Native Americans Owned Slaves

Originally posted by HarlemHottie
I find it curious that you can dismiss the influence of federal funding so easily, yet place so much weight in an as-yet-unproven notion that historians (some of whom so happen to be black) are so blinded by some unmet need to 'blame the white man' that they have purposely excluded evidence from the historical record.

Curiously, none of my history professors have been black. They have all been upper-middle-class white men. They seem to bear an irrational fear of telling the historical truth of slavery. What their real motivations are, I can only speculate. I do know that they reacted vehemently against any opinion other than the orthodoxy presented. Again, I’m not saying slavery is justifiable – only that the whole picture isn’t being presented. I’ll readily admit that your opinions about this are just as valid as mine. In conclusion, I think we can both agree on the principal that the whole truth has not been taught but that it should be. No?

Originally posted by passenger
Curiously, none of my history professors have been black.

That's why I said "some," but I get what you mean. I was talking about people who specialize in and publish academic articles on African-American studies. Those are usually the people on the cutting edge of any field.

They seem to bear an irrational fear of telling the historical truth of slavery... I do know that they reacted vehemently against any opinion other than the orthodoxy presented.

We're getting off topic, but I have to ask: what do you mean? Can you link me to an example?

Again, I’m not saying slavery is justifiable – only that the whole picture isn’t being presented.

When did we start talking about slavery being justifiable? Did I miss something?

In conclusion, I think we can both agree on the principal that the whole truth has not been taught but that it should be.

We certainly can, but, in the same spirit, I would add that we should also thank people like Henry Louis Gates for bringing such discrepancies to light.

btw, this has been a very interesting exchange.

Vikings enslaved other European tribes also, once again you see how westernized revisionist history has romaticized the truth of the native American culture, as well as others.

Did you know that White slavery existed in America prior to Black slavery? Why is it that schools fail to teach this to us all?

elliotlakenews.wordpress.com...

Originally posted by RexxCrow
Did you know that White slavery existed in America prior to Black slavery? Why is it that schools fail to teach this to us all?

elliotlakenews.wordpress.com...

I Had no idea... Anyone else ever hear of anything like this?

Thanks for the link, pretty interesting. Is this a credible site?

reply to post by Roland Deschain


I don't know about the website itself, but, yes, there were white slaves in America. I didn't know either, but I followed the link (thank you, RexxCrow) and read the article. The author, Michael A. Hoffman, is quite a character. He's been characterized both as a revisionist historian and a "Holocaust denier." I take most of what he says with the proverbial grain of salt, but, since even a broken clock is right twice a day, I decided to look into it.

Salon.com had a good article by another author, Stephan Talty. I hadn't heard of him before, but he's a journalist who writes about race and American culture. He also co-authored a book, Mulatto America: At the Crossroads of Black and White Culture: A Social History. Haven't read it, but it looks interesting.

Anyway, on the topic of white slaves, he says that he came upon the idea by mistake, searching through a dusty library, but he did some more research, and this is what he found.

The numbers are impossible, so far, to pin down, but some white bondage clearly occurred. In an era when human beings were the most valuable commodities available to thieves and slave traders, greed occasionally trumped the crucial myth that there was a strict dividing line between the races. And while there were instances of what appeared to onlookers as "purebred" whites being sold on auction blocks, those Anglo-Saxons were being sold as "blacks." One had to become physically or socially accepted as black to be legally sold into chattel slavery and enter into the full degradation of American bondage. As light-skinned blacks sometimes gained their freedom by "passing" as white, so did hapless Caucasians make the reverse journey -- proving that race and bondage were even more fluid concepts in antebellum America than we would like to believe.
Slaves of a different color

It's a very good article. If you're interested in the topic, I'd strongly suggest you start there, but if you need to be convinced, here are some teasers: Talty goes on to talk to white historians, black historians, black writers, and regular people, both black and white, asking what they think about this new information. Their reactions may surprise you.

Happy hunting!

reply to post by HarlemHottie


Damn, thanks HH! I'm really learning a lot from this thread! It's crazy how all this stuff is left out of US history...I'm not sure I even want to know what else they have left out......

Anyways thanks for the informative posts!

I don't know how it is now but the Black Seminoles were not allowed on the Indian Rolls back in the 80's. If this has changed I don't know it.

Roper

reply to post by Roland Deschain

I had to wade in here. This is my first intentional PTS post.

I have I guess what is a somewhat unique perspective on the issue of slavery, N. American Native. I have the sometimes dubious pleasure of being a Cherokee/Irish with a touch of black thrown in.

I grew up on the AR/OK border where being a "breed" was only slightly above the social class of black. I have relatives on one side that tell stories about owning both red and black slaves. My two family sides also joked about how they recall that it was not omly legal but expected to shoot the other side of my family for tresspassing.

It made for some lively family reunions. I also had some ancesters from both sides that fought on opposite sides of the War Between The States.

I am convinced that the stories related by them that was at odds with the "accepted norm" is one reason I am on ATS now.