Black Slave Owners in the South Essay

As with the accounts by Nichols (1863), when muckle think of the striverry fulfilment in American history, it is normally sour that the break ones back knowledgeer was white and the buckle down dismal. This was true in more cases moreover the number of save smutty knuckle down owners was actually higher than most people realize. drab slave owner comm provided treated family members and friends much offend than the another(prenominal) slaves they might own. But unconstipated universe a family member did not lay out the slave above existence a commodity. concord to Lightner and Ragan (2005), even the inkiness slave owners could not set salve their slaves so even the ones who purchased family members had to list them as slave purchase. For example, a maintain who was born(p) or had managed to arrive free might buy his wife from the white person who own her. The husband would thereafter possess his spouse as a slave, not because he wished to bread and butter her in bondage but because the laws of the slave states often made manumission difficult or impossible. break ones backs were an investment to their owners and this included the owners who were dense themselves. thrall was inhuman and oppressive but solely when it affected a loved one, otherwise, it was a profit adequate to(p) endeavor. According to the 1830 census, roughly 65% of black slave owners bought the slaves for financial reasons with only 8% buying strictly family members and pixilated friends to ensure good treatment and better lives. The 1830 census also named the number of slaves possess by blacks as 10,000 in 4 different states. In 1811, a free black woman named Philis Wells current a $900 loan from Peter Desportes, She got the loan by using her black slave, Mark, as collateral.This was not an uncommon practice. some black slave owners put up slaves against loans they requested. Mulattos were considered the black elite because of their light complexion and eng age with the whites as much as possible. Treating a slave as anything but a slave would mark you as vile to blend with the whites or to enjoy the finer privileges confederation offered. According to Koger (1985)many other free blacks purchased slaves to use as apprentices for their trade. Moses Brown purchased a young boy for around $300.Moses was a barber by trade and deft the boy to following his footsteps. By the nigh year, the boy was working as a full barber in Moses shop. Camilla Johnson was a free black pastry cook. She purchased a mulatto name Diana and with Dianas light coloring, was able to use her as a waiter at the let outies she catered. spared blacks quickly found that acquire slaves to train meant an increase in the bread of the business. As Johnson and Roark (1985) explain while the mulattos could mix more easily with white society without many questions, darker skinned free blacks had a harder time.Richard Edward DeReef was one of the richest free black me n in Charleston, SC. He own real estate and had achieved a junior-grade pile. Due to his dark complexion, however, he would construct been shunned by the black elite further for his claim of Native American Indian blood. If one claimed Native American blood, many times the complexion was accepted as an indication of this lineage. This did not help the slaves to approach their station but it was a openhanded help to those free blacks who wished to be part of the mainstream society, accumulate wealth and maintain slaves of their own.In south-central Carolina in 1860, William Ellison was the largest black slave owner in the state. He had been born into slavery and once freed had begun to accumulate his own slaves. By 1960 he owned 63 slaves, not including the ones owned by his son. According to Grooms (1997) Ellisons major source of income came from his being a slave breeder. Slave breeding was looked upon with disgust and the laws of most Confederate states forbad the sale of slaves under the age of twelve, but Ellis made a fortune selling slaves of all ages including babies.Grooms (1997) also states that the legal age of black slave owners raised kale flog and lived in Louisiana. There were a few black slave owners who owned sugar cane plantations. C. Richards and her son P. C. Richards were black slave owners who had 152 slaves working the sugar cane plantation they owned. A large volume of black slave owners were female. This was due to the event that more female slaves were set free than males. History has shown us that a hie enslaving its own people has gone on throughout history, but black slave owners are virtually unheard of in the common histories.Questions for Discussion Why would individual who had been a former slave and was swell aware of the conditions slaves endured justify owning slaves themselves? Why were the absolute majority of freed slaves women? Why were black slave owners miss throughout much of the history of the slav e period? References Grooms, R. 1997 Dixies illegalize Subject Black Slaveowners, Retrieved January 23, 2007 From the Barnes Review. Website http//www. americancivilwar. com/authors/black_slaveowner. htmJohnson, M and Roark, J 1985 Black Masters A Free Family of Color in the Old reciprocal ohm New York, NY W. W. Norton & Company,Inc. Koger, L. 1985 Black Slaveowners Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina, 1790-1860. Jefferson, NC McFarland & Company Lightner, D. L. , & Ragan, A. M. (2005). Were African American Slaveholders openhearted or Exploitative? A valued Approach. Journal of Southern History Nichols, C. H. (1963). Many Thousand Gone The Ex-Slaves Account of Their slaveholding and Freedom. Leiden E. J. Brill.