“But I don’t think 10% to 20% of the population did most of the work and supported the other 80 to 90%.”
Eugene Genovese’s “Roll, Jordan, Roll” and “Time On The Cross” by Fogel & Engerman are said to be good studies of slave life in America. From what I recall reading, a lot, maybe most, slave holdings were small operations with the masters having to work as well. Plantations of course were an entirely different matter. Plantations like Monticello were small cities.
Slaves were expensive. In New Orleans historians point out that canals there were dug by Irish immigrants. Slaves were certainly capable of doing the work, but it was dangerous work and slave owners weren’t about to risk ‘their people’.
Another book that’s worth reading is “Weevils In The Wheat”, interviews of elderly former Virginia slaves conducted by black writers during the Depression.
Pelham,
Thanks for posting this. It’s 2:00 a.m.and I couldn’t quit watching it. BOTH Baldwin and Buckley are impressive here. Baldwin was terrific in speaking about oppression in a way BLM people could only wish they could. Buckley expressed the importance of traditional values and the rule of law in a way that needs repeating today. As someone said above, this debate could never happen today, but it should.
And then, we should move forward together.