In my family (both sides)there were plantations. One in Elora, TN and the other in LA, somewhere around Winfield.
Not once have I heard of cruelty or barbaric behaviors toward the negro. Quite the contrary. My grandmother used to tell me stories of black mammies take care of the children. Singing to them, bathing and putting them to bed. She spoke of this as endearing.
I heard stories of after the war, the negro servants did not want to leave the plantation. It was there home. Where they worked, raised their children, socialized.
I think it is the liberal progressives that attempt to alter history and endeavor to stain southern heritage with a dark cloud.
Was there cruelty? Yes. Was there cruelty in the North? Yes
Little know factoid that progressive attempt at all cost to hide, one of the first slave owners in America was a black man by the name of Anthony Johnson. This was in colonial days, way before the civil war. Shhhhh....don't tell anyone.
By 1830 there were 3,775 black families living in the South who owned black slaves. By 1860 there were about 3,000 slaves owned by black households in the city of New Orleans alone. This was in America.
Let's not get all up in Africa where slavery was the norm between warring tribes. In fact, it was originally blacks who sold blacks into slavery out of Africa and Caribbean.
Nother lil factoid folks love to push under the rug. As senator, Abraham Lincoln was part of a movement contemplating the colonization of blacks back to Africa and or the Caribbean. It was his belief that this would be better for he doubted the negro could effectually assimilate into American society.
It is a shame our history has been so perverted to fit a certain narrative.
I still struggle with the fact that the founders said all men are created equal while promoting slavery. Slavery in pure evil imho, even if the bible doesn’t seem to agree.