America’s sin of omission when it comes to teaching the history of slavery

American Thinker ^ | 10/01/2025 | Helen Louise Herndon

[SeekAndFind]

Confession in all three branches of the Christian Church includes both sins of commission and omission. Acts violating God’s commands are confessed as sins of commission. Sins of omission are committed by failing to perform an action one ought to do. Whether one belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church, or any Protestant Church, both sins are confessed corporately and individually. As such, any and all wrongdoing is covered in most liturgical confessions. Judaism also recognizes sins of commission and omission.

The above represents a sound, healthy, and just system of acknowledging, dealing with, and recognizing just about any sin or wrongdoing that can be committed. Wouldn’t it be equally a healthy and just system for American life in general? Instead of directing such confessions to God, they would be directed to the American people. Are there such wrongs? Yes, we tend to acknowledge and recognize some but not all, and historical omissions are undeniably serious.

One such serious omission takes place in the elementary and secondary education of America’s children and youth. It relates to the history of American slavery. This may come as a surprise to many, given the obsessive focus on this aspect of American history. However, American slavery has been inaccurately taught to American children very early in life, engendering racial animosity and division. How is that history taught to encourage such responses?

American slavery is taught inaccurately by omitting important facts or truths. Generally speaking, it is basically taught that only two races represent the oppressed and oppressor. The oppressed are black and the oppressors are white, period! The former is true, but the latter is false.

In other words, the oppressed, i.e., the slaves, were definitely all black. However, the oppressors were not solely white; they were multiracial.

[SeekAndFind]

Black slaves were owned by black slaveowners, caucasian slaveowners, and Native American slaveowners. While whites owned the majority of slaves, they represented a very small percentage of the majority population, not just in America as a whole, but in the South as well. Meanwhile, there were thousands of black slave owners, despite the relatively small number of blacks overall compared to the white population. Additionally, five Native American tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, also owned thousands of black slaves.

The slave market in Cairo circa 1846-1849 (cropped). Library of Congress.

[ChuckHam]

Slavery the world over has been race blind. Every race has been subjugated by someone. It still happens today, and Caucasians shouldn’t be blamed for all the ills. It’s human failing.

[TexasFreeper2009]

wrong.

wrong.

wrong.

Slaves have existed since the beginning of time and every race has been enslaved.

The only thing different about American slavery was that we fought each other to end it.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

The biggest sin of omission when it comes to teaching the history of slavery is the way the role of the Democratic Party in defending and preserving it before the Civil War, and then trying to restore it after the war, has been whitewashed.

[T.B. Yoits]

Slavic (slave) People have entered the chat.

[rktman]

Yup! Guess that’s the omission? Or that their black brothers captured and sold them into slavery?

[Resolute Conservative]

African slaves were delivered to the coast by black slave traders. Not many whites ventured into the inland areas of western Africa.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

And who can forget the Cherokee Slave Rebellion of 1842.
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SL002

How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-native-american-slaveholders-complicate-trail-tears-narrative-180968339/

Meanwhile Africans sold to Arabs in the Middle East were all castrated. Those sold to the Americas were not.

[ansel12]

White slaves held by indians, including white sex slaves held by indians, weren’t released after the Civil War and in fact continued to be taken, traded and sold by indians until some date long after the war, although I don’t know when it ended.

[Bob434]

[[The oppressed are black and the oppressors are white, period! The former is true, but the latter is false.]]

Yeah, blacks were the oppressed HOWEVER, so were white slaves, who were actually cheaper than black slaves because slavers didn’t have to go as far to get them-

The left love to claim that there were no white slaves, and instead insist that they were ‘indentured workers’ but the fact is that they were enslaved and could not work their way out of the ‘contract’ or agreements- they lived and died as slaves- never getting the4 freedom they were promised\

-

[edwinland]

Does American Thinker require their writers to spill 300 words before they address the headline?

[Karl Spooner]

I see God just wasted his time by talking about slavery in the bible.

[aquila48]

The only place slavery still exists is Africa.

[Daveinyork]

I noted when the Obamas and Hillary visited Africa that it was where Obama’s ancestors sold Michelle’s ancestors to Hillary’s ancestors.

[ProgressingAmerica]

Devil’s advocate has entered.

This article is tinkering around the margins at best and it really doesn’t do anything to address the core problems.

The first of two omissions that this article focuses in on is the topic of black slave owners. Progressives have this covered though by pointing out that the U.S. already invented slavery, so of course there may have been black slave owners after the U.S. invented it!

(I do not agree with this narrative, just pointing out why it’s not a useful argument)[And the same for native american slave owners. The U.S. invented slavery paving the way for natives to own slaves. Again its not a narrative I agree with just showing what progressives say in response.]

The second of two omissions is the idea of blacks selling other blacks in Africa. Tu quoque is a fallacy. Furthermore, by saying “he did it too!!!” sounds like a justification; of course slavery is ok because they did it over there, he did it in this other place, so that must have been what made it ok for America.

Anything that even slightly brushes against what appears to be a justification of slavery is a terrible argument to make.

Sadly, this article is just plain terrible. While these omissions are indeed serious, to lay a final resting place on these two topics and only these two topics is so weak its rather ridiculous. All it does is set up conservatives for a massive failure.

We need to get at the core of how slavery was not invented by the U.S., slavery was imported. The reality is that the U.S. was also the victim of European powers. Then further in, we were forced begrudgingly into accepting it under dubious premises. The Black Codes were first established in Barbados, why is the U.S. blamed for what the stinking Europeans did? Many of our Founding Fathers were abolitionists. Our colonies made attempts to pass laws putting a stop to slaving, only to be met by a kingly veto.

We are not going to win against The 1619 Project blaming african tribal lords 5000 miles away on the african continent. It was not african tribal lords who established the plantations.
We are not going to win against The 1619 Project blaming a minority of slave owners who leveraged a system already established by Europeans.

We will win by promoting our Founding Fathers. They were right. The Founders always are.

[11th_VA]

The teaching should be titled, “Slavery and Indentured Servitude in the Americas” - both topics need to be covered

[Vaduz]

Check

[Doc91678]

Indeed, and those Black slavers were also Muslim.
Today’s slavers are Muslim.
The majority of slaves captured, bought and sold today are controlled by Muslims.

[ansel12]

“”””The second of two omissions is the idea of blacks selling other blacks in Africa. Tu quoque is a fallacy. Furthermore, by saying “he did it too!!!” sounds like a justification; of course slavery is ok because they did it over there, he did it in this other place, so that must have been what made it ok for America.”””””

That originates in the fact that when Europeans showed up in Africa to sell trade goods to Africans they were disappointed to learn that Africa didn’t have much product to sell, because humans is what the Africans largely dealt in, Africa’s trade goods were slaves and it helped spread their trade goods to other parts of the world, just as China helped spread the use of silk.

[TornadoAlley3]

Folks are blacktose intolerant.