An objective, thoughtful, pedagogical-type discussion concerning the subject
of slavery will never happen on this web site......
the politically correct forces that now run our schools and colleges will
pounce upon anything that even hints of the notion that there just might
possibly have been the remote slave owner who actually treated his slaves
decently........even if that slave owner treated his slaves well for no
other reason than it made good economical sense to take proper care of one's
"investments".
I do not think that anyone in his or her right mind would ever, ever try to
justify the totally reprehensible  practice of human bondage and slavery and
ownership of another human being.
But the fact that slavery existed here, in the United States of America, at
one time, does not necessarily mean that every, single slave owner was a
Simon Legree.
We read on this list recently that a slave holder (a relative of Thomas
Jefferson) murdered one of his slaves in a particularly heinous fashion.
That man (the murderer)) was probably a psychopath of enormous proportions
who treated his own family in disgusting and despicable ways. Or maybe he
wasn't a heinous psychopath. Perhaps he was a Sunday school teacher who
turned Mr. Hyde occasionally.
Whatever he was we, of course, have no sure way of knowing.
And just as we never want the citizens of the future to forget about the God
awful realities of the Holocaust, we surely don't want  anyone to ever
forget the horrors of slavery.
But, the most important aspect regarding historical study is to dig and dig
and dig until one finds the Truth or, at least, as much of the Truth as we
can possibly ascertain.
Then throw that information on the table and let folks sort it out for
themselves.

Deane Mills
York County
Virginia




> An exploration of the historical literature on slavery with a focus on
> Virginia is a very good topic for discussion, indeed, especially for folks
> who have not kept up with all the new scholarly literature of the last
> decade.
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]

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