Forgotten Black Voices
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Gedahlia Braun, American Renaissance, September/October 1993
In the June and July cover story in AR on black claims for reparations because of slavery, there was a discussion about slaves and the conditions in which they lived. Your readers may be interested to know that during the Depression someone had the idea of sending people to the South to interview the last remaining blacks who had been slaves—all then in their 80s and 90s. Someone named George P. Rawick has compiled these narratives into a 19-volume collection called The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, which is published by Greenwood Press.
Several books have been based on these interviews, and a few years ago I read one called Before Freedom: 48 Oral Histories of Former North and South Carolina Slaves. It was edited by Belinda Hurmence, and published by Mentor (Penguin) in 1990. I recall that of these 48 interviews only two could be called hostile to former masters, slavery, or whites. Some were more or less neutral, but certainly the largest number expressed a positive attitude toward former owners and to slavery. Here are some excerpts:
Patsy Mitchner, age 84 when interviewed on July 2, 1937:
“Before two years had passed after the surrender, there was two out of every three slaves who wished they was back with their marsters. The marsters’ kindness to the nigger after the war is the cause of the nigger having things today. There was a lot of love between marster and slave, and there is few of us that don’t love the white folks today. . .nbsp;.LBetty Cofer, age 81:“Slavery was better for us than things is now, in some cases. Niggers then didn’t have no responsibility; just work, obey, and eat.”
“The rest of the family was all fine folks and good to me, but I loved Miss Ella better ’n anyone or anything else in the world. She was the best friend I ever had. If I ever wanted for anything, I just asked her and she give it to me or got it for me somehow. . .nbsp;. I done lived to see three generations of my white folks come and go and they’re the finest folks on earth.”Adeline Johnson, age 93:
“That was a happy time, with happy days. . .nbsp;. I’ll be satisfied to see my Savior that my old marster worshiped and my husband preach about. I wants to be in heaven with all my white folks, just to wait on them and love them, and serve them, sorta like I did in slavery time. That will be enough heaven for Adeline.”Mary Anderson, age 86:
“I think slavery was a mighty good thing for Mother, Father, me and the other members of the family, and I cannot say anything but good for my old marster and missus, but I can only speak for those whose conditions I have known during slavery and since. For myself and them, I will say again, slavery was a mighty good thing.”Simuel Riddick, age 95:
“My white folks were fine people. . .nbsp;. I haven’t anything to say against slavery. My old folks put my clothes on me when I was a boy. They gave me shoes and stockings and put them on me when I was a little boy. I loved them, and I can’t go against them in anything. There were things I did not like about slavery on some plantations, whupping and selling parents and children from each other, but I haven’t much to say. I was treated good.”Sylvia Cannon, age 85:
“Things sure better long time ago then they be now. I know it. Colored people never had no debt to pay in slavery time. Never hear tell about no colored people been put in jail before freedom. Had more to eat and more to wear then, and had good clothes all the time ’cause white folks furnish everything, everything. Had plenty peas, rice, hog meat, rabbit, fish, and such as that.”As I reflect on these interviews, they remind me of what I find now among non-Westernized Africans. They like and respect whites because, generally speaking, whites treat them better than their fellow blacks do.
In the introduction to this collection, the editor is at pains to explain all of these favorable statements about whites and slavery. The best she can do is to point out that these interviews were taken in the midst of the Depression and people must have looked back nostalgically to the past when blacks had food, clothing, housing, etc.
Even if this could explain the fond memories of the condition of slavery, it does not explain fond memories of white owners. What is especially surprising is that after sifting through thousands of interviews, and with the clearly expressed liberal bias of the editor, there is still such a preponderance of positive expressions about whites and slavery. One is bound to conclude that this was at least a very common reaction if not perhaps even typical.
(Posted on October 10, 2008)
Comments
I first visited the South in the late 70’s and was quite surprised to find that whites and blacks, generally speaking, got along far, far better than both did in the North. Although I am sure there were horrible conditions for some slaves, I firmly believe that there was a mutual respect between the vast majority of slaves and their masters. That is what is so different, even today, between the South and the North. Although I find the South of the 2000’s looking and acting more and more like the North, there is still an old-fashioned respect and dignity present in her people of both colors. I find Savannah, Georgia, to be a very-friendly city and that means all of her residents. You’ll never find an equally-friendly city up North. So for alll the bad history, I believe Liberals and Northern Agitators did more to poison Black Americans than any element of slavery itself.
Posted by GetBackJack at 6:42 PM on October 10
Yes, that’s about the only wothwhile thing coming out of the FDR years, these slave narratives. Of course, the young people today aren’t in any way taught that many of the slaves loved their masters.
One question if I may. When we have to pay reparations for slavery, with the decendants of black slave owners have to write themselves a check?
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron... at 7:46 PM on October 10
I’m not going to sugar coat slavery nor will I condemn people who practiced a tradition that spans the history of mankind.
Although I see the practice through contemporary opinions and wouldn’t wish it on anyone, I have to believe that slavery, day in and day out, was as mundane as any physical labor. Certainly the act of forcing people to work against their will and depriving them of freedom is today seen as wrong. But by and large, it would have been (and I know I’m could get crucified for this one) just another day on the job.
In the end, slavery has hurt both whites and blacks. It’s a tragedy our forefathers didn’t have the foresight to see the future consequences (although Jefferson seems to have known full well what would happen).
Posted by sbuffalonative at 8:00 PM on October 10
I can’t imagine most White slave owners abusing their slaves. Wouldn’t it have been counterproductive? Granted, the institution of slavery might have been wrong, but it may be possible that slavery for Blacks was not as bad as the media portrays it today. As a matter of fact knowing how the media exaggerates and mis-characterizes events of the past it is a distinct possibility. It seems to me that according to these excerpts the master’s - at least some of them - treated these people almost like family members. I’d really like to read this book.
Posted by Awakened at 9:26 PM on October 10
It is also a little known fact that many black servants followed their masters into war and sometimes retrieved them from battlefields…dead in some instances. The great lie that is being generated about the “ill treatment” of blacks in the South is belied by their cruel treatment at the hands of Union soldiers. If you want to know the truth, look at the personal accounts in letters and diaries of Union soldiers who “liberated” them. These eyewitness accounts are stored in libraries and court houses all across the midwest. That will tell you all you need to know. And, of course, the most striking legacy of goodwill between master and slave that still endures to this day is the cordiality that still remains between the races in the South. It has been strained because of leftist notions infecting institutions nationally, but your chances of surviving a wrong turn into a black neighborhood are much greater in Atlanta than in Philadelphia.
Posted by Xenophon at 9:38 PM on October 10
“Although I find the South of the 2000’s looking and acting more and more like the North…”
GetBackJack, that’s largely because so many Northerners are moving South and bringing their attitudes and institutions with them. Some of them still refuse to believe the evidence of racial harmony right before their eyes.
Posted by Xenophon at 10:08 PM on October 10
I visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, and was taken aback at how well his slaves lived. They were given sturdy little houses that would’ve been the envied by poor whites, complete with family cooking areas and detachable chimneys that were pushed away from the house in case of chimney fire! They lived in family units, and the grandparents who were too old to work looked after their grandkids during the day.
Many of the slaves were taught skills like carpentry and blacksmithing, and were allowed to bring in their own income after work hours with their crafts. They were renowned throughout the region for the nails they manufactured. Jefferson’s slaves had their own gardens and small livestock, pretty much lived their own lives outside of normal working hours.
Monticellos slaved lived better than poor whites, had the security of knowing Jefferson would care for them if they were injured or their crops failed. While many plantations were not as nice as Monticello, I’ve never heard of a black slave starving to death in America! How many poor whites died from malnutrition in those days?
Posted by Jill at 10:30 PM on October 10
Slavery may have been wrong. Slavery was developed over thousands of years. We have become soft and in denial of reality. Slavery was not wrong and was believed to be approved by God and nature for thousands of years.
Before slavery the black crime and aggression in America was not a problem. During black and white slavery, feeding and taking care of welfare folks was the job of the Ruling Elite, not the taxpaying White Man. During black and white slavery, old black and white slaves that could not take care of themselves were taken care of by the Ruling Elite and other slaves. During black and white slavery days, the so called underclass and poor had value; today they are just cattle to be feed and clothed by the state at tax payer expense. During black and white slavery days, when help (read employees) were added there was careful consideration because of the cost of purchase, feeding, clothing, and health care. Now the Ruling Elite just hand out pink slips and the tax payer and state take care of the discarded employee.
I could go on and on. For people today slavery seems savage. Maybe it was. As time unfolds, and there are no more hand outs, affirmative action, and other cultural and racial equalizers, we will find the same thing that the African continent is learning: the black man was better off enslaved and under the management of the White Man. Not only for himself but for the safety of other races!
Go to ANY inner city and ask yourself this: Is the Black and White people who are in these hell holes better off wasting their life with TV, hip hop, street crime, ignorance, etc and degrading our Western Society, OR are THEY and WE better off if they are slaves working daily at some task and contributing something to society. Free to be trash, Free to be ignorant, Free to be degrading, Free to mooch from the Commonwealth, is NOT beneficial to the Commonwealth OR to her future.
The vast majority of the Commonwealth must be ruled. Left to their own devices they will return to general ignorance and squalor. We are seeing this right now. We WILL be like the African and South America if we continue on our present course.
Sherwood Smith
Posted by Sherwood Smith at 10:53 PM on October 10
Correct me if I am wrong. I believe it was just a little over a decade after American independence from England that this country put a halt to the legal importation of slaves from Africa.
Posted by at 11:47 PM on October 10
“When we have to pay reparations for slavery, with the decendants of black slave owners have to write themselves a check?”
I’m wondering if the descendants of the five civilized indian tribes will have to pay reparations to the descendants of black slaves. Because this aspect of slavery was certainly overlooked when the all important black and native american history was taught at school. I guess it’s only certain times we have to face up to the past.
Posted by at 11:51 PM on October 10
I believe that many slaves and masters loved or were at least very fond of each other.
Even if slaves were merely considered livestock, they were worth a considerable amount. To buy an adolescent or adult slave, expecially one trained in something like child care, cooking, hairdressing, blacksmithing, carriage-driving, ect. required a goodly outlay, and would therefore be fed, clothed, housed and entertained.
He or she would be carefully tended because unhappiness or loss would cost the master dearly, just in replacement costs, to say nothing of emotional losses which were more or less inevevitable within small communities living on rather isolated plantations. plantations.
Not to defend slavery which I DO believe is immoral, but it did provide lifelong employment with training, job security, medical and retirement benefits, all at company (Master) expense.
Posted by at 12:11 AM on October 11
I’ve heard this before and it doesn’t surprise me. Yes, it wold be completely counterproductive to beat or make a slave unhappy. They are there doing your labor, you would give them all you could to make them happy. Do people beat their work animals ? Never, often times, those same animals are treated better than children of the owner.
Posted by at 1:41 AM on October 11
Fifty years from now I’m sure you will find plenty of old white folks who will say they miss multi-culturalism. That doesn’t make it right.
Posted by Guilty Liberal at 2:04 AM on October 11
there you go again, trying to justify slavery to make yourselves feel better. can’t you see your on the defensive? thats where they want you to be. all you have to say is, i am not interested in history, i know nothing about it, and i wasn’t around then, and neither were you, and it has nothing to do with me, or you, so quit trying to make me feel guilty about slavery. it was just a period in time before us. most of the american white populus’ ancesters arrived here after 1910 through ellis island, the poles, italians, irish, french, scots, swiss, etc. quit playing defense. they answer to a good offense is offense, not defense.
Posted by danjack at 3:01 AM on October 11
Their ancestors were sold off by tribal chiefs because they were the weaker inferiors of the African continent. They were no rounded up in the jungle by whites as they allege. They were unwanted outcasts who welcomed the chance to escape certain death aka cannibalism in order to be shipped to a far away western budding Euro white nation to improve their lifes working as servants with free everything.
Even after 1821 when America created Liberia the few thousand free slaves who dared return to Africa were treated as unwanted outcasts by the natives that ultimately required military assistance by the US Govt and even to this day the rest of Africa ignores this nation.
The African American name is a con and Jesse Jackson who invented it knows it. He would never return to Africa even to visit. Muhammed Ali aka Cassius Clay declared he would never return to Africa after his fight with George Foreman in Zaire in the mid 70s. All this talk about Africa the motherland is 100% rhetoric and lies. Trinity Rev Wright wouldnt go back if they paid him millions.
How many African Americans have returned to Africa as immigrants? ZERO. All the while millions have fled into Europe.
Posted by at 8:42 AM on October 11
Slavery is not 100 percent illegal. The antislavery amendment says that slavery for crimes is ok. Read the Amendment.
Posted by bigbill at 9:29 AM on October 11
You always hear the myth of massive rape by slave masters. This was the time before movies and television and there were not any celebrities. I imagine that the owner of the plantation was viewed by the slaves as something of a rock star. Where does this belief in a slave’s chastity come from? You think they wouldn’t be willing to make these exchanges to buy favors?
Do you think the black males weren’t paying a visit to the prettier girls at night anyway? The image in movies is always of the sweaty, leering, master breaking in the door of the chaste black virgin in tears holding the blanket in front of her young body and shaking. C’mon get real. This just a myth to inflame hatred against Whites.
Posted by Jimmy Jimmy at 10:36 AM on October 11
Fifty years from now I’m sure you will find plenty of old white folks who will say they miss multi-culturalism. That doesn’t make it right.
I definitely agree that slavery is not “right,” and I think that these recollections of slaves should be taken at something less than face value due to the time and place in which they were making their comments (in the South at the height of the Great Depression, former slaves might be inclined to view their slave days more favorably than their current situation). Time has a way of making one’s younger years take on a golden glow, even if they were slavery years.
That said, I do agree with other commenters that black slaves in the USA had it better than virtually any other slaves in the world. Only in America did the slave population have a robust natural increase, indicating that slaves were being treated well and cared for (not a surprise, since I remember reading that a healthy slave cost the equivalent of a luxury car today — even upper middle-class people could afford no more than one or two). And at least the slave had some sort of connection to a wealthy household, and with cleverness and skill could even rise to a position of importance within that household. Poor whites had no such opportunities.
Posted by Dave at 11:24 AM on October 11
When I was a college student in California in the 1970’s, there was extreme racial tension. You could feel the hatred of blacks for whites, and it was dangerous to go into black neighborhoods. My liberal California college professors always made fun of “backwards, ignorant, & racist” Southerners, and how bad Southerners treated southern blacks. In 1980 I moved to Georgia, and was shocked at how civil, polite, and relaxed both whites and blacks were toward everyone. For example, I once ran out of gas in a small African-American town — everyone there was kind and helped me. A black family fed me lunch while their son went to get gas. It was easy to talk to poor, rural blacks in the deep South — they had no chip on their shoulders. This was in stark contrast to the Blacks in Northern cities, who were seething with anger. My opinion is that our current Black vs. White conflict was largely caused by Northern liberals, constantly baying about injustice and racism.
I was also shocked at how superior Southern societal norms were compared to those in the supposedly “Morally superior” North. In California, it was “me, me, me” — sex, money, drugs, fun, lying to get ahead, screw your neighbor, and let someone else pay for it. The people I met in the South were civic-minded, honest, loyal, caring, and would give you the shirt off their backs, in a second. I’ll take Southern hospitality over Northern hypocrisy, any day.
Posted by at 11:44 AM on October 11
Another thing that is largely overlooked when we speak of slavery in the US is the lack of awareness by blacks that life could or would or should be any different. They came as captives to these shores, but captives through the actions of their own people. Their ancestors’ lives in Africa had been brutal and short as a result of the primitive societies they lived in. In reality, very little in the way of their conscious awareness had changed, except that they were better housed and fed as slaves over here and no longer had to worry about internecine tribal warfare. Beyond that, life simply drifted on for blacks as a group. It was only when they became aware AFTER the war and “liberation” of the lives of others and their ability to communicate with one another that they became antagonistic to white culture, and then only among the educated and mixed race among them. Their antipathy to white culture, in other words, is largely the imposition of leftist radical egalitarian ideas from a civilization they barely understand. Life is strange.
Posted by Xenophon at 11:51 AM on October 11
I could be wrong? this is only one mans opinion, but I believe if blacks were 100% honest and they had a chance to become slaves again today a Very Large Percentage of them would choose to to do so. Food, Shelter, Work, Health Care, it sounds like a bit of heaven to me.
Posted by Boxxer at 12:33 PM on October 11
Posted by Xenophon at 10:08 PM on October 10
I am a Northern-born White American. This is what stuns me. Many Southerners truly believe that all Whites from the North are their enemies. I can assure you, there are many, many Whites from the North that are anti-Union. Not just sympathizers (Copperheads) but aligned wholeheartedly with “The Cause.” Also, I can certainly find thousands upon thousands of White Southerners who are traitorous. Traitors, not only to “The Cause” but venemous toward their own ancestors. After all, who promoted this Yankee onslaught? Southern politicians betray their constituents even today. And if their politicians are transplated Yankees, who elects them? Must I remind you of Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Lindsay Graham to name just a few of many out there? A traitor is a traitor, no matter what territory they are born in. I guess this ignorance is why so many White Southerners are hostile to so many White Northerners even before they know where those Northern Whites stand? It’s an automatic response to anything Yankee. We need to work together to get things done. Hostility directed at ourselves is part of the problem. We just happened to have been infiltrated by the enemy long before you were…
I sought out the South for the very reason I am an Amrener!
Posted by GetBackJack at 2:03 PM on October 11
“…poor, rural blacks in the deep South — they had no chip on their shoulders. This was in stark contrast to the Blacks in Northern cities, who were seething with anger.”
It would make sense that those blacks with a chip on their shoulder were the ones who left. I’ve never spent much time in the south to have an opinion about the differences between northern and southern blacks but the blacks up north sure have an attitude. Our local black radio talk show host is the son of parents who left the south. He commented on last weeks show that northern blacks didn’t have the same sensibilities and refinement of southern blacks and that the influence of southern blacks was being lost because southern blacks who moved north are now old and dying off.
Even blacks know there’s a difference.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 9:24 PM on October 11
i know nothing about it, and i wasn’t around then, and neither were you, and it has nothing to do with me, or you, so quit trying to make me feel guilty about slavery.
Posted by danjack
Mr. Danjack
Those who forget their history are forever doomed to repeat it. Learn from history of all the mistakes that were made in order to get it right the next time an opportunity should arise.
Posted by at 9:54 PM on October 11
“…A traitor is a traitor, no matter what territory they are born in. I guess this ignorance is why so many White Southerners are hostile to so many White Northerners even before they know where those Northern Whites stand? It’s an automatic response to anything Yankee. We need to work together to get things done. Hostility directed at ourselves is part of the problem. We just happened to have been infiltrated by the enemy long before you were…I sought out the South for the very reason I am an Amrener!” Posted by GetBackJack at 2:03 PM on October 11
I also am Northern born living in the South and married to a very nice Southern gentleman, by the way. I agree that the majority of Southerners don’t trust Yankees and having read a fair amount of history about what happened down here, I can’t say I blame them. However, it’s true, there are many Northerners who are on their side. The problem as I see it is that so many of the “transplants” are the Yuppies. They came here for the high tech jobs and the money and they tend to live in their own “ghettos” and avoid Southerners as much as possible. They look down on them with contempt.
The Northerners who come down here who are just regular working people are different. They can connect with the Southern people because they haven’t had it easy either and they’re very aware of what drove them out of their towns and cities.
Yes, Whites need to get together. Southerners have to realize that not all Northerners are cut from the same cloth, and the Yuppies need to learn some humility.
The best compliment I ever had down here was when I was with a group of Southerners and one of them said something about Yankees. I said, “Well, I’m a Yankee.” He looked at me and said, “You’re not a Yankee, you’re just a Northerner.”
Varina
Posted by Varina at 10:18 PM on October 11
This article is very valuable, not only because it is so rare in its outlook, but also because it presents historical truth in the face of the distorted orthodoxy of the victors—your standard Northern liberal view of the past. The facts about slavery presented here are part of a much larger picture of the historical truth of the period between 1840 and 1890 in the US. The real causes of the “Civil War”, the fact that the Confederacy was indeed fighting to preserve the original national constitution, etc. It is doubtful that either this article or any other attempt to expose the truth from that period will be successful in changing the general views of the public. Nevertheless, for those few who, like me, are concerned with the discovery of the true history of those times, one which was to decisively influence the remainder of US history and change our system of government overnight, it is a useful contribution. Anyone who wishes to learn the historical reality of this period will have to do the research himself, but there is a great deal of it in print and it is not difficult to obtain.
It would be foolish to attempt to speak with any authority about this period before having oneself studied it, for to use the assumptions of the ruling orthodoxy is to fall into the trap of accepting a radically distorted view of history.
Posted by at 9:34 AM on October 12
It is such a pity that reading is a dying art. Try reading Dickens,yes he was a bleeding heart liberal for his age, but he painted a true picture. Slavery, with food and shelter provided would have been seen as paradise for most of the poor in Europe. Ten year olds working underground mining coal twelve hours a day for pennies, not enough to buy a meal. Slavery was no more onerous than the system of apprenticeship practiced in Europe. Two hundred years ago the working poor were treated like slaves, in Russia they were sold with the land. Transportation to Australia was the same as slavery. Going back 100 years, read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, working conditions for the poor whites in Chicago made slavery look like a holiday camp.
The difference between the descendants of the black and white slaves is simply that the one had enough backbone to pull themselves out of their hole.
Posted by ciccio at 10:36 AM on October 12
Posted by Varina at 10:18 PM on October 11
Point well taken but I would prefer the label of northern-born Southerner.
Posted by GetBackJack at 12:03 PM on October 12
Some people treat their dogs well, others treat them terribly. I’m sure the same occured with slaves. But it’s a real stretch to say that slavery was a good thing. While it’s true that a lot of blacks may have been better off physically with slavery, and many may have had - and still do - a psychology better suited for a slave, slavery is a sin and a moral burden on the society that practices it.
Posted by AvgDude at 1:08 PM on October 12
“I find Savannah, Georgia, to be a very-friendly city and that means all of her residents. You’ll never find an equally-friendly city up North. So for alll the bad history, I believe Liberals and Northern Agitators did more to poison Black Americans than any element of slavery itself.” Getbackjack
This is very true. In many ways the relationships between blacks and whites were more relaxed and friendly during the time of Jim Crow. I’m afraid the Civil Rights movement changed much, some for the good, but much for the bad. The petty Apartheid was wrong, but allowing folks to associate with who they want to was right. The South is becoming more like the North these days, and I can’t say I’ve liked the changes I’ve seen in the last twenty years. I guess a president Obama will bring even more such “changes”
Posted by Sardonicus at 1:58 PM on October 12
Blacks benefitted immensely from slavery. If whites didn’t bring them to the Americas, they would still be running naked through Africa, eating each other and suffering from tribal warfare, famine and disease.
The biggest mistake in American history was bringing blacks here. Hundreds of years of theft, rape and murder at their hands are testaments to this fact.
George Manuelian
Atherton, CA
Posted by george Manuelian at 4:09 PM on October 12
“Anyone who wishes to learn the historical reality of this period will have to do the research himself, but there is a great deal of it in print and it is not difficult to obtain.
It would be foolish to attempt to speak with any authority about this period before having oneself studied it, for to use the assumptions of the ruling orthodoxy is to fall into the trap of accepting a radically distorted view of history.” Posted by at 9:34 AM on October 12
I’d like to add that you can find very good books in second-hand book stores and antiques shops. One thing I discovered is that later edition books can be sanitized. I once picked up a little children’s book on Robert E. Lee in an antiques store. I was curious to see if it was still in print. Turns out it is, but it’s been “cleaned up.” Looks like once the author dies, the publishing company can do whatever they want.
Posted by at 11:44 PM on October 12
The Hollywood drama (garbage) showing incredible cruel punishments meeted out to slaves notwithstanding… Slaves did NOT have it all that bad. Their lives and safety being far better than those of Europe’s medieval serfs — who were ostensibly free, but slaves in everything but name.
The unpalatable TRUTH is that the horrors of slavery are mostly a Hollywood fiction or exaggeration. Slaves, after all, were considered valuable property. That value commensurate with the training and skill of the slave in question. Any RATIONAL farmer or planter would hardly brutalize his fine horses or prize cattle. So why would he brutalize his slaves… to the point they were rendered all but useless for performing work? Which INCLUDES breaking up families, forced breeding of female slaves with other slaves. Sorry, friends. That’s Hollywood’s cherished distortion of real history to blame.
Not that the average American Black has the intellectual capacity to differentiate between truth and fiction. Particularly when fiction can be trumpeted as truth for the purpose of laying yet more worthless guilt on White Americans.
Nor would the average Black want to hear that so many kind slave-holders usually had codicils in their wills… ensuring their slaves were granted freedom upon the owner’s death. That slaves often were rewarded with better clothing, better food, even with MONEY for good performance in their respective roles.
TRUTH, however is as unpopular with Hollywood screen writers and directors as it is for those with their own axe to grind. But I’m sure OCCAM and the other loose nuts will foam at the mouth trying to deny what I’ve pointed out.
Posted by Fed Up at 8:14 AM on October 13
Fed Up,
There is a mental state called “false consciousness”—where the oppressed have been conditioned to accept and rationalise their fate.
There is also a mental state called “Stockholm Syndrome”—where the kidnapped identify with their kidnappers.
Consider the cases of Jewish concentration camp inmates who identified with their captors to the point of being awed at the sight of Nazi officials like the infamous Dr. Mengele.
The same principle applies to ferocious animals such as lions and tigers who when broken in by their captors seem to adjust to their captivity. But this is not their natural state. Nor that of a broken in wild horse who would have kicked and bucked to the point of exhaustaion—before giving up to its captor.
The same with African captives on the plantations. After they were first violently broken in—their minds followed. Such individuals—except those who revolted from time to time—were just mentally destroyed.
Posted by OCCAM at 12:56 PM on October 13
The evil of slavery in the U.S. was that it allowed elite southerners to eschew their own race in favor of a bond with an alien race.
Posted by Svigor at 6:47 PM on October 13
I don’t see how they could have treated blacks all that bad because blacks were their property. Who you intentionally damage your property or treat it badly? I wouldn’t.
Posted by wade in MO at 4:10 AM on October 14
Correct me if I am wrong. I believe it was just a little over a decade after American independence from England that this country put a halt to the legal importation of slaves from Africa.
Posted by at 11:47 PM on October 10
The ban was passed in 1808, this was the first year that such a ban was constitutional.
Posted by at 10:28 AM on October 14
“The difference between the descendants of the black and white slaves is simply that the one had enough backbone to pull themselves out of their hole.”
Posted by ciccio
— — — — —
I agree with everything you said, but the above is not the only difference. One very major difference is that whites have left the past behind them and have gotten on with their lives, while the blacks have had endless propaganda aimed at them (by self-interested groups)constantly reminding them of how oppressed they were (and are) and how much whites owe them.
——————————————-
While it’s true that a lot of blacks may have been better off physically with slavery, and many may have had - and still do - a psychology better suited for a slave, slavery is a sin and a moral burden on the society that practices it.
Posted by AvgDude
— — — — —
Aside from moral objections, I would also disapprove of slavery on practical grounds — primarily because, in the long run, it is bad for US.
Posted by browser at 2:04 PM on October 14
Occam comments that these people were mentaly destroyed similar to people in concentration camps. broken horses and zoo animals… Possibly in some cases, but if this were suggested to these very slaves,… and I’m sure they would have understood the point they might well have stated this analogy was missused on them… I remember reading an auto biography by Washington,…where when Goerge was about 12 he wanted to go hunting and because he had a cold his father forbid his going…well Goerge (naughty) still asked his servant to saddle up the horse as he was intent on going anyway. The servant told young Goerge of the fathers orders and Goerge replied that the onus would be on him if discovered. As it turned out Goerge got caught and as the servant was about to be whipped Goerge discovering this interfered and justly took the whippings on his own back. Later the Mandingo (originaly)slave confided in Goerge ..that had he been whipped he would have taken his own life because a Mandingo warrior has honor and cannot tolerate this indignity. The black people (realized) as well, not via brain washing or being mentaly broken but by resoning ability that great advancements had come with the harshness of slavery by a superior culture. Slaves in Africa under their own race faired much worst I’d bet. These realizations prompted most freed slaves to remain in America after emancipation rather than return to Africa to Lincolns annoyance. On a different track in a book by Dodge an army officer I think in the nineteen hundreds (Our wild Indians)Title..Dodge commented how as certain progressive Indians became acqainted with the white mans laws verses the Indians as well as other advancements they naturaly prefered them. The genius of higher understanding born of Europe is not a small thing in the scheme of things…
Posted by Petrarch at 4:19 PM on October 14
So what IS your point, OCCAM? That slaves generally received decent treatment is historic reality. Having NOTHING to do with your postulations. As I pointed out, how many planters or farmers were lunatic enough to destroy or maim prize livestock for a mere whim? Any Black doing his job reasonably well could expect decent treatment, even rewards from his “cruel, unfeeling” master.
Your above post is even more meaningless than some of your many other posts. Hopelessly out of context with what I’ve pointed out. If you’re silly enough to believe the Hollywood slavery myth, that’s your problem. Hell, even as slaves, those Blacks were far better off than back on the Mother Continent. Where they stood a fair chance of being killed or enslaved by THEIR OWN KIND. Even served up as the night’s main course at the campfires. An enlightener for you, African rebels were charged with eating pygmies in a recent news story in the local paper. Seems the pygmies got tired of being eaten and appealed to the U.N. for help. This being ‘enlightened’ Africa. Remember those rebels hacking off arms, legs of people belongting to the WRONG TRIBE, featured in news articles? Oops, sorry, I forgot. You’ll find a way to blame their White colonial masters for that practice also, I’m sure.
Get a life. You can’t stand hearing an uncomfortable truth or two about your kind. Instead bending over backwards to distort history, manufacture lies about Africans and African history in general.
Posted by Fed Up at 1:31 PM on October 15