Boris_Badenov on Nostr: #reparations Let's put this "America was built on the backs of slavery" issue to ...
#reparations
Let's put this "America was built on the backs of slavery" issue to rest. Jamestown was founded in 1608 with white contract labor. It was vanquished in one year, and re supplied with more white labor. Later, Britain adopted the headright system which promised a yeoman or merchant 50 acres of free land for every indentured servant brought over. These indentured servents were promised nothing other than a dream. Indentured servants were contracted with a master for 4 years or 7 years, after which they could be freed. They were treated harshly, whipped and stockaded if they did not obey. Many (maybe most?) did not live out their contracts, since life was cruel. True, there was some black slavery and indian slavery, furnished mainly by the Westo indians or African slave traders who preyed on rival tribes during the first 100 years of the colony, but it was not the prevalent source of the economic tobacco engine. Black slavery did not escalate until circa 1700, when William and Mary relaxed the British regulations on tobacco production, and warehousing came into being calling for quantities of labor. My ancestor was a white indentured servant who came over in 1672, worked out his indenture by 1676 just in time to participate in Bacons Rebellion. Fortunately, he did not go to the gallows, but some of his neighbors did. So my ancestor, I consider a white slave, and I want my reparations!
Let's put this "America was built on the backs of slavery" issue to rest. Jamestown was founded in 1608 with white contract labor. It was vanquished in one year, and re supplied with more white labor. Later, Britain adopted the headright system which promised a yeoman or merchant 50 acres of free land for every indentured servant brought over. These indentured servents were promised nothing other than a dream. Indentured servants were contracted with a master for 4 years or 7 years, after which they could be freed. They were treated harshly, whipped and stockaded if they did not obey. Many (maybe most?) did not live out their contracts, since life was cruel. True, there was some black slavery and indian slavery, furnished mainly by the Westo indians or African slave traders who preyed on rival tribes during the first 100 years of the colony, but it was not the prevalent source of the economic tobacco engine. Black slavery did not escalate until circa 1700, when William and Mary relaxed the British regulations on tobacco production, and warehousing came into being calling for quantities of labor. My ancestor was a white indentured servant who came over in 1672, worked out his indenture by 1676 just in time to participate in Bacons Rebellion. Fortunately, he did not go to the gallows, but some of his neighbors did. So my ancestor, I consider a white slave, and I want my reparations!