Paul, I want to thank you for posting this.  I am a white, with most of my 
ancestors being in New England.  Actually all of my ancestors were in New 
England, coming there from their mother country.

I am in the process of trying to help a Black female research her ancestors. 
She lives in New York City with South Carolina slave ancestors.

I have learned a lot from trying to help her research.  You are exactly 
correct in that slaves were not treated like family, or most of them were 
not.  Most of them worked hard and were fed very little.  Little concern was 
given for the care of slaves.  They were treated like cattle, but probably 
worse.  At least the slave owner could eat cattle.  The slave owner often 
broke up slave families, selling the male to one person, the female to 
another, and each child to a different person.  I have seen records that 
show tiny babies being taken away from their mothers and sold as slaves. 
Slaves were not treated as people at all, or at least not treated as if they 
were people by most slave owners.

Slave owners also made the decision of which slave he was going to breed to 
which slave.  It's hard to believe, but it's true.  It was not unlike modern 
day farmers who decide which cows are going to be bred and to which bull.

To add one side note to the discussion, I am not sure that all Blacks want 
to be called African Americans.  My correspondent in New York City tells me 
that she is Black, not African American.  She says that African American 
implies that she is from Africa.  While her ancestors may have originally 
come from Africa, she did NOT.

I have learned a lot, and I'm sure still have a lot to learn.

Brenda in Iowa


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Heinegg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 11:24 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Peculiar Institution


> Many historians discuss slavery in terms of  "Free food, a place to stay, 
> etc.,"  good or bad diet, good or bad physical treatment, rape, whether 
> they were treated as family members, etc. This ignores the most basic fact 
> about slavery. Slaves were their owners' property--like a chair, table, 
> horse or cow, an implement with which to farm. Not just the lowest stratum 
> of human society--not part of human society at all. Acknowledgement of 
> this fact enables us to understand why Emancipation was followed by Jim 
> Crow, and even today some in this country still have trouble accepting 
> African Americans as equals.
> Paul
>
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