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