Dr. Thomas Sowell has some things to say on this matter about the original series “Roots”.
Basically, of all the slavery that has taken place in history, the “Roots” version is the one that the world thinks of when it thinks “Slavery”.
It was neither the most common form, nor the most brutal overall. But it served a purpose for the author and producers.
While slavery is obviously wrong it was never in the best interests of a master to treat a slave badly. Sure there were incidents of mistreatment but it was by no means standard practice.
In some ways, slavery was a form of bondage for the owners as well. They were very valuable collateral at a time when men could go to debtor’s prison for failing to pay their debts.
James Armistead (Lafayette) was a slave who was a patriot spy under Lafayette who spied on Benedict Arnold after Arnold joined the British and he also fed false info to Cornwallis. After the war when slaves who had served were freed, Armistead was not freed because the law didn’t include spies. His owner William Armistead couldn’t free him because he would be jailed and James would become the property of someone else.
It wasn’t until the Marquis de Lafayette returned to America in 1824 that he found James Armistead still a slave. Lafayette (with the support of William Armistead who was a delegate) wrote a letter to the house of delegates asking for the release of James Armistead. Armistead took the name Lafayette to honor the Marquis.