I wasn't intending to single out your post when making my comments, Paul. 
Of course, slavery was barbaric & so very regrettable, but the history of 
the world has many horrible times & acts done to others in the name of 
something deemed "noble" or "necessary" for the good of whomever has the 
most money and/or influence at the time.  In no way does this flimsy reason 
excuse anything but I thought that we all agreed on that many posts ago. 
What are we to do now?    Hopefully, we've learned from the mistakes & evil 
actions of the past  & can move forward in the knowledge that practically 
everyone whose ancestors have been in this country for more than 2 or 3 
generations, have "family" in most of the groups... on both the positive & 
the negative sides.

Diane in TX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Heinegg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Loving the slaves


> Diane Ethridge wrote, "For those of us who had ancestors who owned slaves 
> & also had ancestors who were Quakers &/or who didn't believe in slavery 
> so bought slaves in order to free them, how do we figure the percentage of 
> what we owe?
>
> J South and Basil Forest made similar comments.
> ------------------
>
> I did not say anything in my post about financial remuneration or 
> assigning blame to modern-day people.
>
> We typically look back in history and admire those who had the foresight 
> to see what their contemporaries could not. We herald Copernicus and 
> Galileo as great men and think of their detractors at the time as being 
> fools who were so stuck in their culture or religion that they would not 
> listen to reason. My question was why do we still look back at the 
> American South and see slaveowners as heroes and see emancipators as 
> religious fanatics?
>
> For those who have said something to the effect that nowadays we all 
> acknowledge slavery to have been a horrible evil, but we should judge 
> people by the standards of the times, I do not hear that in many of the 
> postings on this list.
> Paul