3 Lies We've Been Told About Slavery

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PushBlack
August 18, 2019

To soften the harsh reality of slavery, history revisionists have concocted numerous lies. Here are the top 3 lies told about slavery in America.

The North Was a Beacon of Hope

The North was far from enlightened and free. Many Northern states actually participated in slavery well after it was vastly prohibited post-Revolution.

According to the 1860 census, 451,021 enslaved Blacks were counted in regions that made up the Civil War’s Union. Many Union soldiers and officers even deserted the war, refusing to fight for abolitionism.

The First American Slaves Were White

There’s far-right propaganda circulating, claiming Irish immigrants were the first slaves. Not true! Many willfully entered indentured servitude, with human rights and a contract to end service.

Forcibly enslaved Africans and their descendants were stripped of ALL humanity, treated as perpetual property that even white immigrants had the right to purchase!

Slavery Ended 154 Years Ago

Perhaps the biggest lie told about slavery is that it ever ended. There’s a loophole in the 13th Amendment that legalizes forced labor against those convicted of a crime. Black people are unjustly targeted and enslaved this way. 

This manifests as the prison industrial complex, a system that picks up where chattel slavery left off.

The time is now to become disillusioned with the lies we’ve been told! Despite having come a long way, we’re still far from freedom. In fact, we’re still living in the throes of slavery.

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