400 Years of African Slavery in America

[Bootstrap]

OK, I could be wrong. At any rate, I personally find it a lot easier to look at different eras of history separately. I would have a hard time discussing the American Revolution, Civil War, and Vietnam in one thread. I would find it a lot easier to follow this thread if it were about the period of slavery in America.

Then we need to make a History section instead of a current events section. It suggests we view it and reflect how it affects us currently.

I would find that helpful. We often do discuss history here.

[barnhart]

I remember sitting in a history class at Queens College in NYC and hearing the instructor talk so easily of how the Civil War was fought to "end slavery". My mind drifted back to about age 7 or 8, riding in a pickup truck with my uncle in rural Georgia. We passed a row of unpainted cement block shotgun houses and he asked if I knew who lived there. I didn't. He said they were slaves. I asked how is that possible and he explained that their fathers and grandfathers before them always lived on and worked that land, and the owners have always made sure the wages and the rent stay close enough they never pay off their "debts". He knew both the owner and the workers. I wondered what the instructor would say if I questioned his narrative of the War, much less the end of Slavery.

I think my uncle had clarity on how the economic system worked because he had lived outside of it, having spent several years in mission work in rural Guatemala. There, he witnessed the relationships between workers and owners, so he was able to see and label oppression in his own environment.

The tail of enslavement, de-humanization, de-culturization, terror, segregation, economic sidelining, and second class education is very long. My guess is it will take as long to "cure" as it took to create, 400 years in means 400 years out. And that is assuming we put some effort into it. As a local radio host in Brooklyn said, "When they take away your drum, you know its gonna be several centuries before you get it back."

[Sudsy]

The answer is chosing to be a slave of Christ and loving as He loves us. Our mission is to show the way out of the abuses of darkness into the freedom and blessings of obedience to our loving Master.

Because I agree with that, I picked a new avatar as we started discussing slavery.

But I also think that someone who is a slave of Christ will care a lot about the suffering of slaves in unjust systems.

Yes. I believe as we become more Christ like that we will care and have a growing compassion for those in the kingdom of darkness that are in situations of abuse. What we do in regard to this and other evils, to me, is what is most important. The remedy, regardless of how sin manifests itself, is for those abused by sin to come out of this darkness and into the light, one soul at a time.

What I think has been a mistake with some is that they have attempted to reduce or soften the blow sin makes on mankind and has strayed from believing in the power of God to change individual hearts to save us from all kinds of sinning. I saw this when in the Salvation Army. Many efforts to ease the pains of those bound and hurt by sin but in my experience, not targeting the root cause of sin itself. Man needs saving from sin as that is what Jesus came to do - to save His people from their sins. A heart transplant.

[Robert]

I would find that helpful. We often do discuss history here.

I created a History section and moved this topic. Just remember you were not the originator and can speak your your desires, but the OP may have a different purpose and perspective. Each other poster will come with their purpose and perspective and it is not up to one person to dictate what others can and can not post. We should respectfully request, but not dictate.

[temporal1]

Page 6:

A lot has been written recently about the failures of Reconstruction after the Civil War and the ways that control and power dynamics of slavery continued, even though it was legally outlawed, such as sharecropping and the use of prison labor.

A lot is ignored of Eugenics and Woodrow Wilson who segregated and pushed racial divisions back 50+ years. Before him, the military and most structures were not segregated. He was a strong supporter of eugenics and implemented segregation in government systems. This removed any healing and progress made to that time.

Margaret Sanger and many other "intellectual leaders" of that time were strong supporters of eugenics. I would say they actually returned the country back to almost a slave mentality. One has to see others as inferior to justify enslavement. Eugenics was just another tool to do so. I think more racial issues in modern society comes from the aftermath of eugenics then the civil war and slavery. The progressives have tried to hide eugenics and its impact by pointing back to slavery. I don't think we have to look so far back.

i was ignoring this thread for several reasons, but, now reading, i’m impressed with the various views and references contributed. Especially including the overall deep history of slavery for perspective, which, in my experience, is generally ignored, as tho the one cherry-picked U.S. experience is the only one that happened, or that matters.

That makes no sense. Except for politics.

And, of course, discussions of what scriptures literally say about being a slave.

This might add a note to the eugenics part of the discussion, and, possibly add insights to how politics, not scriptures, are inconveniently involved:

National Day of Mourning for the Unborn / August 31, 2019
https://www.nationaldayofmourning.life/

Lifenews wrote:

Pro-life advocates will mark the National Day of Mourning for the Unborn today with a prayerful, peaceful protest for the 20 million black babies killed during an abortion.

This specific event will take place in Richmond, Virginia, Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama, where Planned Parenthood is opening huge new abortion facilities to target predominantly black communities.

Find event information here: https://www.nationaldayofmourning.life

[Bootstrap]

What I think has been a mistake with some is that they have attempted to reduce or soften the blow sin makes on mankind and has strayed from believing in the power of God to change individual hearts to save us from all kinds of sinning. I saw this when in the Salvation Army. Many efforts to ease the pains of those bound and hurt by sin but in my experience, not targeting the root cause of sin itself. Man needs saving from sin as that is what Jesus came to do - to save His people from their sins. A heart transplant.

I agree with this. But what if even Christians are not willing to take a stand against things that are clearly wrong?

A big part of the problem was the attitude of Christians.

Many of us know that John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace", was once a slave ship captain. Many Christians had no problem with the work he was doing, and after his conversion, it took him a very long time to repent.

John Newton (1725-1807) first worked as a slave buyer in Africa and later moved on to a position of captain on slave ships. He continued to make his living in the slave trade after becoming a Christian at the age of 23 in 1748. A violent storm at sea brought about his commitment to Christianity, but it was escaping with his own life that inspired him to get religion, not guilt over enslaving others. (Though this event is often pointed to as “the” conversion, it really was only the first of many such pacts with the Almighty struck by Newton, each one brought about by his close shaves with death.)

Newton quit the sea (and the slave trade) in 1754 or 1755. He did not free any of his merchandise on that 1748 trip, or on any others. Though he might have become a Christian, he did not yet allow it to interfere with his making a living.

In 1754 or 1755, he became a Tides Surveyor in Liverpool (a form of Customs Officer charged with searching for contraband and paid with half the swag taken from others). It was at this point Newton first began to express an interest in the ministry, but at the time was unable to decide between the Methodist and Anglican faiths. He was ultimately ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1764.

Newton most likely composed ‘Amazing Grace’ in 1772, although there is no clear agreement on the date. According to one biographer, the hymn was penned along with a great many others during an informal hymn-writing competition he was having with William Cowper, another noted hymn writer. If so, that casts doubt upon this particular composition’s being solely a cathartic outpouring of wonder over the Lord’s mercy — there are, after all, only so many themes that can be expounded upon in a hymn, and personal salvation is one of them.

Newton began to express regrets about his part in the slave trade only in 1780, thirty-two years after his conversion, and eight years after he wrote ‘Amazing Grace.’ In 1785 he began to fight against slavery by speaking out against it, and he continued to do so until his death in 1807.

When he did speak out, many Christians opposed him.

[Bootstrap]

When Newton publicly repented for his role in the slave trade, he wrote this pamphlet, which was instrumental in ending slavery in England in 1807:

Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade

(Scans of the published book)

[Robert]

When Newton publicly repented for his role in the slave trade, he wrote this pamphlet, which was instrumental in ending slavery in England in 1807:

Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade

(Scans of the published book)

How does that relate to slavery in America?

[Sudsy]

What I think has been a mistake with some is that they have attempted to reduce or soften the blow sin makes on mankind and has strayed from believing in the power of God to change individual hearts to save us from all kinds of sinning. I saw this when in the Salvation Army. Many efforts to ease the pains of those bound and hurt by sin but in my experience, not targeting the root cause of sin itself. Man needs saving from sin as that is what Jesus came to do - to save His people from their sins. A heart transplant.

I agree with this. But what if even Christians are not willing to take a stand against things that are clearly wrong?

A big part of the problem was the attitude of Christians.

So, would you say then that in the book of Acts and in the Epistles, the apostles were wrong for not taking a stand against slavery ? Did they have a bad attitude ?

I can see that at the appropriate time and place that God can use a man to stand up against the abuses of mankind. Although Jesus pointed out bad behaviour, especially amongst the religious leaders, the treatment of those being abused was something the early church worked at in their communities. Paul even had to get after them to do this in the Corinthian church. Some had a bad attitude toward the poor. And I believe, in general, we Christians are to make up for the ungodly practises of governments ourselves where we live. Our neighbours. This is where our lights shine as we point people to Christ and treat each other as Jesus would in our communities. Whatever our colour, race, gender, we are all one in Christ.

Looking back at that timeline link, the history of ridding the world of slavery certainly wasn't all Christian lead. I think, wherever there is abuse of others, even atheists have a sense of it being wrong. We are not all totally depraved in that sense.

[Bootstrap]

When Newton publicly repented for his role in the slave trade, he wrote this pamphlet, which was instrumental in ending slavery in England in 1807:

Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade

(Scans of the published book)

How does that relate to slavery in America?

Here's the first sentence:

The nature and effects of that unhappy and disgraceful branch of commerce, which has long been maintained on the Coast of Africa, with the sole, and professed design of purchasing our fellow-creatures, in order to supply our West-India islands and the American colonies, when they were ours, with Slaves; is now generally understood.

It continues from there.