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.
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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