As a grad student majoring in Cliometrics, I heard both men speak on the book at OSU. Their conclusion was that, in terms of economic well-being, antebellum slaves were better off than postbellum slaves. At the Q&A session afterwards, a black reporter accused Fogel of being a racist bigot, obviously, having not read either volume. When he finished what was really a rant rather than a question, a black lady stood up, look him in the eye, and asked him if he had read the book, to which the reporter admitted he had not. But to save face, he launched into another racist diatribe. The black lady, again, told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Fogel then said: "I see you have met my wife." Oddly...nothing more from the snotnosed reporter.
What a great story. Thanks.
Excellent anecdote! I first read that in a feminist book titled “Womenfolk” as I recall. A southern feminist had taken up her quill to slay the patriarch dragon and stumbled across the living standard comparison between plantation slaves and housing project and welfare inmates.
The principal evils of slavery were not economic. They were more the slave being forced into a position of dependency, forced association and the threat of confiscation of family members. Sort of what citizens face at the hand of government authorities today.