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On the Record: The Enslaved at the President’s House Memorial
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by Karen Hatter | October 26, 2010 at 10:46 am
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Philadelphia attorney and community activist Michael Coard is co founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC). The organization has fought tirelessly for recognition of the nine enslaved persons held in bondage by the man known by many around the world as the ‘father of his country’, George Washington.
Numerous scholars have uncovered extensive documentation during this project regarding the lives of the enslaved persons held by America’s first president.
During excavation for the President’s House memorial, in addition to those enslaved persons kept inside the house, it was determined some of the enslaved of African descent were housed in the stable area near the current location of the Liberty Bell Center.
Until the complete history of the brutality and indignities of chattel slavery, as practiced in the so called New World, are thoroughly exposed, there are many in the United States of America and the world who will continue to believe the nearly four centuries’ long enslavement of Africans and those of African descent in the Americas and various islands in the Caribbean was merely unfortunate people, working without wages when, tragically, it was so much more.
Between 1518 and 1870, the transatlantic slave trade supplied the greatest proportion of the Caribbean population. As sugarcane cultivation increased and spread from island to island--and to the neighboring mainland as well--more Africans were brought to replace those who died rapidly and easily under the rigorous demands of labor on the plantations, in the sugar factories, and in the mines.
Acquiring and transporting Africans to the New World became a big and extremely lucrative business. From a modest trickle in the early sixteenth century, the trade increased to an annual import rate of about 2,000 in 1600, 13,000 in 1700, and 55,000 in 1810. Between 1811 and 1870, about 32,000 slaves per year were imported. As with all trade, the operation fluctuated widely, affected by regular market factors of supply and demand as well as the irregular and often unexpected interruptions of international war.
Here is an excerpt from The Black Eye on George Washington’s White House, written by Michael Coard. The article can be found at the ATAC website:
While schoolchildren often were taught and sometimes still are taught about his wooden teeth, a story based on myth, they never were taught about his “slave” teeth, a story based on truth.Notwithstanding that it was quite likely a dentist from Philadelphia made Washington’s first total set of normal dentures in 1789, the complete story is much more interesting or, better stated, much more disturbing.
Instead of, or in addition to, wooden teeth or standard dentures, Washington had teeth that actually were “yanked from the heads of his slaves and fitted into his dentures... [and also] apparently had slaves’ teeth transplanted into his own jaw in 1784...” (Parentheses added.) (16)
Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) is:
Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) .... a broad-based organization of African American historians, attorneys, elected officials, religious leaders, media personalities, community activists, and registered voters.
My interview with attorney and community activist Michael Coard, co founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC):
Karen Hatter (KH): Mr. Coard, how did the Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) come into existence?
Michael Coard (MC): A newspaper article was written in 2002 about the move of the Liberty Bell Center from Fifth and Market Streets to Sixth and Market Streets.
In that article was information indicating that not only was that Sixth and Market Street site the original site of the President's House, America's first "White House" but, it was also the site where President George Washington enslaved Black people.
As a result of reading that in 2002, many in Philadelphia's Black community were outraged about the malicious failure of Independence National Historical Park (INHP) and the National Park Service (NPS) to publicly and conspicuously acknowledge that earth shattering historical fact, a fact, by the way, both entities had been well aware of since at least 1973.
When the Black community's demands to INHP and NPS were ignored, Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) was born in 2002. The rest, as they say, is history. We've been meeting, strategizing, demonstrating, protesting, debating, negotiating, and winning ever since.
KH: What has been ATAC’s principle concern regarding the construction of the President’s House memorial?
MC: The permeation of slavery in the project, in its most graphic, hence, horribly realistic form, is our principle concern. Far too long, American history has minimized slavery as a long past, relatively minor aberration in America's financial and material greatness. But America is great today only because of slavery yesterday.
Imagine if you owned a company that for 246 years, from 1619-1865, did not have to pay or insure its employees. You'd certainly have a financially and materially great company. Well, America is that company- because, from 1619, my ancestors were first held in bondage in what is now America until 1865 when the 13th Amendment was enacted.
Throughout all of that time, slavery permeated every aspect of America, just as it has permeated every aspect of the President's House. It was there with President George Washington in 1790 when he moved in. It was there when slave trader Robert Morris leased it to the federal government to house the president. It was there from the beginning in 1767 when the estate of major slave owner William Masters, the former mayor of Philadelphia, built the house.
KH: When visiting Philadelphia’s historic attractions, visitors from across the U.S. and around the world have remarked they were unaware that George Washington held slaves. Please share your thoughts regarding what many consider to be a glaring omission in the telling of the historical narrative of the America’s first president.
MC: That question can best be answered by reading The Black Eye on George Washington's White House, archived at the ATAC website. The article was written at the request of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.
In addition, I respond by stating that the glaring omission you reference is revealed as follows: If American visitors and tourists want to say that George Washington was a great patriot, they can say that. If they want to say that he was a great general, they can say that, too. And if they want to say that he was a great president, they can say that, as well. But, can he be a great human being when he enslaved 316 of his fellow human beings in brutal bondage at his Mt. Vernon, Virginia estate?
KH: Please share your insight into the discussion of the inclusion of the histories of the nine persons of African descent held as slaves at the President’s House as it evolved over the seven year planning phase of the memorial.
MC: Highlighted and conspicuous inclusion of the history of the nine is absolutely essential. If there was not sufficient inclusion, there would not be a project, at least, not without relentless and zealous protests, even constant civil disobedience.
KH: There has been contention among the various entities involved in the project regarding what balance to strike while covering the accomplishments and legacies of U.S. Presidents George Washington and John Adams, both having resided at the President’s House, as well as offering an accurate representation of the harshness of the lives of the enslaved. How was that issue resolved?
MC: I'll quote Kwame Nkrumah, president of Ghana and Ken Burns, noted filmmaker and historian, in response to the complaint by numerous vocal White historians regarding the project:
"The history of a nation is, unfortunately, too easily written as the history of its dominant class." - Nkrumah
"The black-white rift stands at the very center of American history. It is the great challenge to which all our deepest aspirations to freedom must rise. If we forget that- if we forget the great stain of slavery that stands at the heart of our country, our history, our experiment- we forget who we are, and we make the great rift deeper and wider." - Burns
Although Washington and Adams are effectively addressed in this project, equality is not the point. Why? Because equality in one project where inequality has been the rule in more than hundreds of previous projects is not only insufficient, it's just plain wrong.
What's right is equity, meaning the leveling of the historic playing field. In this project, that means more about the enslavement of Black humans, which is rarely highlighted and less about the deification of White heroes, which is always highlighted.
I would prefer that the project be "blacker", more emotionally intense in terms of accurately, graphically portraying the horrors of slavery. But, as a Black man who realizes that this is a government-funded project on federal property, I'm a pragmatist who views this project as a giant step in the right direction.
Those aforementioned white historians and others will certainly attack the project as politically correct, meaning controversial. But I respond by quoting a representative of publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston who said "When you're publishing a book, if there's something that is controversial, it's better to take it out."
Similarly stated, when you're designing and interpreting a historical project, the powers that be will caution you to play it safe. However, playing it safe brings you nothing but safety. It does not bring you truth.
KH: Research has revealed President Washington’s concern for his public image and his association with America’s system of institutional slavery.
For instance, in private correspondence to his chief secretary Tobias Lear, President Washington directed him to assess his obligation to comply with Pennsylvania’s statute granting emancipation to any enslaved person(s) residing in the state for at least six months. He also directed that efforts to recapture an enslaved runaway not be linked to his name.
1791/03 While the Capital was still located in Philadelphia, George Washington, fearing the impact of a Pennsylvania law freeing slaves after six months residence in that state, instructed his secretary Tobias Lear to ascertain what effect the law would have on the status of the slaves who served the presidential household in Philadelphia.
In case Lear believed that any of the slaves were likely to seek their freedom under Pennsylvania law, Washington wished them sent home to Mount Vernon. "If upon taking good advise it is found expedient to send them back to Virginia, I wish to have it accomplished under pretext that may deceive both them and the Public."
When one of his slaves ran away in 1795 Washington told his overseer to take measures to apprehend the slave "but I would not have my name appear in any advertisement, or other measure, leading to it."
(Tobias Lear, Letters and Recollections of George Washington, NY, 1906, page 38; Washington to William Pearce, 22 Mar. 1795, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union.
Recounted in "That Species of Property": Washington's Role in the Controversy Over Slavery by Dorothy Twohig.
Originally Presented at a Conference on Washington and Slavery at Mount Vernon, October 1994)
President Washington’s statute inquiry and his desired handling of attempts to retrieve an escaped enslaved person reveal a strategy to juggle the logistics of his personal life as a slaveholder with that of his public persona.
Has any research reconciled the contradictory nature of President Washington’s private and public actions regarding slavery in America?
MC: No research has reconciled or can or will reconcile Washington's contradiction. His public face as the selfless friend of freedom directly contradicts his not-so-private face as the selfish enemy of freedom. There's no getting around it and no way of stating it euphemistically: simply put, he was a hypocrite.
KH: Scholars associated with the project worked diligently to assure the incorporation of the stories of those known enslaved persons that traveled with President Washington between his Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during his tenure as President of the United States. What additional facts regarding slavery might scholars involved with the project have included at the President’s House memorial?
MC: Everything in the article I wrote, archived at the ATAC website, should be included in the project.
KH: On December 6, 2010, there is a planned public event, characterized as a “soft opening” by Rosalyn McPherson, who is overseeing the project for the city of Philadelphia. The official opening is scheduled to occur in July 2011. Have details for the December event been finalized?
MC: Not yet. ATAC will play a prominent role at both openings.
KH: Having assured the memorial will provide Philadelphians, the nation and the world with a finite glimpse into the lives of the nine enslaved persons at the President’s House, who labored under the brutality of the United States’ system of chattel slavery, what’s next for Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC)?
MC: The Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) will address a number of issues, including the renaming of public schools that are currently named after slave owners.
We will also continue our fund raising for historic Eden Cemetery, the oldest Black public cemetery in America. Some of history's greatest African Americans are interred there.
Eden's creation was a cumulative effort. It was the original idea of its founder and organizer, Jerome Bacon. Bacon was a teacher at the Institute for Colored Youth on Bainbridge near 9th Street, which was later renamed Cheyney State College.
In 1900 most African Americans in Philadelphia lived in the SP Ward, an area examined in W.E.B. DuBois' study, The Philadelphia Negro. As the city's population increased. neighborhood" cemeteries were condemned due to improvements in sanitary and sewage systems.
Out of respect for those currently interred and to provide a future resting place for African Americans, Bacon discussed with his contemporaries a plan for a unified African American cemetery. Eden's first president, J. C. Asbury; first manager, Daniel W. Parvis; first treasurer, Martin Lehmann and first vice president, Charles Jones, agreed with Bacon on a fifty-three acre plot in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
The area was selected because of its proximity to Philadelphia, beautiful landscape, size and availability.
Sadly, it has consistently been victimized by racist desecration, beginning with its opening in 1902 when its entrance was blockaded by racist thugs and most recently, in 2008, when more than 200 headstones were vandalized by racist thugs, with many other examples of outrageously shocking racist desecration throughout the decades.
KH: Mr. Coard, is there any additional information you’d wish to share or thoughts you’d wish to express?
MC: Everything that needs to be said is at our website. However, in conclusion, I'll say this.
History has been made in America with this President's House/Slavery Memorial project.
This project is the first of its kind anywhere at anytime in the United States. For African Americans, it is our Mt. Rushmore, our Statue of Liberty, our Liberty Bell. Finally, people will be shown the real history of America and that means the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
From the ATAC website, in Mr. Coard’s words:
When considering the issue of slavery, whether in connection with Washington in Philadelphia or other slave owners throughout America, it is essential to recognize that the so-called “slaves” were sentient human beings, not inanimate things. They had personalities. They had aspirations. They had thoughts. They had feelings. They had names and backgrounds. And those names and backgrounds must be made known so that they, as real human beings, are both humanized and personalized.Accordingly, and because this article pertains specifically to Washington’s Philadelphia “White House,” it will humanize and personalize the nine whom he brought to the city (27), eight of them in 1790 and the ninth in 1796. These nine, it must be noted, were not the only black human beings enslaved by Washington and his wife who together either owned or had the lifetime use of a total of 316 as listed in his official Mount Vernon records. (28)
The names of the nine enslaved persons who labored in the household of George and Martha Washington at the President’s House, whose names and histories will be enshrined as a part of the memorial, due in large part to the activism of the Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), are Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe (Richardson), Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond.
Mr. Coard, my heartfelt thanks for your activism and the dedication of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) in righting one of American history’s enumerable wrongs, in the form of omissions, reclaiming from anonymity the contributions of these nine enslaved persons of African descent, nine among countless millions who will remain unsung and unknown, who toiled nearly 400 years in this land, first in the 13 British colonies and later, in the United States of America.
Also at NowPublic:
Slavery & Washington's Legacy: Conflict at White House Memorial
The President's House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (56)
at 21:57 on October 27th, 2010
You are welcome, JohnJB.
Regarding what you are calling "disproportionate recognition", I cannot speak nor will I attempt to speak for ATAC or the organization's strategy.
Make no mistake, because of the desire for controlling the narrative of the building of the American nation, said to be the shining hope of the New World, with all of the promise for God given rights, establishing a bastion of hope, proof of the drive and determination of the early settlers and all of the rest of it, regarding the omission of the specifics of the use millions of enslaved Africans that have existed in this land 400 years, their contributions in building the nation were purposely omitted because their inclusion put the nation's hypocrisy on blast, as the young folks say today, drawing attention to the extent to which enslaved people were entangled with the nation from its beginnings, first in its infancy as colonies.
I will offer that it may the character of the omissions of the contributions of the enslaved of African descent throughout the entire length of the duration of chattel slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas, the contributions of millions, laboring for nearly four centuries yet, most often, in curriculum approved school text books, as in the case of one of my daughter's history books, less than one complete chapter was devoted to the system responsible for creating the early wealth of Europe and the New World, that inspires many to great passion.
Initially, the U.S. Park Service sought to ignore the findings regarding the find and information regarding Washington's enslaved people, with Park Service representatives saying they were inclined NOT to include the mention of slaves at the memorial, saying it would confuse visitors if they were confronted with the incompatible imagery of George Washington, the 'father of his country', presiding over 'the land of liberty' and his history of owning human beings.
It may be, and this is merely speculation on my part but, in exchange for NOT including the full extent of what was suffered by those enslaved persons of African descent during the period of chattel slavery and not portraying the cruelties associated WITH being enslaved, the devised tortures for disobedience, working from 'can't see morning to can't see night' and any of the many known and unknown indignities associated with slavery, the Park Service said 'Okay, we'll let their names and the histories we know of these nine be included at the memorial'.
I can see that kind of deal or compromise being agreed upon to avoid what some would consider even greater besmirching of America's first president.
As I said, this is speculation but there were years of wrangling involved before the deal was struck to include the Nine. The most strenuous battle was over downplaying the brutality of slavery and a desire to portray Washington as a benign enslaver, which much of the scholarship uncovered regarding his treatment of African people proves otherwise.
As specifics of the persons of African descent become known, the histories of who they are, a sense of personhood not granted nameless millions of enslaved African people during the entire period of enslavement is symbolically bestowed upon those unfortunate victims of The Maafa.
Source: ushistory.org
I would venture it not disproportionate in that, with their inclusion and some context of what the lives of these individuals were like, being linked historically to one of the richest and most powerful men in the world of his day, their lives lived as enslaved chattel to the President of the United States is a necessary and proportionate response to provide mostly heretofore unknown circumstances of the inhuman conditions endured by those Africans forced to immigrate to these lands for use in the system of chattel slavery.
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JohnJB (not verified)at 18:46 on October 28th, 2010
Karen, I fear that I have unwittingly caused you offence. If this is the case, please accept my apologies as I do not mean to. To explain what I meant by "disproportionate", and perhaps to avoid placing my foot firmly in my mouth, if I may use a thought example not from an american context. St. Pauls Cathedral in London is an amazing piece of architecture, yet all the history books record is the name of the designer, the great Sir Christopher Wren. There is no mention of the thousands of stonemasons, carpenters, gilders and painters who constructed the Cathedral. If it were discovered that there 12 slaves used in the building of the Cathedral, then strong emphasis on those 12 out of the thousands of nameless workers would be "disproportionate". See what I mean? However, as you have pointed out, in the case of America we aren't talking about a small percentage, but rather millions of people who have been relegated to a footnote in the history books. From the information you've presented it is easy to see that to a large degree the early economic development of the US rested on the slaves. Without them, the literally startling growth of the US economy wouldn't have happend. From that, it of course follows that the current lack of recognition of this fact (of economic contribution by the slaves) is something that should be reversed and the contribution acknowledged. Consequently it would be difficult in general terms for there to be a "disproportionate" emphasis to be placed on the contributions of the slaves to the economy. My use of the word was really and only WRT individual projects that may have been similar to the St Pauls example above. It is, and always has been the lot of the lowest in society to be left out of the history books. The Generals get remembered, the footsloggers who died by the thousands do not. Kings, Lords and Presidents get remembered, the people who cooked their meals and made their beds do not. Freeman or slave, and colour of skin notwithstanding, we "little people" don't get into the history books. Again, if I have caused you offence, I apologise. Please understand that my questions come from ignorance, not malice.
at 18:55 on October 28th, 2010
No, JohnJB, you have misunderstood my response.
I was providing my opinion why I felt the decision for the inclusion of the Nine at the President's House Memorial was appropriate.
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JohnJB (not verified)at 20:29 on October 28th, 2010
Okay, so long as I didn't offend. I think the inclusion of the Nine is appropriate also. Which I should have made clear and didn't.
at 14:42 on December 13th, 2010
Please forgive me for my delay in posting this comment forwarded to me by Michael Coard in response to an off site query from JB (not verified) shortly after the question was asked of me.
Mr. Coard's explanation for the name of the organization.
"First of all, thank you for your genuine interest in Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC).
Second, for more information about ATAC and its activism, please log onto our website at www.avengingtheancestors.com .
Third, here's my response to your specific question about our decision to use the word "avenging." That word comes from the Latin word "vindicare", which led to the Old French word which in turn led to the Middle English word. As defined by leading etymological dictionaries, to avenge is to pursue "deserved or just punishment for wrongs or oppressions."
It has absolutely nothing to do with "revenge", which implies the "infliction of punishment as an act of retaliation and connotes personal malice and bitter resentment as the moving force."
But that's not what ATAC does. That's not what ATAC seeks. Instead, ATAC seeks deserved or just punishment- i.e., condemnation and correction- in regard to a wrong or oppression- i.e., President George Washington's enslavement of Black men, women, and children here in Philadelphia at America's first "White House."
Apart from that, I must mention something that I often wonder when well-intentioned people ask me why ATAC uses the word "avenge." I wonder why these people express their concern or alarm about "avenge" but never express their concern or alarm- or justifiable horror- about the outrageously brutal violence of slavery itself.
Slavery wasn't just the one time loss of freedom; it was the centuries long loss of culture, family, land, language, name, religion/spirituality, human status, limb, and life. To me, that hellish existence is much more of a concern than the use of the word "avenge."
In response to your suggestion about using the word "reclaiming" instead, all I can say is that it wouldn't work because it wouldn't be applicable. To "reclaim" is merely to bring back or to possess again.
Well, we're not trying to bring our ancestors back. And we're not trying to possess them again or ever. Clearly, "avenging" is the better, actually the perfect, word.
Please keep in touch. I truly appreciate this kind of dialogue because it helps to promote enlightenment. And I hope it's been promoted here.
Thank you.
Appreciatively,
Michael"
at 07:22 on October 27th, 2010
Curious if the ATAC has, in their extensive research of American slaves, ever uncovered the atrocity's of the white man being enslaved by slave masters in early America? Im sure they have, because it is easily found, however, thats just another piece of American history being attempted to be wiped clean so as one populace can play the victim and act as if they were ever the only oppressed beings in early America.
at 07:50 on October 27th, 2010
It is clear from the ATAC's research, JMO, the task they set themselves, was that of uncovering the hidden histories of the President's House, that being the narratives of the 9 enslaved persons of African descent that labored at the President's House, with some being housed in the stable area during Washington's presidency, nearly exactly where the Liberty Bell Center now exists.
There were White persons that arrived in the so called New World, living/existing as indentured servants, with a limit to the length of their servitude.
Source: savannahtah.com
at 09:40 on October 27th, 2010
They missed one JMO.
at 08:04 on October 27th, 2010
Knowing that the black man was not the only slave in early America and also knowing these same white "indentured servants" were mastered by, yes, black masters, puts such an atrocity in a different light in that black masters had in fact white slaves in early America. This early American history needs to be taught and not glazed over. Both the white and black populace had a hand in what led to such God awful atrocity's in American history, not just whitey.
at 07:25 on October 30th, 2010
The original sin of Europe's desire for colonization of the New World, creating the system of chattel slavery, transforming their hunt for gold to one of bodies for the expansion of territories outside of Europe, involved African empires in the slave trade. No one has denied that reality.
STILL, the inhabitants of Africa did not send out invitations or advertise for the inhabitants of Europe to come to get African people.
However, the system of chattel slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean, a system that only enslaved people of African descent, which existed for almost 400 years, practiced throughout the so called New World, cannot be compared to limited time period of indentured servitude or the aberration from the norm of the complexion of the person alleged to have held an indentured servant performing services or to have been a slaveholder.
As I stated previously, that comparison is simplistically silly.
Source: slavevoyages.org
In the matter of HOW everyone of African descent GOT here, history supports the need for SHARING of blame for HOW everyone got here.
HOWEVER, the interview and article deal with the maintenance OF and continuation OF slavery in the New World AND the United States of America, with the United States' founders being particularly conspicuous and straightforward in their desire NOT to abolish slavery WHEN the nation was founded in 1776.
The founders of European descent, the so called original colonists of the 13 colonies of Great Britain, bear the SOLE responsibility FOR the trade WITHIN its borders and the continued enslavement of African people WITHIN the shores of the Americas and the Caribbean and later, the SOLE responsibility FOR breeding enslaved persons when importation of Africans was discontinued, as history reveals was the concern of President George Washington when he sought the purchase of teen aged girls of African descent for the assumed length of time they would be able to bear children.
at 09:58 on October 27th, 2010
Karen, your mixing apples with oranges in attempting to sell anyone about slavery in America. There were all kinds of race including Irish, Scottish English and Germans, particularly to the British 13 Colonies. In the 17th century 2/3 of the English settlers were slaves. In the 18th and early 19th century, numerous Europeans traveled to the colonies as redemptioners, a form of indenture.
Like slaves, Irish, German, British and Scottish servants could be bought and sold, could not marry without the permission of their owner, were subject to physical punishment, and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant.
And one of these "indenture Servants" was a black man who paid his debt to his master, became free and bought his own servant, who which ran and was caught and through the court system, ultimately became the first black slave for life thanks to his black master.
So again, your 'only the black man was a victim' of early American slavery is as far off cource as you can get with regards to reality and facts.
at 10:33 on October 27th, 2010
In fact, JMO, it is you that are mixing apples and puppies, as in the comparisons you offered are incomparable to the system of chattel slavery, a TRANSATLANTIC enterprise shipping millions of African people away from Africa for nearly 400 years, an enterprise that, until its creation, had never existed anywhere in the world.
Source: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
The idiocy of returning to the 'one man' scenario, given a scope of millions and indentured servitude, a FINITE CONDITION OF SERVITUDE THAT DOES NOT CONDEMN ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS BORN TO SERVITUDE, is beyond logical mental evaluation and ultimately, is ridiculous.
Your inability to fathom the difference defies explanation.
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GreenSpirit (not verified)at 10:07 on October 27th, 2010
Slavery made the world go round. Blacks enslaved blacks. Asians enslaved Asians. Native Americans enslaves other Native Americans. South American Native tribes took slaves. Europeans developed the feudal system which was nothing more. The Constitution as set out by the founding fathers was the document and ideal that would lead to emancipation. The world turned. I think "thirty-aught-six" makes a good point about politics prolonging full emancipation and the necessary civil rights struggle. History must be seen in context of itself and not judged later by a different standard and understanding. I can only imagine how people will view the 20th century 200 years from now.
at 10:38 on October 27th, 2010
The context here, GreenSpirit (not verified), is the founders of United States chose to keep slavery as a practice when it founded the nation to assure its financial success after its break with the mother country, Great Britain, along with all of the atrocities that came into being as a result of chattel slavery and its practice in the New World.
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GreenSpirit (not verified)at 12:43 on October 27th, 2010
New World developed out of Old World if you are going to argue context. New World didn't materialize in of itself.
at 15:19 on October 27th, 2010
That is true, GS (not verified).
It was only my intent, when using the phrase 'New World', to indicate shorthand for to the land masses and territories previously unknown or colonized by European monarchies or countries, namely many of the islands of the Caribbean and the Americas.
at 06:05 on October 29th, 2010
In my view, the plight of African Americans symbolizes the struggle of any downtrodden population fighting for freedom against an avalanche of ruthlessness and crime against humanity. When one group is stripped of dignity and human rights and this is permitted to persist, it is a mark against all humankind. The moral reason why Americans fight wars could well be to fight against any deviation from human liberty and individual respect. That is often the stated reason, though surely not the pristine motivation.
at 06:17 on October 29th, 2010
"When one group is stripped of dignity and human rights and this is permitted to persist, it is a mark against all humankind."
Very well stated, Jim.
at 07:26 on October 29th, 2010
Put that on my tombstone when the time comes along with, "He lived to see the light of day."
at 07:18 on October 30th, 2010
Not for many years, Jim, knock on wood.
at 09:49 on November 1st, 2010
An excerpt from Facts and Figures at Slavesite.com:
Country
Voyages
Slaves Transported
Portugal (including Brazil)
30,000
4,650,000
Spain (including Cuba)
4,000
1,600,000
France (including West Indies)
4,200
1,250,000
Holland
2,000
500,000
Britain
12,000
2,600,000
British North America, U.S.
1,500
300,000
Denmark
250
50,000
Other
250
50,000
Total
54,200
11,000,000
[/q]
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1stobserver (not verified)at 09:39 on November 2nd, 2010
Michael Coard is a liar. He omits the role of Black Africans in the slave trade and does not tell the audience that Black Africans sold their brothers and sisters into bondage for over 1000 years.Coard also says the Morris financed the Revolution with "the blood of slaves." This is not only a lie, it is a blood liable aganst America. What he does not know is that he is being used as a pawn by white historians to get the memorial, which they will then control. What a sad clown.
at 11:16 on November 2nd, 2010
1stobserver (not verified), the interview and article featured here strikes at the heart of the issue of the hypocrisy upon which the United States of America was founded.
When Europeans entered into the slave trade, transporting African people from Africa to Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, it was for the purpose of development of the various lands Europeans had conquered, to be used for developing wealth.
When the 13 original colonies decided they had endured enough of the tyranny of King George III, as that tale goes, they declared themselves to have, through Thomas Jefferson's penned document, a God given right to " .... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ....", all of which were denied the quarter of a million enslaved people of African descent held in bondage at that time in the colonies.
As I stated earlier in this thread, the heart of the matter is the decision by the so called founding fathers of the United States to cast off their perceived shackles from Britain while keeping the descendants of Africa enslaved and in chains.
Michael Coard's activism and the work of the Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) are commendable, bringing to light details of a tragic aspect of the history of America's first president, George Washington, history that been purposely kept suppressed and excluded from the official public record.
at 12:43 on November 4th, 2010
Regarding Robert Morris, a partner in the company Willing, Morris and Company, signer of the Declaration of Independence, financier of the American Revolutionary War and a slave trader, below are findings provided by Wachovia Bank, regarding a predecessor, Bank of North America, over which Robert Morris presided as the bank's first president:
Source: wachovia.com
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data entry jobs (not verified)at 06:53 on November 17th, 2010
Interesting post. Thanks for sharing this useful information. Nicely written article.
at 13:13 on November 28th, 2010
Thank you, data entry jobs (not verified).