"The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," by Frederick Douglass, (1892 edition)
Posted on 01/01/2016 5:55:35 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
See above for first reading of the month.
FTR, I have never lived south of Long Island, NY. I've just learned that all I was taught in high school wasn't all there was to learn.
ML/NJ
Having been born and raised in that part of the country, I know many children and grand children of 'West Virginia coal miners' who went on to great success and happiness in life. The children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren of Jefferson's slaves remained slaves themselves through their lives.
That you say you would choose slavery over freedom suggests that you don't understand either.
bump for later reading
FTR, I have never lived south of Long Island, NY.
Why would thinking that Southern slavery was not the worst human condition cause you to never live here in the South?
I have never lived in the North but it is not because I reject the notion that Yankees are dysfunctional minions living elbow-to-elbow in ancient tenements and tract homes.
Lots of people are pissed off about the circumstances of their lives. I reject the notion that slavery, especially Southern slavery, has been the worst of all possible human conditions. So, for example, I would much rather have been Thomas Jefferson’s slave than to have been a coal miner in West Virginia.
At least the coal miner can choose to leave the profession. People who think slavery wasn’t so bad don’t understand the concept of being the property of another person.
I’ll grant that the plight of slaves in the U.S. wasn’t as bad as in Muslim countries as they weren’t castrated in the U.S.
You say you know many descendants of coal miners, but apparently not any actual coal miners. So these people obviously opted not to follow the glorious path of their ancestors.
ML/NJ
Listen to the lyrics of Sixteen Tons sometime. And that song is about the 20th century, not the 19th.
ML/NJ
“I owe my soul to the company sto’.”
Some prospective, for what it's worth. Om my mother's side of the family, I was the first one to leave Long Island (N.Y.) in just over 300 (Three Hundred) years. My Great-Great-Great Grand Father was the last Long Islander to change wheat or whatever to flower via Windmill. I believe it was located on route 25 a.k.a. Jericho Turnpike. For those who may be reading this, and or live / visit the area, the remaining ponds (to this day) were HAND DUG, I know this via the family (De Milt, Last name) Bible I got to read once.
I'd suggest you try it yourself before you pronounce how harmless the institution was. Have you even read any of the excerpts from Douglass's autobiography? And his experience was not even the 'ball and chain' existence that the majority of slaves experienced.
Imagine not having a clue who your father was, only having fleeting memories of your mother, and your entire life being able to be turned upside down or even ended on the whim or greed of another person know as your 'Master".
If you want to justify the actions of the Confederacy, try another track. Slavery was a horrible institution. You can't sugar coat it.
You say you know many descendants of coal miners, but apparently not any actual coal miners.
Within a five minute drive of my home are two, (now closed) coal mines. Within a 100 mile radius were the richest coal fields in America. I have know hundreds of miners from my very youngest days and I know of the battles they had in the past.
Those fortunate enough to still be working in the industry today are probably making more money than you and certainty well above the national average wage. They are not ignorant unskilled labor. They are very skilled equipment operators who happen to work in a profession that can be very hazardous. You would be damn lucky to even qualify for one of those jobs.
Is that how you learn history? Pop music?
I chose not to waste my time and energy on an idiot who romanticizes evil.
Many poor whites had a short, wretched existence until disease, mishap, starvation, bushwacking, or rural justice did them in.
Douglass had to have been aware of this at some level. He alludes to it in his opening chapter when he describes the whites of his area. However, it wasn't his purpose to address the condition of poor whites.
but I believe the conventional revulsion concerning slavery stems from the North needing some sort of moral justification for the war that they perpetrated upon the South.
Keep in mind that large numbers of early-mid 19th century Northerners carried handed down memories of white slavery and indentured servitude.
"The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," by Frederick Douglass, (1892 edition)
Beautiful.
“Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
— Frederick Douglass
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