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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