Reparations - A False Narrative

by

George Sontag

THE FIRST AMERICAN SLAVEHOLDER

    The very first legal slave owner in America was one Anthony Johnson—a black man. More specifically, Johnson was an Angolan who himself had been an indentured servant in the colony of Virginia before he became a tobacco planter himself. One of the African indentured servants who worked Johnson’s 300 acre plot of land was John Casor.

      When Casor had completed his seven year term of service to Johnson, he asked to be freed. Johnson refused. The latter did, however, agree to lend him out to a local white colonist, Robert Parker. Yet not long after having made this agreement Johnson had a change of heart and took Parker to court where he charged him with having robbed him of his “negro servant.”

     In 1655, a white court sided with the black African over a white man and, in addition to making him pay damages to Johnson, ordered Parker to return Casor to Johnson.
However, Johnson v Parker issued a dramatic legal change: While making his case, Johnson, in referring to Casor, insisted that, “Thee had ye Negro for his life.”
Casor became the first legally recognized slave in the American colonies. Johnson, then, was the first slave owner. And Casor did in fact spend the rest of his natural existence toiling for his master.

 

THE HISTORY OF BLACK SLAVE OWNERS

      Johnson was the first American slave owner, black or white. What is conveniently forgotten was that he was followed by many other black men and women in America to own slaves. There were thousands of black slave owners. During the antebellum period eight million whites lived in the South fewer than 325,000 owned slaves. What this means is that only 1.4 percent of the total white population consisted of slave owners, and only 4.8 percent of the white Southern population did so. In that same time period, there were 4.5 million blacks living in America, and 500,000 blacks in the South. Over half of these—261, 988—were freed men and many owned slaves. Large numbers of these free Blacks owned black slaves in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society. In the city of New Orleans alone, more than 3,000 blacks owned slaves. That is, 28 percent of the free black population consisted of slave holders. In 1830, the Census Bureau notes that free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves in the states of Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. The majority of urban black slave owners were women. Almost all of the black slave masters were mulattoes who not only enslaved their darker brethren, but refused to marry or even attend church with freed men of darker hue.

REPARATIONS FOR WHO?

      Over the past few decades there has been a call form the Left for reparations for African-Americans. It is the idea of a future monetary bonanza for the poor in the inner-cities if they just continue to vote Democrat. It is one of their tactics for keeping this community solidly in their tally count. It is attempted bribery. When one looks honestly at the historical facts of slavery in this country a very different picture appears. As economist and author Thomas Sowell says: "More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States."

      The narrative for reparations is false and purposely omits the historical facts stated above. The Progressive Left does not accept history. Facts, fair interpretations, and common sense limit their choices on governing. They are progressive and what happened in the past has no bearing on their narrative vision of today and the future. Without facts there can be no lies and a lie or omission can become (false) truth.