absurd. I can buy heroin on the street, but I wouldn't. I could be offered a slave, but I wouldn't buy one. The supply was due to the Demand of white people. The whites are guilty of purchasing them.

You need to remember that only a small minority of Southern whites owned slaves. The rest of Southern whites were too poor to own slaves.
Moreover, whites above the Mason-Dixon Line did not employ slavery.
If truth be told, only a very small percentage of American whites ever own any slaves. AND, in fact, hundreds of thousands of Northern whites died in the Civil War to end slavery.
I for one, get angry when it is assumed that MY ancestors owned slaves. To the best of my knowledge, my ancestors farmed in up state New York after fleeing religious persecution in Europe in the 1700's.

 

[Bellbird]

The trouble is the current debate is only about the enslavement of people of colour.

The pyramids were built by enslaved Jews, Hadrian's wall was built by enslaved Britons.

slavery has been used since time began but people tend to forget about any slavery other than the Afro Caribbean variety.

Are we going to pull down the pyramids and delete all reference to Hadrian's wall, or pull down all the castles in Wales that were built by Welsh slave labour?

So true. It has become a bit to one sided in my opinion.

 

[Pepper]

I feel those examples only prove that what was done to man in modern times is what was done thousands and thousands of years ago. So, are we too thick-headed to learn anything new or should we just recycle the old? When I was a child there were former slaves still alive. That makes it modern. We should have known better, and most humans did.

 

[Alligatorob]

You need to remember that only a small minority of Southern whites owned slaves. The rest of Southern whites were too poor to own slaves.

Yes, but many more Americans benefited from the low cost labor in the form of cheap goods.

Moreover, whites above the Mason-Dixon Line did not employ slavery.

All of the colonies had slavery to begin with. Not just the southern ones.

To the best of my knowledge, my ancestors farmed in up state New York after fleeing religious persecution in Europe in the 1700's.

New York did not end slavery until 1827.

Slavery was a pervasive and complex institution. An important part of the development of our country.

 

[helenbacque]

I am a genealogy nut so have done a lot of family research. My ancestors on all lines have been in this country (primarily In in the South) since Revolutionary War times. Slavery was custom/tradition in early times and if there was money and need, they participated, I'm sure. However, most of my lines did not have money and there was a large segment that leaned toward Quakerism. That was a shameful period for our country but history worldwide is full of shameful periods. I feel no family shame for their actions then.

Lincoln and the Civil War brought an end to the legality of slavery but in no way ended the practice. It was just called something else. When I graduated high school in 1951, there was absolute segregation of school and public facilities. "Separate but equal" became the law of the land. The separate was strictly enforced but the 'equal' never existed.

I never saw the insides of the black schools in my town; the outsides as I recall were acceptable but old and shabby. However in a nearby county, schools for the blacks were deplorable shacks with outside facilities while whites enjoyed clean, comfortable modern facilities.

When ordered by the court to integrate in 1959, Prince Edward County VA instead closed the entire school system. Private schools were created for the whites which were supported by tuition grants from the state and tax credits from the county. The blacks (and disadvantaged whites) had no school to go to. Prince Edward was not a backward county, it housed one of the better colleges for teachers at the time. It was just southern.

Either I was not aware of this at the time or did not remember. Reading the book, "Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County" by Kristen Green 2015 made me deeply ashamed to be a Virginian because it happened in my lifetime. So no, we no longer have slavery but the effects of it and our continuing racism still harm the country.

People harmed by the "separate but 'NOT' equal" era are still around and may be contributing to the current racial chaos. Who could blame them.

 

[Alligatorob]

The trouble is the current debate is only about the enslavement of people of colour.

The pyramids were built by enslaved Jews, Hadrian's wall was built by enslaved Britons.

slavery has been used since time began but people tend to forget about any slavery other than the Afro Caribbean variety.

Are we going to pull down the pyramids and delete all reference to Hadrian's wall, or pull down all the castles in Wales that were built by Welsh slave labour?

The difference is both the modernity of our slavery and a clearly identifiable population who likely have slavery to blame, at least in part, for their low socioeconomic status and other issues. However your point that slavery has long been an integral part of civilization is a good one.

Folks have raised a lot of good questions about all of this, and I know doing anything effective about it is probably neigh on to impossible. I just think we need to recognize and be aware of the problem. If someone comes up with a genius solution I am all ears.

 

[Alligatorob]

And for those who inherited their wealth from slave-owning ancestors

In the US much of the slave based wealth was lost in the Civil War, that is what happened to my family. Gen Sherman contributed to our losses... Or somehow I never inherited it anyway.

I did inherit my family's tradition of educating and make professionals out of us. That has benefited me, so I guess you can say I probably earned more money than I might have...

 

[oldaunt]

Yes, but many more Americans benefited from the low cost labor in the form of cheap goods.

And you still do, buying Chinese imports and using the produce picked by illegals, so until you fix THOSE problems, the whole point is moot.

 

[Alligatorob]

And you still do, buying Chinese imports and using the produce picked by illegals, so until you fix THOSE problems, the whole point is moot.

Yep, the world is and always has been made up of the haves and have nots. Who they are changes, but not the stratification. Not sure it ever will.

 

[Sunny]

Slavery was a pervasive and complex institution. An important part of the development of our country.

Unfortunately true, Alligator. And a shameful fact about this country.