"I feel the institution of slavery was a moribund one"
Probably so.Might have lasted another forty years or so at the most.Yet thats small consolation for those who had to live under that yoke and wait till slavery died a natural death.
All the people who say life was no paradise for Northern blacks are quite correct.That does NOT excuse the peculiar institution in the South,however.
And,yes,there were quite a few free blacks who owned slaves.Why is that a surprise?Blacks can be just as cruel and capricious to their own folks as whites can!Most of the slave owning blacks were mulatto offspring of white masters and slave women.They often inherited that attitude of"I'm better than those field n*****"since I have white blood.
Hell,you see that attitude TODAY among lots of blacks.Just go to any urban high school in the country!
You make a valid point, one I was aware of. You are assuming that the life of a freedman during those forty years was markedly better than a slave's in the period before.
On balance, I am not sure that the Civil War even accomplished the goal of advancing the cause of Black Americans. The costs in terms of blood and treasure aside, all the other effects of the War, were, imho, distinctly negative.