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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Society & CultureOther - Society & Culture · 2 decades ago

Were freed slaves allowed to own slaves themselves?

Were freed slaves allowed to own slaves themselves? Cause that will be some messed up sh#t.

8 Answers

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  • 2 decades ago
    Favorite Answer

    For those who said no, do you know that for sure? I found this quote in an article:

    How many Americans are aware that in New Orleans over 3,000 freed slaves owned slaves? The fact is large numbers of free Negroes owned black slaves.

    I think the topic needs more research.

    Here's another article:

    http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a899fdb32fd.ht...

    In a society molded by highly skewed and agenda-selective presentations of history, the tightest censorship involves the fact that large numbers of free Negroes owned black slaves; in fact, in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society at large. In 1860 only a small minority of whites owned slaves. According to the U.S. census report for that last year before the Civil War, there were nearly 27 million whites in the country. Some eight million of them lived in the slaveholding states.

    The census also determined that there were fewer than 385,000 individuals who owned slaves (1). Even if all slaveholders had been white, that would amount to only 1.4 percent of whites in the country (or 4.8 percent of southern whites owning one or more slaves).

    In the rare instances when the ownership of slaves by free Negroes is acknowledged in the history books, justification centers on the claim that black slave masters were simply individuals who purchased the freedom of a spouse or child from a white slaveholder and had been unable to legally manumit them. Although this did indeed happen at times, it is a misrepresentation of the majority of instances, one which is debunked by records of the period on blacks who owned slaves. These include individuals such as Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry, of Colleton District, South Carolina, who each owned 84 slaves in 1830. In fact, in 1830 a fourth of the free ***** slave masters in South Carolina owned 10 or more slaves; eight owning 30 or more (2).

    According to federal census reports, on June 1, 1860 there were nearly 4.5 million Negroes in the United States, with fewer than four million of them living in the southern slaveholding states. Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves. Of this number, 10,689 lived in New Orleans. The country's leading African American historian, Duke University professor John Hope Franklin, records that in New Orleans over 3,000 free Negroes owned slaves, or 28 percent of the free Negroes in that city.

    To return to the census figures quoted above, this 28 percent is certainly impressive when compared to less than 1.4 percent of all American whites and less than 4.8 percent of southern whites. The statistics show that, when free, blacks disproportionately became slave masters.

    The majority of slaveholders, white and black, owned only one to five slaves. More often than not, and contrary to a century and a half of bullwhips-on-tortured-backs propaganda, black and white masters worked and ate alongside their charges; be it in house, field or workshop. The few individuals who owned 50 or more slaves were confined to the top one percent, and have been defined as slave magnates.

    In 1860 there were at least six Negroes in Louisiana who owned 65 or more slaves The largest number, 152 slaves, were owned by the widow C. Richards and her son P.C. Richards, who owned a large sugar cane plantation. Another ***** slave magnate in Louisiana, with over 100 slaves, was Antoine Dubuclet, a sugar planter whose estate was valued at (in 1860 dollars) $264,000 (3). That year, the mean wealth of southern white men was $3,978 (4).

    In Charleston, South Carolina in 1860 125 free Negroes owned slaves; six of them owning 10 or more. Of the $1.5 million in taxable property owned by free Negroes in Charleston, more than $300,000 represented slave holdings (5). In North Carolina 69 free Negroes were slave owners (6).

    In 1860 William Ellison was South Carolina's largest ***** slaveowner. In Black Masters. A Free Family of Color in the Old South, authors Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roak write a sympathetic account of Ellison's life. From Ellison's birth as a slave to his death at 71, the authors attempt to provide justification, based on their own speculation, as to why a former slave would become a magnate slave master.

  • 2 decades ago

    Yes they were. Many actually ended up working on the supply side in the slave trade prior to the the early 1800's. In Santa Domingo mullatos owned 10% of the land and slaves.

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    In the days of the Roman empire slaves could become free by buying their freedom or by outliving their masters. When they become free they could like other romans own slaves. There are examples of slaves inheriting great riches and being great slave drivers in later life.

  • 2 decades ago

    I assume you are talking about the good old US of A here?

    If so, the answer is a definitive YES .. everyone who was anyone had one, several - if you could afford it.

    Messed up .. for sure ... though, like an former alcoholic at a AL ANON meeting, there must have been a certain sad appreciation, and resulting good-will for those still afflicted.

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  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    No. Most slaves were freed because of the abolition of slavery. Others fled north, where slavery was not allowed. Either way, they couldn't have slaves.

  • 2 decades ago

    no, and I can't imange that any of them would wnat to...

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    no

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    i dunno

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