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Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 14:10:16 EST |
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I don't think anyone has suggested that Black slavery in the South was an
acceptable institution by today's standards. Clearly, it is not, at least in
this country, although it still does exist in Africa and portions of the
Islamic world. However, I also have never supported the "everyone knows" school
of history which takes as Gospel whatever the majority, and usually most
vocal, historians believe to be true. Historical "truth" should always be
reexamined and tested based on the most current evidence. There is clearly first
hand evidence in these interviews that at least some of the former Black slaves
preferred their pre-war conditions to those they lived in after the war, for
whatever reason. I find it interesting that in spite of their 'testimony"
that this was the case many want to deny it for some reason, or find a reason
to discredit their perspectives in order to make them seem illegitimate. I
find this very presumptuous, and demeaning of these brave people who lived
through the slavery period and knew what they were talking about.....unlike
anyone in this forum. I, for one, take people at their word unless there is
verifiable evidence to the contrary. I don't see that here. If you read these
narratives you will see that when the interviewee decided it was time for the
interviewer to leave, they typically told them so and that was the end of the
interview. No one was holding a gun to their head as far as I can tell.
So, I take it that only one person in the forum actually teaches that there
may be another side to the treatment of American slaves in the South?
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