Anne;
I continue to hypothesize that Black Africans were conditioned for slavery
by their culture in Africa inasmuch as slavery was an accepted possibility for
all Black Africans prior to the first one ever coming to the American
colonies. A good read on this point is Paul E. Lovejoy's Transformations in
Slavery (Cambridge U Press 2000). Otherwise, how can you account for so many
strong and able men and women submitting passively for the most part to such a
terrible conditions and for so many generations?
Arguably, today's US welfare system is nothing more than a continuation of
the manifestations of that conditioning.
I can't see myself or any of my ancestors living in that manner. Perhaps
that's the reason they bravely sought freedom in the new world and made America
the greatest, and most humanitarian, country in the history of mankind.
J South
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