(c) 2020 Historian Frederick E. Walton
I think for most of us, the continued racial discord in this country is disturbing and frightening. I felt like we had made great strides from the 1970's to 1990's. What happened? We all know that slavery was abhorrent, in fact many people of my generation "experienced" the horrors of bondage and forced labour first hand. It wasn't meant to be cruel, and the "whip" was often employed sparingly, yet firmly to better educate us on the importance of following the established order and rules. I'm not talking about the plantation, I'm talking about American childhood in the 1950's and 1960's! Were our parents monsters? No! Were the rules of society different than today? You bet! In fact, if I misbehaved in public, I could count on a teacher or someone else's mother whupping my behind when they caught me in the act! If I described the cruel treatment upon my person by a stranger to my parents, I'd probably get whupped again by them! Did I like it? NO! Did I deserve IT? In most cases, YES! Could the current generation have benefitted from some discipline...well you'll have to decide.
Slavery was abolished 155 years ago...that is 6 or more generations ago. How much was your life influenced by your father (1 generation removed), your grandfather (2 generations removed or your Great-Grandfather (3 generations). Did you even know your great Grandfather? What about his father or his grandfather? Not many of us would conceive of celebrating our successes or blaming our failures on the fortunes of our Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, 6 generations ago. For myself and many of my friends, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers came here as impoverished immigrants. There were no handouts. They were servants, factory workers, ditch diggers. Their humiliating and backbreaking labor also helped build this nation and was the foundation of their families future successes. I know it has become trendy to say this nation was built on slave labour, I don't doubt the truth of that, but what about the 155 years of immigrant labor that followed? Did you ever see the once prevalent signs that read "IRISH NEED NOT APPLY"? Our immigrant ancestors didn't exactly have a walk in the park when they arrived on these shores.
I don't feel any guilt about slavery, My family wasn't even on this continent then! I also don't feel angry or betrayed about the shabby way immigrants were treated and taken advantage of when they arrived here, What good would it do now anyway, over a century later? They lived through it, not me, and worked hard to claw their way out of poverty to give the future generations of America the success we enjoy today. I honor them for the hardships they suffered and am grateful I didn't have to suffer nearly the pain they did. Thats not to say I experienced adversity, poverty or discrimination. Trust me I did!, Not nearly to the level my ancestors did. Nor to the level some of my childhood black friends did (some of whom were better off than me.) I know many successful black families that share a similar story to mine, but it would be ridiculous to believe any 20th century family was in a similar situation to immigrant or slave families from the century before. Why? Because nowhere in our constitution does it say "all...except for the descendants of the former slaves." And I do believe former black slaves struggled mightily to improve the plight of the their descendants. I wonder how badly they would feel let down by todays news stories?
I just finished reading a very interesting book called “The Slaves War” by Andrew Ward. I would recommend it. I would also recommend reading the last chapter, the authors note, first to better understand the authors intentions, otherwise the first few chapter may seem a little biased and untrustworthy.
In this last chapter, the author describes his source material and purpose, letting the former slaves “speak" for themselves in their own words. It is organized into different periods and different regions, east and west. He has not "corrected" what they said and felt. although some of what they believed about the war seems to have been mis-understood by them. You'll discern a commonality of experience and description, but the author also explains some of the prejudices that crept into the white WPA interviewers recording that may have flavored the result. Even well educated, well spoken former slaves were portrayed using the “slave dialect”.
The collection of actual slave Narratives can be found here and make very interesting reading:
There is often a lot of "mis-remembered" information here that may confuse or mislead an uneducated reader. You have to realize that what they said is what these former slaves truly believed, although sometimes not necessarily factual. We know, of course, that Yankees did not have horns and pointed tails, so a modern reader would not give much credence to those particular widespread memories, but when they read how former slaves were disappointed because they didn’t get their “promised” 40 acres and a mule, or their U. S. Government slave pensions you might wonder why they were cheated. They weren't, that was never actually promised. When they describe how Lincoln secretly came through the south and saw the terrible ways to slaves were treated or the various sightings of Lincoln in disguise, checking up on them, you have to realize this was about as factual as Santa Claus dropping down your chimney. They said it. They believed it. but It's not true and the author never really helps the reader fact check some of these memories.
Also if you look at the WPA interview time period: mid 1930’s and do a little math, that's about 70 years after the end of the Civil War. That means that many of the interviewees were children when the war ended and they gained their freedom. As very young children, were they really “slaves” in the manner in which their parents were? Many of their memories of cruel beatings could well have simply been those of a naughty child being punished rather than the indiscriminate and unnecessary beatings of slave owners over their chattel, although I’m sure there are instances where that occurred. I do not mean this to infer that slaves weren't sometimes treated cruelly, I just wonder if a child's memory or archaic events is totally trustworthy. Can you accurately describe your family life when you were eight or ten years old?
The author included many memories of the cruelty of the Yankee "liberators". They “freed” the slaves from their deep south plantations only to enslave them in the army camps as cooks, laborers, Laundresses, concubines and forced soldiers. They warned them that if they tried to return to their former masters, they would probably be killed for running away from the plantation, so the poor slaves were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The author also identified memories of the loyalties that existed when slaves defended the master's plantations against Yankee invaders or when they returned a masters body or his effects from the battle front, at great risk to their own lives.
At least one slave's description wisely recognized that the Yankee Soldiers could care less about freeing the slaves, they were more interested in plundering, humiliating and destroying successful southern plantation owners. In fact many Northern soldiers were not shy about saying this directly.
Reading this book is a little like being in the ocean in a rowboat without a paddle. You have to take the wild ride plunging to depths so obscene you’d rather forget and rising to heights that shine understanding on that “peculiar institution” that so plagued everyone in the southern economy.
I came away with a feeling that indeed the black slaves on this continent had a hard lot before, during and after the war. Their mistreatment by white plantation owners, poor white trash overseers and cruel Yankee soldiers is abundant, but it also identifies cruel black overseers, heartless black freeman and Northerners who banned the immigration of blacks, whether free or escaped. On occasion we hear the former slave recount the kindly master, who, when all was lost and their plantation destroyed, welcomed back their runaway slaves to remain on the land because they were “family”.
There are no five minute sound bites that can do justice to this very complex issue, but one thing that is abundantly clear is that slavery was abolished 155 years ago and there is no longer any excuse why this period of history should have any influence on the present generations other than to remind us that if work together for a common purpose, we should never have to repeat this embarrassing period in the future.
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