Black Southenrner

Black Southerners

Over the years most of us have read a great deal about the institution of slavery and it’s effects on this country and the African American race as a whole. The fact of the matter is most of us have only learned certain information about slavery. There are only certain facts and historical figures that we lean about. No to say that the information we get is wrong, but we were not taught the whole story. This could be due to the approach of different instructors or because school curriculums are supposed to focus on the interesting facts and stories about slavery. The fact of the matter is there are some areas that go untouched when learning about slavery in most schools. Reading the book Black Southerners was something different for me. It was like some one opened a door and when I entered in I found hidden facts and knowledge about an institution that has a tremendous effect on my country and this history of race.
John B. Boles is the author of Black Southerners, and before he even discusses slavery itself he acknowledges that most people have preconceived notions about not just about slavery but about history as a whole. Boles says:
Part of the mythology every schoolchild in the United States learns…is that the colony of Virginia achieved quick prosperity upon the basis of slaves and tobacco. Thus, “the South” is assumed to have existed as an initial settlement, with little change until the cataclysm of the Civil War in 1861.

Boles discusses the beginnings of slavery in the seventeenth century and he clearly states the common misconceptions of readers and students:
Some present-day readers believe slavery began in Jamestown in 1619…if such readers are aware of slavery’s existence in the ancient world, the assume it had become extinct until New World plantations arose with their greed for cheap labor.

Boles writes on how slavery was indeed something that started in the Ancient world, and also it was not something that was racial motivated instead “as in the ancient system, slaves were usually captives of war…with religion, not race, being the crucial factor.” He notions the fact that “not all blacks were slaves.”
An important element that should not go unnoticed is how Boles describes how the institution of slavery changed dramatically over time. In it’s early years it was an institution that was not based on race, but more on war, religion, and legal status.