1/5 I would be willing to bet that your schools taught you that President Woodrow Wilson was a broad-minded internationalist, that after America won World War I, he promoted the League of Nations. 2/5 But did your schools teach you that this wonderful broad-minded President actually was a segregationist who re-imposed racial segregation on what had been an integrated federal work force? That blacks & white were compelled to work separately? With different pay scales?

1/28 Have you considered slavery or the slave trade as involving a genocide? That is one of the worst descriptions that can be made about historical practices. Did your schools or politicians ever suggest it? 2/28 Merriam-Webster.com defines “genocide” as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.”

1/22 The Tweets in this thread summarize information regarding a slave revolt in Louisiana in 1811, known as the German Coast rebellion. Although many people have heard of the slave revolt led by Nat Turner in Virginia in 1831, few know about the German Coast events. 2/22 Despite its deeply hidden history, several sources refer to the uprising as the largest slave revolt on American soil. I will be surprised if anyone reading these tweets learned this information in school.

1/21 My schools did not teach me that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison and other of America’s Founding Fathers were large slaveowners. The sheer numbers of slaves they owned—often many hundreds—were a revelation. 2/21 My schools taught me only how the Founding Fathers were passionate about freedom, and how they risked their lives to fight for it.

1/8 I have tweeted before about a practice known during slavery as the “internal slave trade.” This was the practice of slaveholders selling “excess” slaves to slave traders. This was especially prevalent in Maryland and Virginia, where the tobacco markets became troubled. 2/8 The slave traders would collect groups of slaves, chain them together, and often march them in gangs on foot, under the whip, the 1,000 miles from Washington, DC, to the New Orleans slave market. In New Orleans, cotton and sugar cane planters would purchase the slaves.

1/6 In Florida, many fugitive slaves received freedom upon arriving & joining the Catholic Church. Spanish slaves could purchase their freedom, & could own property & earn income in order to do so. If masters would not agree to a price, slaves could sue for assessment proceeding. 2/6 Dr. Jane Landers describes in her book, Black Society in Spanish Florida, what happened to blacks in Florida when the United States took over in 1821 from the Spanish. She described many changes in law and practice.

1/5 In his book, American Slavery 1619-1887, Dr. Peter Kolchin discusses the numbers of slaves in New World slave societies “on the eve of the Civil War.” 2/5 Dr. Kolchin begins: “At the time of the American Revolution, slavery could be found almost everywhere in the New World.” The Haitian Revolution occurred after that. In 1834, Britain freed all slaves in its colonies.

1/8 In the Nineteenth Century, slavery’s fiercest advocates began to assert that slavery not only was a needed labor system, but was actually a positive good, with beneficial impacts upon the slaves. 2/8 In 1837, John C. Calhoun defended slavery on the Senate floor presenting his view of the positive attributes of slavery and forecasting a split in the Union. Calhoun was Vice President from 1825 to 1832, and thereafter served for many years as a U.S. Senator.

1/21 This is Part II of the re-post of my long thread about American slavery that I posted originally on Friday. I posted Part I a little earlier this afternoon. 2/21 After gaining power in 1660 & defeating the Dutch in New Amsterdam in 1664 & then in Africa, the Duke of York shipped more than 100,000 African slaves to the English colonies, which included the American colonies. The Duke branded his slaves with his initials, “DY.”

1/27 On Friday, I posted a thread about American slavery. I have received input that people have had difficulty accessing all items in the thread, but wish to read them. I think the length of the thread might be the cause, so I am breaking the thread into 2 parts & re-tweeting it 2/27 This is Part I of my long thread about American slavery. The total thread explains why & how American slavery was worse than other forms of slavery at the time. I know this will be some trouble to read, but if you're interested in slavery, I believe it to be worth it.

1/27 As I have conducted my research about American slavery, I was shocked by aspects of slavery. Certainly, among them is burning slaves at the stake (not to mention breaking slaves on the wheel and gibbeting them—handing them up in cages to die or after death). 2/27 Other shocking aspects of slavery include the practice of whipping slaves dozens, and even hundreds, of times and the practice of posting rebellious slaves’ heads along public roads to terrorize other slaves. More than any other, I would point to coffles.

1/12 The following are a few laws cited by Philadelphia George Stroud in his treatise on slave law. First he cites South Carolina laws against teaching slaves to read or write and then he cites a Virginia statute. 2/12 Stroud: “Legislation on this subject began in South Carolina at a comparatively early date. By act of 1740 it was enacted as follows:—“Whereas the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences …”

1/17 Yesterday I began to tweet excerpts from Solomon Northup’s book, Twelve Years a Slave, what I call in my book “The Story of Patsey.” Today, I will tweet additional excerpts. Images are from slaveryimages.org. 2/17 “‘Strike harder, or your turn will come next, you scoundrel,’ Master Epps yelled. ‘Oh, mercy, massa!—oh! have mercy, do. Oh, God! pity me,’ Patsey exclaimed continually, struggling fruitlessly, and the flesh quivering at every stroke.”