Esclavage: Les Noirs aussi ! (Black people practiced slavery and fo...

8 mars, 2013

Nicolas Augustin Metoyer of Louisiana owned 13 slaves in 1830. He and his 12 family members collectively owned 215 slaves. Henry Louis Gates

The free colored population of Louisiana … own slaves, and they are dearly attached to their native land … and they are ready to shed their blood for her defense. They have no sympathy for abolitionism; no love for the North, but they have plenty for Louisiana … They will fight for her in 1861 as they fought [to defend New Orleans from the British] in 1814-1815. »  

A free black in Trimble County, Kentucky,  » … sold his own son and daughter South, one for $1,000, the other for $1,200. » … A Maryland father sold his slave children in order to purchase his wife. A Columbus, Georgia, black woman — Dilsey Pope — owned her husband. « He offended her in some way and she sold him …  » Fanny Canady of Louisville, Kentucky, owned her husband Jim — a drunken cobbler — whom she threatened to « sell down the river. » At New Bern, North Carolina, a free black wife and son purchased their slave husband-father. When the newly bought father criticized his son, the son sold him to a slave trader. The son boasted afterward that « the old man had gone to the corn fields about New Orleans where they might learn him some manners. »

Some of them were promised their freedom if they fought. Others went out of loyalty for their masters, and stayed with them in times of trouble. (…) Black men did fight on both sides, » he continued. There’s been a whole lot of credible work done about the side of the Union, but they have not given any scholarly research to the Confederate side. James Eaton (Florida A&M University)

Historians have estimated the total number of black men who served in the Confederate Army either as laborers or soldiers range anywhere from 60,000 to 90,000. Over 13,000 of these, « saw the elephant » also known as meeting the enemy in combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. James Davis

Après les Africains et les Indiens …

Retour sur les propriétaires d’esclaves noirs américains !

Qui, non contents d’acheter et de vendre des esclaves noirs pouvaient à l’occasion, si l’on en croit Henry Louis Gates, vendre les membres de leur propre famille !

Et, grande première dans l’histoire de l’intégration des noirs dans l’armée en Amérique, étaient prêts à s’engager dans l’armée sudiste pour en défendre le droit  …

Did Black People Own Slaves?

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The Root

March 4, 2013

100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Yes — but why they did and how many they owned will surprise you.

Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these « amazing facts » are an homage.

(The Root) — 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro No. 21: Did black people own slaves? If so, why?

One of the most vexing questions in African-American history is whether free African Americans themselves owned slaves. The short answer to this question, as you might suspect, is yes, of course; some free black people in this country bought and sold other black people, and did so at least since 1654, continuing to do so right through the Civil War. For me, the really fascinating questions about black slave-owning are how many black « masters » were involved, how many slaves did they own and why did they own slaves?

The answers to these questions are complex, and historians have been arguing for some time over whether free blacks purchased family members as slaves in order to read on at ...