Now I want to preempt any ranting and railing from the peanut gallery that I do not understand and am trying to belittle or marginalize the situation. Therefore, I implore you to read the WHOLE F**KING post.
It occurred to me that there are very, very few people today who are NOT descendants of slaves. That is a fact. Pure and simple. Conquered peoples were enslaved throughout history, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. If you were on the losing side; chances are you were enslaved – period. And your family, including children and descendants, were as well. Yes, you could earn your way out of slavery and many did. This is the reason that most descendants of slavery are unaware of this in their ancestry.
A sub-form of slavery was a practice of indenture which was slavery for a set period, often in exchange for passage to America. But this set period was no guarantee that the indenture was ended, nor was it a guarantee that it did not pass to the next generation.
The enslavement of Africans (which became African-Americans, African-Carribians, African-Brazilians, etc.) does fall into another category one must admit in that these people were hunted, captured, sold as property for multiple generations solely based upon race. It has often been suggested that it was easier to identify them as a slave than when they tried to enslave the native population because of the color of their skin.
Slavery was wrong and it was terribly insidious in its practice. Hell, many slave owners knew it was wrong but their wealth was tied to the ownership of slaves.
What we must understand is the the 18th-19th Century was bridge between the acceptance of slavery as a normal practice from time immemorial and the abhorrent practice it was.
This is an example of trying to apply modern values to past actions. We do it but we are all to often wrong and we frequently do a misjustice to those who came before us.
