Good Morning,
I also thank you Henry for sharing this very important point with the list.
Regards,
Ramona
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 1:01 AM
Subject: Re: White Slaves
| Thank you for reiterating this very important, but highly uncomfortable
| point, Henry.
|
| -- Stephan
|
| on 4/23/03 12:50 AM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:
|
| > I somehow missed the beginning of this exchange. Was there a question
| > that started all this off? There is ample documentation of "white slaves"
| > so why would anyone argue over that fact? Re: George Washington's slaves
| > -- "The general's house servants are mulattoes, some of whom have kinky
| > hair still but skin as light as ours. I noticed one small boy whose hair
| > and skin were so like our own that if I had not been told, I should never
| > have suspected his ancestry. He is nevertheless a slave for the rest of
| > his life." -- Louis Philippe, _Diary of My Travels in America_, translated
| > from the French by Stephen Becker, New York: Delacorte Press, 1977, pp.
| > 32-33. A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1833 made a similar observation:
| > "Among the females was a Mulatto so light as to show the red in her
| > cheeks, very modest and intelligent. The blood of some offshoots of the W.
| > family no doubt ran in her veins": Tap. Wentworth to John S. Burleigh,
| > March 12, 1833, Mount Vernon Collection, A-259, M-1294. (That final
| > sentence contains speculation: the slave's white ancestry may have been
| > from the Washington family or from some other family.) One can argue over
| > what all this means, but facts are facts. White slaves did not become
| > "white people" when they became free. When white slaves were freed they
| > were still known in their communities as being former slaves and as having
| > mixed blood, so they were regarded socially as black, which carried legal
| > implications. Any Southerner knows of many "black" people who are as white
| > as Ronald Reagan but regard themselves as black and are considered to be
| > members of the black community. Certainly there can be no argument over
| > that.
| > Henry Wiencek
| >
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