im black, my great grandma and great grandpa told me that slavery wasnt as bad as they make it out to be??

Question

she said only a VERY small number of ppl were actually whipped, and that most blacks got treated better than the irish did back then? i also heard oprah and bill cosby saying this? so y are we taught to believe it was on every plantation?

Answer 1

WHAT!!!!!!!! Granted, not every plantation ran the same but come on...one black man whipped to death is WRONG. Free black men being kidnapped into slavery was WRONG, mothers having babies ripped from them and sold to another plantation was WRONG, men being sent to other farms to mate like bulls with slave women was WRONG.

FVCK GREAT GRANNIE AND PAPPIE - Try doing what a slave did and live how they lived for two weeks...then write us back.

Answer 2

I went on a tour of the Dresdabahn Plantation in New Orleans just before Katina. It was a very eye opening experience. I too, thought all slaves were beaten and degraded. The people on the tour said that American born slaves were treated fairly well. Often times, they were treated as part of the plantation owner's family. They said that American born slaves could hold other jobs at the same time, and if they saved enough money, they could buy their way off of the plantation. It was of course a long time to save for this, as they were paid very little. But they also said that many slaves on that plantation did save enough money, but decided to stay on at the plantation voluntarily, because they were treated well and it was their community.

I may have this backwards, but they also said that if a slave had a child with a non-slave, then that child was not born into slavery.

I don't know how universal those rules were, maybe it was indicative of the Dresdabahn plantation, but I suppose your grandmother would know best.

Answer 3

Well Cosby and Oprah weren't around so they can't say too much on slavery when it comes to accuarcy, although beyond that I would say listen to Cosby as he tends to know what he is talking about. When it comes to your Great Grandparents, just remember the "good old days." If you have never heard of that it is defined as how we always remember the best of history. For instance look at the Emancipation Proclamation. If you actually read it, it frees slaves in the REBEL States. The CSA had broke off the Union. They weren't under Lincoln's control. Yet he "freed" the slaves. All of them being the Southern ones. Grant still had slaves though, as did others from the North, because it didn't apply to the Union states. That is because it was a political move to keep France and England from helping the CSA. Now I am not saying that slavery was terriable as I don't know. What I am trying to say is that keep this in context. Yes it proably wasn't as bad as they try to make it out to be.

Answer 4

it probably wasn't very different from the current system

nowadays you get to choose where you're enslaved, but it's harder to get in


by the way, more seriously... I don't believe this means that there shouldn't be affirmative action or anything like that... having been slaves, and later having been discriminated against for so long (and counting) has really put black people at a disadvantage, and that's the story behind requiring a proportional amount of black people in university admissions and jobs. It's only a little help in exchange for some major disadvantages and continuing discrimination, which, now that people aren't allowed simply to hate, is justified for reasons, including their aproportional presence in prisons and scarcity in colleges, which is a remnant of the racism they are trying to justify.

just because not everybody whipped their slaves didn't mean the slave system was OK, just like the current system of having to find a corporate sponsor to pay the minimum amount to keep you alive is not OK either.

Answer 5

The truth is many where well treated and had a good life .The problem is you had no free will to do as you pleased .No opertunity to make a life for yourself .NO chance to own property or be recognized to vote or determine your own future .SO i tend to think yur Grand parents may have painted a rosy picture rather then the truth .I can not see how the majority of people could be happy this way .
IT is fine if you want to hang out ingroups and have community meals all the time and make your own booze but being unpaid for services other then room and board is no way to live for long .
AT anytime a white man could take what he wanted from a slae no questions asked .
THIS would hardly be considered an ideal situation for any people .

Answer 6

well not many people no this but they emancipated the black slaves but kept the white ones, yes their was white slavery. you can find it on the net. But slavery was not good for any one, I don't think the black slaves were treated well at all, for the most part, but I think some people were really brutal. That is why The south wanted to seceed from the Union so the southern Democrates could continue with slavery, that is why they hated Lincoln he was a Republician and he ended slavery. That's why I don't understand why most blacks are Democrates.

Answer 7

I also heard that too,but There had to have been maltreatment going on.I believe that there were those who got the whipping and other barbaric things done to them.I also think that different parts of the country had an effect on how u were treated.Say if u lived in Mississippi,the treatment was alot worse than in California.So yes i believe depending on where u were depends on treatment they got.I felt it was very bad that they went through that,but Im native american and they too were victims of "their" way.There were and still are some hateful people out there but we got to rise above it and go on.

Answer 8

My mothers family generations back were slave traders and I dont feel its something to be ashamed. I think that they make slavery out to be so bad, because then people will feel guilty for holding the black part of this country responsible for themselves. Its not their fault their on welfare with 12 kids, their ancestors were slaves. Its not their fault they are a crack head, their ancestors were slaves. They have been holding on to that crutch for too long and need to let it go its getting tiresome and affirmative action should be done away, they should only get a position or get into a school on their merits not the color of their skin.

Answer 9

Harriet Beecher Stowe, as a matter of historical fact, a white abolitionist with a bent for the melodramatic.
In fact, most black slaves had it better than the indentured servant--who were mostly white, by the way. And all those guys had it better than the Amerindian, whom they were actually trying to kill.
But you know what? The past is the past, and that's where we ought to leave it. You are who you are today, and looking back never solved anything--temporally and philosophically speaking.

Answer 10

The truth is, the african americans had it worse after the days of slavery. Naturally, some member of the ***** community have painted a horrid picture of the days of slavery for propogandic "kill the whitey" purposes. Realistically, the ****** slaves didn't know how good they had it... free food and lodging and very little work compared to what they suffer through now.

Perhaps you can start a movement calling for a return of slavery. I will back you. Hell, I'll even buy you and treat you nice (providing you don't try to run away).