From my own families experience, I can tell you that slavery is anything but
benign. My Great-Great Grandmother Leah was abducted from Guinea West Africa
in 1830 (slavery was illegal).  In order to get around the laws she was
taken to the Caribbean and broken. Then she was sold to Robert Ruth in South
Carolina.  At the time she was enslaved Leah was twelve years of age.

She was old enough to remember her parents, family and where she lived.  She
said that they lived by the River (Rio Nunez), and often went there to pan
Gold. In fact they were by the river when they were abducted. They were
taken five miles to the coast and held in the fort until the ship came. Leah
said that it was a Dutch ship that took them away.  Try to imagine never
seeing your parents or siblings. As the saying goes..."Walk a while in Leahs
shoes."

The plantation Leah was sold to was small, Robert Ruth did not have more
then seven slaves.  Leah was impregnated by Robert Ruth three times.  When
Leah had a black child, Robert took the child and sold him.  Leah never saw
her son again.  But the worst is yet to come. When Leah confronted Robert
Ruth, she was whipped.  She and the children she bore by Robert Ruth were
sold away from each other.

The half-white children went to Savannah, but Leah (a Muslim) was sold to
Hogg Island (now Hilton Head SC).  That is where she remained until after
the Civil War. During the years of her enslavement Leah was often beaten
with a bull whip.  She was made to work and endure horrible abuse.

Meanwhile, her son Samuel Ruth was liberated by the 54th Massachusetts on
their swing back from "Burning Georgia" to the sea. The 54th Massachusetts
was not wiped out as the movie Glory depicts. My Great Uncle, Samuel Pinn
served in the 54th Massachusetts Co.D., with Frederick Douglas's sons
Charles and Lewis. Samuel Pinn was a Corporal (and who ever believes he was
not, please give me your email address so I can send you documentation).

Samuel was thirteen years old when he was taken North, and about twenty-five
when he returned South.  Samuel had made a promise to find his mother and
take her north. That is exactly what he did with the assistance of the
Freedmens Association.  He took a rickety boat to Hogg Island, and found his
mother.  He took her north, and they had a relatively happy ending.

The beatings that Leah and Samuel Ruth experienced from their slave masters,
turned them into abusers. My Grandmother Ruth said that her father would
string them up in their barn and beat her with a Bull Whip.  Leah almost
beat one of her grandchildren to death with her walking stick. Samuel Ruth's
wife, who was a Free Black, did not understand her husbands actions. That is
because she did not live under that brutal system. The system was not
benign, it left many casualtys.  The only way to heal the wounds is to be
able to talk about it.  The truth will set everyone free.

Please do not come back and say you never owned slaves. I don't know anyone
personally. I am not accusing you, or anyone else of owning slaves. I am
simply disagreeing with the assertion that slavery was a benign institution.

Anita Wills

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