[Constitutions Grandchild]

Correction: St. Francis de Sales, contemporary of St. Vincent de Paul. A lot of things relevant to today went on in the 16th century. Francis (a white bread Frenchman)was captured by African (quite possibly black) slave traders, sold into slavery to Muslims, rescued/escaped, returned to France to continue his education, was accused by a judge of stealing, was stained by the label of "Thief" for six years, was exonerated by the man who actually did the crime when the man was about to be executed and wanted to "confess" his sins. Many lessons in the story.

[Locomotive Breath]

May I recommend Jefferson's War which I'm currently working my way through on audio book. I knew it was going on, but I had no idea the extent to which European and later American whites were enslaved by the North African Barbary states. There is a reason the phrase "galley slave" came into being and it wasn't a reference to the kitchen. There's also a reason "to the shores of Tripoli" is in the Marine Corp. hymn.

The black Africans' enslavement in the New World was far from a unique experience in the world of that era.