On 06-02-08, JOHN MASSEY said to BOB KLAHN:


JM>That is exactly what I was saying. Thanks for doing the math. I can
JM>believe that 80% of the illiterates were in the south, and I can also
JM>believe that white share croppers had life just as bad as the average
JM>slave. Not saying it makes it right, and not saying it didn't happen, but
JM>not all slave owners were not the evil task masters that beat the slaves
JM>in the field. I believe, there were some  (again I have no numbers) that
JM>actually looked after the slaves and treated them well.



There were.


In fact, when the Union soldiers would capture an area and pass out the
plantation owner's possessions and gold coin to the slaves who had lived and
worked on some of those plantations had been treated so well, when the Union
soldiers left, the slaves returned the plantation owners' gold coin and
possessions to them.


And as far as news about the war was concerned....the blacks were sometimes
better informed than the plantation owners.


Also.....Booker T. Washington spoke of a slave `grapevine' that was often
just as good or better than the newspapers the white folk were getting.


Some slaves spoke of sitting in trees in the dark near outdoor gathering
areas of plantation owners and their guests, and getting the news of the war
and freedom for slaves if it was won by the north, first hand!


Other slaves spoke of crawling under certain rooms in the main house to
listen in on the conversations about the war.


The slaves were far better informed than people in that period imagined they
were (and aparently even some people today thought they were!).

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*Durango b301 #PE*