Before The Governing Board Of The Riverside Unified: Fill & Download for Free

Yes. There is a grass-roots organization providing letter templates, telling people which senators to call, and so on.:Vaccinate California SB 277 has a powerful roster of supporters, as of April 8 (I haven't updated the list since then):Vaccinate California (sponsor)American Academy of PediatricsAmerican Lung AssociationBiocomCalifornia Association of Nurse PractitionersCalifornia Chapter of the American College of Emergency PhysiciansCalifornia Children’s Hospital AssociationCalifornia Coverage and Health InitiativesCalifornia Immunization CoalitionCalifornia Medical AssociationCalifornia Optometric AssociationCalifornia School Nurses OrganizationCalifornia State Parent-Teacher AssociationChildren NowChildren’s Defense Fund CaliforniaChildren’s Specialty Care CoalitionCounty of Los AngelesCounty of Santa CruzHealth Officers Association of CaliforniaInsurance Commissioner Dave JonesKaiser PermanenteMarch of Dimes California ChapterProvidence Health and Services Southern CaliforniaSan Francisco Unified School DistrictSecular Coalition for CaliforniaSilicon Valley Leadership GroupSolano Beach School DistrictThe Children’s PartnershipHundreds of individualsBy contrast, here are the organizations (with my commentary) opposing SB277.[Health Committee Analysis] Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)"The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Inc. state that the need for informed consent is a firmly established principal of medical ethics and human rights and that the state has no right to force medical interventions on people without their consent"About AAPShttp://www.aapsonline.org/Rational Wiki:Association of American Physicians and SurgeonsThe Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a small group of physicians who advocate for far-right conservative values in the practice of medicine. While purporting to have high regard for the Hippocratic Oath, "the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, and the "practice of private medicine"[1], it appears to treat these concepts as terms of art. Despite also calling itself "non-partisan", its main focus appears to be opposing abortion, vaccination, universal health care coverage and Obamacare in particular, and birth control.---------------------[Health Committee Analysis] California Chiropractic Association"The California Chiropractic Association mentions that the Mayo Clinic warns against undermining the principle of informed consent in favor of universal vaccination and further states we ought not let a handful of measles cases at Disneyland turn into a full-scale assault on civil and human rights in America. "About CCAhttps://www.calchiro.org/Oppose SB 277 - Elimination of Vaccination Personal Belief Exemption"Stay with the framing of the issue provided. It’s about choice/informed consent. We are NOT anti-vaccine we are pro-informed consent and choice. Make the case that the data (provided in our talking points) demonstrates there are risks to taking the vaccine so there should be choice. "-------------------------[Health Committee Analysis] California Naturopathic Doctors Association (unless amended)"California Naturopathic Doctors Association (CNDA) states that it supports immunization for the prevention of disease and the public health objective of achieving high rates of immunity to infectious disease. CNDA states that as licensed primary care doctors who can diagnose medical conditions such as anaphylaxis and immunodeficiency, reasons outlined in the CDC’s list of contraindications to common pediatric vaccinations, naturopathic doctors must also be able to sign medical waivers for vaccination, when such medical conditions exist. CNDA opposes this bill unless it is amended to include NDs as providers who can sign medical waivers for vaccination."About CNDAhttp://www.calnd.org/[nothing on the website about SB277. Marty Block toured Bastyr University California in October 2014., and is the author of an expansion of practice bill for naturopaths.During the tours, students spoke about their education and their chosen profession. Says Adam Silberman, a third-year naturopathic medical student, “Being able to walk Senator Block and his staffer Roberto Alcantar through our clinic – explaining to them our philosophy of care and strong clinical training – brought me a strong sense of pride and excitement. How we are learning to work with patients will transform health care in California, and I think Senator Block and Congressman Hunter both saw that first-hand during their visits.”Lawmakers Tour Bastyr University CaliforniaMarty Block is the only sponsor for SB538, a bill that would greatly increase naturopaths' scope of practice.Bill StatusCuriously, there's nothing about the bill on his website.Senator Marty Block Legislative Update--------[Health Committee Analysis] California Nurses for Ethical StandardsAbout CNESBig issue is opposition to abortion and sex ed in schools.http://ethicalnurses.org/http://ethicalnurses.org/?p=2703SB277 seeks to remove the Personal Belief Exemption and mandate full vaccination of any pupil, from daycare through secondary school, public and private, in order to attend. Additionally, SB277 does not limit the ever-expanding vaccine schedule or the requirement of additional vaccines to attend school; in 2012 there were nearly 300 new vaccines in the pipeline. CNES strongly asserts principals of informed consent, personal belief, medical, religious, and philosophic exemptions, in accordance with the AMA and in the interest of maintaining ethical integrity in our public health laws. California Nurses For Ethical Standards oppose SB277.“If there is a risk then there should be a choice”[from hearing ] 1:30:03 California Nurses for Ethical Standards--------[Health Committee Analysis] California ProLife CouncilAbout California ProLife CouncilAction Alert!SB 277 – Mandated Childhood Vaccines Intrude on Parental Rights (Pan) – OPPOSEThis bill strives to eliminate the personal belief exemption option from the school immunization law forcing parents to vaccinate their children from all diseases deemed necessary by the Department of Public Health (DPH). Some immunizations use tissue from aborted babies.------------[Health Committee Analysis] California Right to Life Committee, Inc.http://www.calright2life.org/[nothing on webpage, most likely similar to California ProLife Council.]------------[Health Committee Analysis] Canary Party"The Canary Party maintains that the United States Justice System deems each and every vaccine on the market as “unavoidably unsafe”, which means that even when used as directed, someone will be harmed, or may even die from the vaccine. "About the Canary Party"The Canary Party is a tiny organization focused on promoting the idea that vaccines cause autism. They have branched out some with GMOs and “health freedom”, but their core seems to be the failed idea that vaccines cause autism. "More Canary Party financial documentsJennifer Larson, who is with the tiny “Canary Party”. Tax documents indicate that Ms. Larson is a large financial backer of the Canary Party. Searching for what donations Ms. Larson has made (using OpenSecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics) I found a total of $40,000 donations to Congressman Issa, his PAC and the Republican National Committee though Ms. Larson and her company Vibrant TechnologiesOne year and $40,000 later and another hearinghttp://www.canaryparty.org/[almost defunct organization; has been replaced by Barry Segal's Focus for Health, it appears. ]You Simply Have To Be Pro-Health - Focus for Health[from hearing ] 1:21:03 Canary Party------------[Health Committee Analysis] Capitol Resource Institute"The Capitol Resource Institute notes that following the passage of AB 2109 the personal belief exemption rate fell from 3.1 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent in 2014 after only a partial implementation of the law, and that this bill is far reaching and unnecessary. "About the Capitol Resource Institutehttp://capitolresource.org/about-us/"CRI’s mission is to educate and strengthen families and we do that by working to influence public policy. It’s imperative that citizens join with us in staying up to speed on current legislation affecting family values! As your watchdog for family values here in Sacramento, CRI is committed to keeping you informed about important legislation. So, stay tuned!"Against LGBT issues being taught in school, against same-sex marriage, extremely Christian oriented.------------[Health Committee Analysis] Educate. Advocate."Educate. Advocate. writes that every medical intervention has both benefits and risks and that parents, not the State of California, have the right to decide which medical interventions their children receive"About Educate.Advocate."To assist and provide support to anyone with or connected to someone with special needs and/or disabilities at any age in the area surrounding mainly San Bernardino and Riverside county in California."Board members:Kristie Reneé Sepulveda-Burchit, Amy Carrillo, Marilyn Interian, Jerri Carpinteyro[many members believe their children are vaccine injured][from hearing ] 2:12:24 Educate Advocate------------[Health Committee Analysis] Families for Early Autism Treatment [FEAT]" Families for Early Autism Treatment contend that this bill is contrary to the rights protected by the State and Federal Constitutions as it denies rights to privacy, education, free assembly, religious expression, consensual use of one’s physical body and liberty. "About FEAT"FEAT is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization of parents, family members, and treatment professionals dedicated to providing best outcome Education, Advocacy and Support for the Northern California Autism Community."[many members believe that vaccines caused their children's autism]------------[Health Committee Analysis] Homeschool Association of California"The Homeschool Association of California states this bill will negatively impact the freedom to homeschool and would make it impossible for many families to choose to homeschool legally. They argue that almost all homeschooling families use a legal option that involves attendance at some form of public or private school, either operated by a third party or operated by parents who file a private school affidavit, yet current law requires children admitted to private schools be fully vaccinated in accordance with existing law."AboutHSC[nothing on the website.][from hearing ] 1:25:40 Home School Association of California------------[Health Committee Analysis] National Vaccine Information Center"The National Vaccine Information Center argues that it’s particularly disturbing that physicians in the American Medical Association Code of Ethics affirm philosophical and religious exemptions for themselves yet want to remove this right for California parents."About NVICDespite its name, it is not a government body. It is a nonprofit whose mission is to create fear and doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The best introduction:NVIC? Know the Omissions------------[Health Committee Analysis] Pacific Justice Institute Center for Public Policy"The Pacific Justice Institute argues that statewide vaccination rates exceed the threshold for herd immunity and, to the extent that a few communities have fallen below vaccination levels needed for herd immunity, the Legislature could consider approaches that allow greater local decision-making and accountability rather than imposing across-the-board statewide mandates."About -- from Wikipedia.PJI provides pro bono representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties. It has supported the recitation of "under God" as part of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, homeschooling, and the enforcement of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.In 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated the Pacific Justice Institute as an anti-LGBT hate group.------------[Health Committee Analysis] ParentalRights.orgAbout"ParentalRights.Org's mission is to protect children by empowering parents through adoption of the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by preventing U.S. ratification of UN Conventions that threaten parental right:" It is primarily organized in opposition to the UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child, which has long been a dog-whistle element in the far right.------------[Health Committee Analysis] SafeMindsAboutSafeMinds is an acronym for Sensible Action For Ending Mercury Induced Neurological Disorders. It is a parent-advocacy group that originally advanced the belief that thimerosal in vaccines cause autism; it has since morphed into a general-purpose anti-vaccine, autism-hating organization. It used to have rather a lot of clout; the failure of the mercury-causing-autism hypothesis in the Omnibus Autism Hearing (OAR) seems to have made the organization much less relevant.SAFEMINDS board:Sallie Bernard (New Jersey)Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN (Georgia)Heidi Roger (New Jersey/New York)Laura Bono (North Carolina)Maria Dwyer (New York)Albert EnayatiStephen D. KetteScott LasterJackie Lombardo (Virginia)Cynthia Nevison (Colorado)Katie Weisman (New York)Katie Wright (Connecticut)------------Hundreds of individuals------[from hearing ] 1:16:25 Ruth Westerich (sp) claiming to speaking for a San Diego "group of over 500,000 healthcare practitioners"-------[from hearing ] 1:17:59 Wendy Silver; Million Mamas MovementPrimarily a peace movement but also no vaccines, evidently.Become a Million Mama - Million Mamas Movement-------[from hearing ] 1:18:35 Slow and No Vax Moms"extensive yahoo group in your area for parents. It's called slow and no vax moms. Look it up, and they should be able to help you."Yahoo! Groups"This group does not advocate any vaccine over another as they all have adverse effects. All discussion is from a "con" stance for each and every vaccine. This is not a place for debate of the vaccine issues. Discussing the "pro" viewpoint of any vaccine is not a part of this forum in any way."---------[from hearing ] 1:18:55 Campaign for Liberty, asks Senator Allen for a dateRon Paul's groupCampaign for Liberty - Reclaim the Republic. Restore the Constitution.---------[from hearing ]1:21:56 Laura Hayes; Mind Institute, FEAT, California Coalition for Health Choice, Canary PartyHayes of the founding families of MIND Institute; still fixated on vaccines cause autism. She's been published at the anti-vaccine, autism-hating blog Age of Autism.David Gorski, writing as Orac, has addressed her issues:No, no, no! Fifteen times, no!Tactics and tropes of the antivaccine movement (2014 edition)The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 14: Vaccine “Trafficking” and beyond-----------[from hearing ]1:27:51 Our Kids, Our Choice(seems to be a subgroup of the other antis, focusing on producing Youtube Videos)-------[from hearing ] 1:30:30 Congressional Prayer Conference of Washington DC, spoke about the letter they sent to Senator Pan the day before and is very aggressive in tone. Laughter from oppo when he finishes------[from hearing ] 1:40:35 Dr. Bob Sears[anti-vaccine pediatrician]-------[from hearing ] 1:48:20 Environmental Voiceshttp://environmentalvoices.org/index.htmlRocklin-based anti-GMO, anti-toxins organization.--------[from hearing ] 2:00:03 National Autism Association of CAHelp and Hope for Families Affected by Autism[believes that vaccines cause some or most cases of autism. National organization with state chapters -- several in California]-----[from hearing] Dana Gorman, Thriiive.com and #b1less

There were two holocausts associated with slavery: (1) the Middle Passage, and (2) Emancipation. But actual slave life was different. Slaves with kind masters could and many did have a pleasant life in the United States if they:“Jumped the broom” at ages 16, 17 or 18 and started having sex and children with the mate of their choice.Lived and worked with their “band of brothers and sisters,” including parents, grandparents, siblings and/or uncles and aunts on the same or neighboring plantations.Enjoyed working hard outside in the fresh air in the agricultural context or in other supporting trades and staying in superb physical shape and generally good health; or working as a domestic servant in the owner’s house.Were allowed to hunt, fish, quilt, dance, make music, enjoy holidays and barbecues and attend several corn shuckings, log rollings, quiltings and/or candy pullings every year.Stayed away or were kept from tobacco, drugs, saloons, violence, gambling and alcohol.Accepted the Christian religion and attended church services weekly or regularly and often with their owners.Ate healthy meals and wore good clothing made on the plantation.Received good healthcare from the same physician who treated their owners without being bled like they bled white people at the time.Had few worries concerning security, money, plans for the future, the economy, finances, addiction, war (before 1861) or crime.Were allowed their own plot of land on which to raise or grow what they wanted, including what they were allowed to sell.Did not have interference in their family relations and did not get sold away from those they loved.Rarely had insomnia and did not get sick as much as those who lived in cities.Had carefree childhoods playing on the plantation, often with the white children.Were respected and taken care of in their old age, became attached to the plantation community and their owners, and were given funerals on the plantation.Here are passages from Prison & Slavery - A Surprising Comparison: John Dewar Gleissner: 9781432753832: Amazon.com: Books* to prove the point that U.S. slaves could be and were often happy:“Happiness. It is grossly inaccurate to characterize slaves as unhappy because of the circumstances of their servitude. In his Foreword to Remembering Slavery, Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley asks the rhetorical question how slaves could have survived without laughter, happiness, love, good times, healthy relationships, and self-esteem. In asking this question, we have the answer: Slaves enjoyed life with those vital forces. Genetics and mental attitude primarily define what it means to be happy, not life circumstances. Why do we think happiness comes from the life circumstances of material success, status, big homes, freedom of action, a particular job and top management responsibility? Aristotle said, “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” For a variety of reasons, antebellum slaves were about as happy as their owners.The Slave Narratives and the foreign and Northern observers quoted in the Appendix portray much happiness among the slaves prior to Emancipation. “We was always treated good and kind and well cared for,” Ellen Claibourn recalled, “and we was happy.” Rabid abolitionist Fanny Kemble, one of the few white abolitionists to live temporarily as an adult on a slave plantation, “passed some time on two . . . plantations where the negroes esteemed themselves well off.” “Dem was good old days,” Aunt Easter Jackson reminisced, “plenty ter eat and a cabin o’ sticks and dirt to call yo’ own. Had good times, too . . .” Charles Dickens, who despised the institution, wrote, “every candid man must admit that even a slave might be happy enough with a good master.” Happy slaves do not justify slavery, but they help explain how slavery truly worked.Happiness is tough to measure, but one way to do it is to look at suicide statistics. We’ve already seen that modern prisoners are 20 times more likely to commit suicide than antebellum slaves. On that dismal topic, modern British researchers found female prisoners were 20 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population; they earlier found male prisoners were five times more likely to commit suicide than the general population. Slaves in 1850 had an extremely low suicide rate, one in 10,000: one-third the white suicide rate. The suicide rate for American blacks in 2004 was 5.2 per 100,000; less than the 12.3 per 100,000 suicide rate of American whites in the same year; these statistics have not varied much from year to year, except lately the suicide rate for black males is rising almost to the national average. In both modern and antebellum times, blacks were and still are less likely than whites to commit suicide. It’s possible African-Americans have a genetic predisposition to be less depressed than other Americans.Rev. Nehemiah Adams of Boston noticed the happiness of slaves while observing their choral performance. “ The impression here made upon me, or rather confirmed and illustrated afresh, was, that the slaves, so far as I had seen, were unconscious of any feeling of restraint; the natural order of life proceeded with them; they did not act like a driven, overborne people, stealing about with sulky looks, imbruted by abuse, crazed, stupidly melancholic. People habitually miserable could not have conducted the musical service of public worship as they did; their looks and manner gave agreeable testimony that, in spite of their condition, they had sources of enjoyment and ways of manifesting it which suggested to a spectator no thought of involuntary servitude.” Music lifts our spirits, as Benny Dillard indicated when caught by surprise singing in his yard: “’Scuse me, Missy, I didn’t know nobody was listenin’ to dem old songs. I loves to sing ‘em when I gits lonesome and blue. But won’t you come up on my porch and have a cheer in de shade?”“To live happily is an inward power of the soul,” Marcus Aurelius wrote. The Apostle Paul learned how to be content under all circumstances, even in prison. Modern “happiness research” shows that happiness is not primarily derived from the circumstances under which one is situated. Happiness is 50% genetic, 40% intentional, and only 10% circumstantial, according to Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California - Riverside and author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want. Dr. Lyubomirsky observes that most people are surprised at the minor role played by life circumstances. Deliberate control over how one acts and thinks can affect happiness, according to Dr. Lyubomirsky. Behaviors leading to happiness include gratitude, a very common behavior among antebellum slaves; forgiveness, taught by Christianity; church involvement, which included many slaves; acts of kindness; and enjoying positive moments. Slaves and ex-slaves practiced these characteristics. The antebellum slave’s lifestyle was conducive to happiness. Slaves and ex-slaves could be happy even after experiencing sorrow, as shown by the life of Mary Ann Cord. A clinically depressed Mark Twain, overemphasizing the role of life circumstances, thought Mary Ann Cord was so happy and full of humor that she had never had any trouble in life. He was astounded to hear otherwise and put down in writing what he heard. Mary Ann Cord’s story of having her husband and seven children sold away, and her subsequent reunion with her youngest son Henry during the War, form the basis of Twain’s A True Story, Repeated Word for Word As I Heard It.Physical exercise and routine provide acknowledged mental health benefits, including help with mild to moderate depression. Regular physical exercise reduces anxiety and panic attacks. One suggestion to cure depression is to perform simple physical tasks that one can perform successfully, which is exactly what slaves in the field did. Regular routines help with bipolar disorder. Maintaining consistent sleep and wake times preserves circadian rhythm, which is helpful in dealing with bipolar disorder and depression. Ex-slaves were consistently woken by regular horn, bell or other sound early in the morning, at the same time every day of the season. Prisoners behave better if they can rely upon a schedule and know what lies ahead in their day-to-day prison lives.Sunlight, light therapy, heliotherapy – by whatever name known – also has significant mental and physical health benefits. Heliotherapy helps depressed patients faster than anti-depressant drugs. Slaves working in the fields – unlike prison inmates – obtained plenty of sunlight, which is better than artificial sunlight. Breathing fresh air is of course better than inhaling stale or polluted air. Early prison physicians believed sunlight and air were necessary for good prisoner health and that close confinement was bad.Exercise and physical conditioning offer many benefits. Exercise improves or maintains a healthy heart, weight, bone density, muscle strength, joint mobility, immune system, general physiology, sleep patterns, psychological well-being, hormone production, nerve growth and cognitive functioning. It can help improve, prevent or reduce the effects of diabetes, heart disease, dementia, depression, insomnia, neuromuscular diseases, alcohol-induced brain damage, surgical risks, high blood pressure, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases and low pain thresholds. Slaves typically worked long, physically demanding hours. Exercise helps the brain through neurogenesis, mood enhancement and endorphin release. Maintaining levels of physical activity reduces the number of days one suffers from mental and physical sicknesses. Physical conditioning improves self-esteem and happiness by improving attractiveness and keeping one’s weight down. Just as in today’s fitness-conscious world, Frederick Douglass was proud of the physical condition of both his grandmother and his mother.Farmers, in particular, are healthier and live longer than people in an urban or non-agricultural setting. The main occupational hazards in farming today, heavy equipment accidents and electrocution, were not present on antebellum plantations. On a day-to-day basis, there is less overall stress in farm work. Farmers have high job satisfaction because of the job characteristics of farming. Even though slaves did not have the same entrepreneurial satisfaction as land and business owners, they identified with the financial success of their owners, were proud of it, and obtained benefits from the plantation’s success. Minnie Davis explained this vicarious dynamic: “The Crawfords were considered very uppity people and their slaves were uppish, too.”The lifestyles of the writers and intellectuals who dealt with African-American affairs after Emancipation were not likely to appreciate these advantages. Our sedentary modern lifestyles cause problems. Today, we have to hire special drivers to get us to exercise. We call these drivers “personal trainers.” Leaders of our exercise videotapes and classes call out exercise cadences, just as the slaves worked to cadences or songs. We wish for motivation to exercise.Because of our sedentary lifestyles, in and out of prison, we gain weight. Obesity has reached epidemic levels. People spend billions of dollars every year to lose weight. Much of that money is ineffective to accomplish the goal of weight loss. Diets don’t work. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental problems and other conditions afflict us these days, and we are now missing the beneficial effects of physical exercise. Slavery provided an excellent weight-control regimen. Hard work succeeds better than all of the diets, foods, pills, exercise programs, videotapes, books, magazines, weight loss camps and weight loss gadgets put together. Obesity existed in the slave days, but among the field hands, it was much less of a problem. Physical conditioning improved the well-being of slaves, just as modern prisoners realize its benefits. Take a good look at the physique of non-athletic Americans, and you will have no trouble appreciating that we looked better and were in many ways healthier during our agricultural pasts. Farm work has always been physically demanding, and before rural electrification, it was even more onerous.Plantation records indicate slaves were healthy and lost few days to illnesses or disabilities. “Hardly anybody even got sick on de plantation,” Mrs. Amanda Jackson observed. A number of ex-slaves noticed that their people were sick less before freedom, for several reasons. Physicians advised planters on ways to reduce illnesses and disease. “Slaves never got sick much,” agreed William “Bill” Henry Towns. Special hospitals or infirmaries were built on many large plantations. “There was little if any sickness,” Ike Derricotte remembered, “but Colonel Davis employed a doctor who visited the plantation each week.” Slaves lived on isolated plantations, stayed there most of the time, and were not exposed to as many epidemics, contagious viruses and seasonal illnesses on upland plantations. Lowland plantations were less healthy, but blacks had greater resistance to tropical diseases than their white owners. Physical contact with whites who left the plantation and came back with viruses was also restricted insofar as the field hands were concerned. In addition, field hands spent much of their time outside, physically separated from contagious workers who might infect them. The much-maligned pass system, enforced with mounted patrols, took on a public health function, especially during epidemics when the need for quarantine would be great. A highly contagious illness might kill several dozen bondspeople at a time, and their owners undoubtedly protected their servants from such epidemics. “There wasn’ much sickness,” said Lizzie Jones, “and seldom anybody die.” Most planters enforced cleanliness and neatness through on-site “public health” standards, and made sure the water supply was good and clean. With restricted alcohol intake, plentiful food, sunshine, warm log cabins, good clothes and superior cardiac health, African-Americans were better able to ward off illnesses. “Child, I wish I could call back dem days,” Mrs. Della Harris wished, because “Muma said people lived so much longer because they took care of themselves. . . Folks are so indifferent now I am afraid to say. Pshaw. Colored folks now, some are messy an’ don’t know how to be polite.”The quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables, made greater by economies of scale and specialization, contributed to slave health. Plantation gardens were often huge and planted with a wide variety of vegetables. Fruit orchards were more common on plantations than on small farms. Some planters provided one huge common garden, while others let their servants tend individual gardens, but variety and quantity would be enhanced through either method. Unlike peasants in Europe, and some poor people in the North, American slaves virtually never starved to death.Having socially acceptable sex at an early age with one’s life partner, a common practice among slaves, promotes happiness, too. No citations needed. All normal humans love to be touched by someone who cares. It is crystal clear the majority of slaves could have been happy. Science contrasts sharply with thoughts first initiated by those far away from Southern plantations, abolitionists unable to observe actual slave happiness or unhappiness. Placing too much emphasis on material differences, power and social stratification as a source of unhappiness overburdens the small part of happiness that is due to life circumstances.Happiness is a decision one makes with the genetic predisposition given to a person, not usually something thrust upon us from external or natural forces. The materialistic view of life holds that the people with the most wealth are the happiest, and that those who are without must be miserable until they obtain wealth or a fairer distribution of it . . . but that’s not reality. Those who sacrifice love for money tend to be unhappy, as Judeo-Christian doctrine has been preaching for millennia. Sometimes people who “have it made” in our eyes are miserable. Millionaires and billionaires commit suicide. Most slaves were happy. Abraham Lincoln’s letter to a friend illustrates both modern scientific and ancient religious doctrines remarkably well:BLOOMINGTON, ILL., September 27, 1841.To Miss Mary Speed, Louisville, Ky.MY FRIEND: By the way, a fine example was presented on board the boat for contemplating the effect of condition upon human happiness. A gentleman had purchased twelve negroes in different parts of Kentucky, and was taking them to a farm in the South. They were chained six and six together. A small iron clevis was around the left wrist of each, and this fastened to the main chain by a shorter one, at a convenient distance from the others, so that the negroes were strung together precisely like so many fish upon a trotline. In this condition they were being separated forever from the scenes of their childhood, their friends, their fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and many of them from their wives and children, and going into perpetual slavery where the lash of the master is proverbially more ruthless and unrelenting than any other where; and yet amid all these distressing circumstances, as we would think them, they were the most cheerful and apparently happy creatures on board. One, whose offence for which he had been sold was an overfondness for his wife, played the fiddle almost continually, and the others danced, sang, cracked jokes, and played various games with cards from day to day. How true it is that 'God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,' or in other words, that he renders the worst of human conditions tolerable, while he permits the best to be nothing better than tolerable. To return to the narrative: When we reached Springfield I stayed but one day, when I started on this tedious circuit where I now am. Do you remember my going to the city, while I was in Kentucky, to have a tooth extracted, and making a failure of it? Well, that same old tooth got to paining me so much that about a week since I had it torn out, bringing with it a bit of the jawbone, the consequence of which is that my mouth is now so sore that I can neither talk nor eat.Your sincere friend, A. LINCOLN.Perhaps this scene gave rise to Lincoln’s stated belief that “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Lincoln, subject to depression, believed the largely erroneous idea that slavery was significantly worse in some areas of the South than in others. The same human virtues and vices, economic incentives, laws, religion, people and culture meant that slavery in the South was more or less consistent throughout. No convincing evidence supports the common misconception that the institution of slavery within the United States was significantly “worse elsewhere.” Proximity to free states may have encouraged some masters to be nicer, to prevent escape attempts. Some terrains were more conducive to an easier life. Most plantations were founded by people from other states as westward movement progressed. Unquestionably, slavery was worse in the West Indies, South America and the Muslim world.The beginning of the famous Serenity Prayer, in the version preferred by theologian Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr, suggests a basis for the contentment of antebellum slaves: “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed . . .” Acceptance of the master-slave relationship, which the slave could not often change or change quickly, provided the basis for antebellum serenity. Modern people do not accept slavery, but the slaves usually did – they had to if they wanted to be happy. The rebellious, resistant, runaway slave, often a young male, was fighting an uphill battle and rarely succeeded. The rebel slave is eulogized now by neo-abolitionists out of all proportion, but the simple reality was that to be happy, most slaves first had to accept the institution. Nobody can blame them, though many today deny their happiness.Other than their natural optimism or pessimism, the single most important factor in slave happiness was their masters’ disposition, whether cruel or kind. One former slave, Louis Hughes, explained: “It had been talked of (this freedom) from generation to generation. Perhaps they would not have thought of freedom, if their owners had not been so cruel. Had my mistress been more kind to me, I should have thought less of liberty. I know the cruel treatment which I received was the main thing that made me wish to be free.” We can measure the extent of cruelty towards slaves by equating it to the percentage of new Mercedes-Benz owners who do not take good care of their cars. Top field hands were worth up to $43,000 in today’s money. Being worth substantial sums meant slaves were far more appreciated than prisoners who in today’s valuation have significant negative value to their owners. New age slaves are commonly worth a negative $25,000 times the number of years in their prison sentence.Just as management sets the tone for many work crews, shifts, shops and offices today, slave management determined the level of happiness on some plantations. “Punishment was seldom necessary on the Willis plantation,” Mrs. Mariah Callaway pointed out, “as the master and mistress did everything possible to make their servants happy; and to a certain extent indulge them. They were given whiskey liberally from their master’s still; and other choice food on special occasions.” Laura Hood fondly remembered that “Marse Henry was as good a man as ever put a pair of pants on his legs.” Thomas Cole would not have run away to the Union Army if his old master had been alive, because, “He was one of de best men I ever knows in mah whole life and his wife was jest laks him.”Slaves worried about some things, the main concern being separation from family members or their plantation through slave sales, but they did not have to worry much about providing the necessities for themselves or their families. As Adeline Burris recalled, “Dey didn’t have to worry about rent, clothes, nor sumpin to eat. Dat was there for them. All they had to do was work and do right.” A number of ex-slaves appreciated the sense of security, being taken care of, and having others who cared about them. Sarah Poindexter nostalgically remembered that, “I was happier on de Poindexter plantation and had fewer things to worry ‘bout than when I was ascratchin’ ‘round for myself.” The absence of worries liberates people. “Oh, Missy,” Jasper Battle recalled, “dem was good old days. Us would be lucky to have ‘em back again, ‘specially when harvest time comes ‘round. You could hear Niggers a-singin’ in de fields ‘cause dey didn’t have no worries lak dey got now.”Many plantations were nearly or entirely self-sufficient or capable of being that way but for the decision to grow cash crops. Paying bills and taxes, military duty, interest rates, business matters and politics did not concern them. Bob Benford remembered slaves “didn’t have to worry bout payin’ the doctor.” Slaveholders promptly resolved disputes between slaves in most instances. The owners wanted peace and happiness. Most slaves knew better than to wound or kill. There was not much crime on their plantation. Friends and relatives were nearby. On some plantations, nearly all the slaves were related to each other, to the point that marriage partners had to be found outside the plantation. Slaves had usually known their masters for many years, were part of that master’s family, and were very well acquainted with their physical surroundings. Masters made special efforts to make sure their slaves had a mate of the opposite sex, though sometimes their spouse lived on a neighboring plantation. Freed slaves commonly said that during slavery they were care free. This was almost universally said about their childhoods. George Johnson was not treated badly at all in Maryland, but made it to Canada when he was 15 because he wanted to be free; he said being a slave was sometimes easier, “because I have had some care upon me here, and there I had none.” One child was told by his mother that during slavery they “had plenty of ebvery t’hing an’ nothin’ to worry ‘bout.” Millie Evans expressed this advantage of being a slave compared to being a slaveholder: “Now chile I can’t ‘member everything I done in them days but we didn’ have ter worry bout nothing. Ol’ mistress was the one to worry.”The condemnation of slavery has much to do with the huge material disparities between antebellum planters and their servants. This disparity still exists, a relic of antebellum slavery and differences between Africa and Europe. Antebellum slaves enjoyed life for its spiritual, social, musical and hedonistic aspects in addition to their basic needs for security, food, clothing and shelter. Conspicuous consumption and “keeping up with the Joneses” was not their concern. The material disparities within the slave community were not nearly as great as those separating slaves from their white owners. The racial difference with their owners may have made it easier for them to accept their status.Lifestyle. Money played a less significant role in the slave’s life. Slaves did not need money to buy food, clothing, shelter, medical care, spiritual assistance, spouses, holidays, festivities, weddings or funerals. One slave remembered that the dollar given to him on Christmas was often unspent by the following Christmas. Slaves could not buy many things, including land, firearms, books, often whiskey, carriages and certain types of fancy clothing. Antebellum slaves were therefore less materialistic than were their white contemporaries. Black leaders today call upon their people to be less materialistic. Antebellum slaves did not have money problems, as we know them today. They lived more or less in a cashless society on the plantation.Rev. Nehemiah Adams of Massachusetts observed the pass system keeping slaves at home after 8:00 PM in the city was not all bad. These rules were “theoretically usurpations, but practically benevolent . . . for [a]round the drinking saloons there were white men and boys whose appearance and behavior reminded me of ‘liberty and pursuit of happiness’ in similar places at the north; but there were no colored men there: the slaves are generally free as to street brawls and open drunkenness. . . I had occasion to pity some white southerners, as they issued late at night from a drinking-place, in being deprived of the wholesome restraint laid upon the colored population. The moral and religious character of the colored people at the south owes very much to this restraint.”Unquestionably, slavery protected slaves from alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, assaults by strangers and the transient lifestyle. By monitoring their activities, making sure they were productive, controlling their movements off the plantation and reducing plantation expenses, alcoholism and drug addiction were limited in the slave quarters. Sarah Fitzpatrick said, “”Niggers’ didn’t drink much whiskey fo’ de war, dey only got whiskey when de white fo’ks give it to’em.” As was the case with the top Union general instrumental in freeing them, Ulysses S. Grant, who tended to drink when he was not busy, active slaves did not have to drink and did not have the time or interest for that activity. Slaves didn’t always have the money for strong drink or access to it. Slaves did not normally stay out late at night.Many slaves received regular rations of alcoholic drinks, but again the profit motive reduced their access to alcohol. As Kato Benton observed, “White folks was good to us. Had plenty to eat, plenty to wear, plenty to drink. That was water. Didn’t have no whisky. Might a had some but they didn’t give us none.” Slaves were often given enough alcohol to celebrate and as a reward for hard work.Sarah Fitzpatrick said the slaves did not gamble until after the War, and then they picked it up from Union soldiers. They did not have much money to gamble before the War, and any money they had was earned. The pass system kept blacks out of saloons, card fights and violence while focusing their lives on the plantation. Planters monitored organized get-togethers, which kept their servant’s out of trouble.Slaveholders obviously did not want their servants to fight with each other: not unless it was a boxing match. “Marster lak to see his slaves happy and singin’ ‘bout de place,” Junius Quattlebaum reminisced. “If he ever heard any of them quarrelin’ wid each other, he would holler at them and say: ‘Sing! Us ain’t got no time to fuss on dis place.’. . . Them was sho’ happy times.” Planters strictly controlled violence and kept it from erupting into personal injury or death. Slaveholders also worked with the patrollers to create a safer community, forming a “partnership” between the government and private enterprise, the exact type of local crime prevention partnership said to be so effective today in controlling crime. Law was enforced at the critical local level. The deterrent effect of punishment on the plantation was greater than today, because a higher percentage of crimes were detected there than in the modern urban setting.Aunt Lizzie Hill said her owners “raised me right.” In addition to Christianity, slaves learned the English language, the basic tenets of Western civilization, technology and many of the hallmarks of Western civilization. Early defenders of slavery based the necessity of civilizing influence on race, rather than the superiority of Western civilization compared to the culture of West Africa. Early African-American writers acknowledged the value of Western civilization, too, but now the tune has changed. Western civilization is faulted under modern ideas of multiculturalism. Some say Eurocentrism is racist.After we discard race as a factor, we still see the obvious cultural and physical advantages of leaving a primitive, unhealthy region with hundreds of different tribes, languages and religious variations for the more unified and advanced culture of the United States. The U.S. has a great constitution, ample resources and an educated population. In fact, it was advantageous to all peoples to come to the United States, for whatever reason, in the early years of American ascendancy and expansion. All races and peoples entering the United States or the Thirteen Colonies left behind cultural disadvantages of one type or another, based on class, wealth, status, religion, oppressive government, criminal convictions, military obligations, family background, race, prejudice or gender. All people who came to these shores brought their contributions to the melting pot.Slave children did not attend school and had little opportunity to learn, but there were exceptions on many plantations. The narrative of William Hayden provides an example: “In the year 1807, there was a school started for some colored children . . . and as their masters did not want them taught by a white man, they engaged a colored one . . . As there were not enough FREE children to make up the school, notice was given, that any one wishing their servants taught, (if they were willing to entrust them with Ned,) should be permitted to send them to school. On hearing this, I applied to Mr. Ware, and having obtained his consent, started, with three others, from the same factory.”There are numerous instances of slaves being able to read and write. In fact, about 5% of slaves learned to read and write by 1860, an estimate which may be too low. The children of the masters were most likely to teach slaves to read and write, and next to them, plantation mistresses taught slaves the most often. Many plantations had at least one literate slave. Frederick Douglass’s mother could read, though Douglass never knew how she learned. In recognition of the illegality of slave education, slaves would never reveal how they learned to read or write.Security. Most slaves had a sense of security. One of slavery’s critics, George Eason, admitted, “Slavery had a good point in that we slaves always felt that somebody was going to take care of us.” Those who remembered slavery fondly, like Jennie Bowen, considered it one of the main advantages: “We-alls had a good time an’ us was happy an’ secure.” “Aunt” Tildy Collins said, “Yes, ma’am, I sho’ was borned in slavery times, an’ I wish to Gawd I could git now what I useter hab den, ‘caze dem was good times for de black folks. Dese free niggers don’t know what ‘tis to be tuk good keer of.”Slavery had its own form of Social Security, because when the older slaves became too old to work, they were still cared for amongst their friends and family, had a roof over their heads, and food to eat. In 1837, a slavery defender contended, “I may say with truth, that in few countries . . . there is more kind attention paid to him in sickness or infirmities of age. . . . Compare [the slave’s] condition with the tenants of the poor houses in the more civilized portions of Europe - look at the sick, and the old and infirm slave, on one hand, in the midst of his family and friends, under the kind superintending care of his master and mistress, and compare it with the forlorn and wretched condition of the pauper in the poorhouse.” This changed upon Emancipation, but not at every plantation, according to Betty Curlett: “When Mars Daniel come home [from the War] he went to my papa’s house and says, ‘John, you free.’ He says, ‘I been free as I wanter be whah I is.’ He went on to my grandpa’s house and says, ‘Toby, you are free!’ He raised up and says, ‘You brought me here frum Africa and North Carolina and I goiner stay wid you long as ever I get sompin to eat. You gotter look after me!’ Mars Daniel say, ‘Well, I ain’t runnin’ nobody off my place long as they behave.’ Purtnigh every nigger sot tight till he died of the old sets. Mars Daniel say to grandpa, ‘Toby, you ain’t my nigger.’ Grandpa raise up an’ say, ‘I is, too.”The security of slavery benefited the less capable and less disciplined slaves more than it did talented and intelligent servants. Skilled tradesmen, overseers and drivers were more likely to defect to the Union Army than ordinary field hands were. White Southerners were disappointed when their most responsible slaves, those to whom they had entrusted management positions or given valuable training, were some of the first to leave the plantation for the Union lines. Talented slaves had more to gain by freedom and less need of the security provided by the plantation regime. The unfairness of laws prohibiting the teaching of slaves to read and write was felt most keenly by those who had academic abilities and aspirations and who had learned some reading or writing as slaves. Slaveholders like Frederick Douglass’ owner feared that slaves would want freedom if they learned to read and write. The earning of wages for another stung skilled tradesmen more than the indirect, delayed profits created in an agricultural enterprise. Another factor is age. Older workers tend to have higher job satisfaction, and this includes farmers. Most fugitive slaves were relatively young when they escaped.The security of plantation life had an ironic side, too. Commitment in all its forms is liberating. The committed person does not hesitate or doubt his or her own actions or place in the world. The person with an achievable task takes satisfaction in its accomplishment. With our many freedoms, we forget the strain of decisions, inner misgivings, regrets, divided loyalties, career changes and failures, self-discipline, transience and getting our priorities straight.Paupers, now known as “homeless people,” appear in our cities today just as they did in earlier American centuries. Paupers existed in Northern cities when slavery was thriving in the South, but paupers did not appear much in Southern cities during slavery. “Pauperism is prevented by slavery. This idea is absurd, no doubt, in the apprehension of many at the north, who think that slaves are, as a matter of course, paupers. Nothing can be more untrue. Every slave has an inalienable claim in law upon his owner for support for the whole of life. He can not be thrust into an almshouse, he can not become a vagrant, he can not beg his living, he can not be wholly neglected when he is old and decrepit. . . Thus the pauper establishments of the free States, the burden and care of immigrants, are almost entirely obviated at the south by the colored population. . . . In laboring for the present and future welfare of immigrants, we are subjected to evils of which we are ashamed to complain, but from which the south is enviably free. . . . I thought of our eleven thousand paupers . . . of our large State workhouses, which we so patiently build for the dregs of the foreign population.” The Census of 1850 shows significantly fewer paupers in the South than in the North. Statutes secured care in their old age after some slaveholders discarded aged and infirm slaves. None of the slaveholding states wanted older slaves to become a charge on the public, nor did they want them begging in the streets.No one expected slaves and free blacks to go to war as combatants in any wars prior to 1865, though some did so voluntarily. The civilian status they enjoyed within the United States was in addition to their escaping African tribal warfare, including slave raids conducted by other Africans. Plantation life was very peaceful compared to warfare. When they enlisted in the Union Army to fight for freedom, it was because they wanted to fight, not because they were required to do so. When they were on the Confederate side with their masters, they were not expected to take combatants’ roles. “When de war broke out ol’ marster enlisted an’ he took me ‘long to wait on him an’ to keep his clothes clean,” Benjamin Johnson said. “I had plenty o’ fun ‘cause dere wus’nt so very much work to do. I ‘members seein’ ‘im fightin’ in Richmond an’ Danville, Virginia. I had a good time jes’ watchin’ de soldiers fightin’. I did’nt have to fight any at all. I used to stand in de door of de tent an’ watch ‘em fight.” William “Billy” Lee, George Washington’s body servant, went everywhere with General Washington during the American Revolution. Uncle William Mack Lee served as body servant and cook for General Robert E. Lee all through the War, and attended Confederate veteran reunions for many years thereafter.There are advantages to living in the country as opposed to the urban environment. Edgar Bendy remembered, “Us has lots of meat, deer meat and possum and coon and sich, and us sets traps for birds. . . . I used to be . . . de best hunter in Tyler and in de whole country. I kilt more deer dan any other man in de country . . .” Increasing urbanization undoubtedly created nostalgia for antebellum times, regardless of race. “Going back to slavery times,” George Patterson “said that on most plantations were kept squirrel dogs, ‘possum dogs, snake dogs, rabbit dogs and ‘nigger’ dogs. Each dog was trained for a certain kind of tracking. . . When asked about hunting, he said that hunting in slavery days was not like it is now, for a man could hunt on his own place then and get plenty of game.”Irrespectice of race or condition of servitude, people in the country live longer than urbanites. Less stress, more physical exercise, cleaner air, safety from crime, better diet, fresher, cleaner, and more abundant food, proximity to animals and a slower pace generally explain the disparity. This was particularly true right after Emancipation, according to someone who was there, Liney Chambers: “People whut went to the cities died. I don’t know they caught diseases and changing the ways of eatin’ and livin’ I guess what done it. They died mighty fast for awhile.” The familiar pastoral environment was so much healthier, and their new urban living conditions so bad, the federal authorities helped force newly freed blacks back to their plantations by arresting as vagrants those without labor contracts. Agrarian societies differ markedly from industrialized, urban societies and have several advantages in terms of family stability, closeness and traditional roles. Prison authorities noticed that prisoners allowed to work in nature, returning to the soil and working with animals, caused fewer problems.Fairly recently, scientists found that the smell of newly cut grass or hay induces happiness. Fresh air, fields and sunlight were healthier and more cheerful than the prison described by Charles Dickens: “A prison taint was on everything there. The imprisoned air, the imprisoned light, the imprisoned damps, the imprisoned men, were all deteriorated by confinement. As the captive men were faded and haggard, so the iron was rusty, the stone was slimy, the wood was rotten, the air was faint, the light was dim. Like a well, like a vault, like a tomb, the prison had no knowledge of the brightness outside; and would have kept its polluted atmosphere intact, in one of the spice islands of the Indian Ocean.”Plantations surpassed dirty, unhealthy, industrialized Cottonopolis, where slave-raised cotton was shipped for manufacturing. Manchester, England mill workers including children put in 14-hour days for low wages, lived in dirty dwellings, worked in dangerous factories, contracted diseases of all descriptions, breathed heavily polluted air, drank unsanitary water into which sewage ran, and lived short lives. Alexis de Tocqueville called 1835 Manchester the “new Hades . . . a filthy sewer.” Friedrich Engels observed in The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 that mortality in Manchester, England was several times higher than in the surrounding countryside. Engels and Marx thought Manchester the pinnacle of capitalist misery. In 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell published Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life, a best-seller depicting the difficult life of the mill worker. The terrible conditions in Cottonopolis gave communism more credibility and strength than it deserved.The pastoral plantation environment undoubtedly had something to do with the vastly fewer black prison inmates in the South, on a percentage basis, compared to the free blacks in the North. Slaves had a negligible or non-existent chance of going to prison compared to free blacks or whites. By restricting their servants to the plantation most of the time, planters kept them away from groups and situations likely to cause problems – which is strangely similar to the thoughts of modern American parents who try to keep their children at home and out of the streets. Today, released American prisoners usually gravitate towards the worst crime-prone neighborhoods in 20 large American cities, and simply do not have anywhere else to go.Reflecting upon the suffering African-Americans have undergone is often followed by thoughts of making it up to them. It’s assumed in this logic that suffering is bad, that people should not be made to suffer, and that the best thing we can do is to stop people from suffering. But some very distinguished people have written that suffering can be good in the long run.British historian Arnold J. Toynbee wrote A Study of History, a massive multi-volume treatise dealing with different civilizations throughout history, their rise and fall, their interaction with other cultures, and astute observations about the progress or retrogression of civilizations. Toynbee held that penalizations such as slavery actually acted as a stimulus to the penalized class or race. Toynbee wrote that penalized classes or races put extra effort into, and developed exceptional capacities in, the endeavors left open to them. Arnold Toynbee showed that persecuted groups often respond positively by improving their performance, re-organizing themselves, succeeding at things they are permitted to do and confounding attempts to suppress or limit them. Toynbee cites the slave world of the Roman Empire, which eventually developed a powerful segment of capable freedmen and which also gave rise to Christianity.The penalization of the black race in North America resulted in African-Americans succeeding in a number of areas: African-Americans succeeded at trades, at agricultural production, as laborers, drivers, and overseers and as plantation managers when they were given the chance. Although some states required a white to be in charge of plantations, planters like Jefferson Davis often ignored this requirement or skirted it. During the War, slaves were even more important in running plantations. Athletics opened up before other trades and professions, and African-Americans immediately began making huge contributions to athletic teams, eventually dominating some sports. American blacks practically invented rock & roll, jazz, the blues, and from those sources, music in the world has progressed. Accomplishment in music was foretold by Rev. Nehemiah Adams in 1854: “One development of African talent hereafter will no doubt be in music.”“With few exceptions,” Booker T. Washington wrote, “the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed, in a more personal way, the effects of social affliction when he wrote about the value of unmerited suffering.The interaction between peoples and races is not a zero-sum game. There are benefits in most peaceful interchanges, be they in commerce, education, religion, culture or any form of communication. If a people keep on trying and never quit, they will succeed. Dr. Thomas Sowell observed that one of the most important moral legacies of slavery was a better appreciation of freedom. Comparing antebellum slavery to mass incarceration provides needed perspective. Potential offenders ought to abhor modern state slavery more than they hate the thought of antebellum times.Of the slaves brought to the Thirteen Colonies or United States, not all remained slaves. Some earned their freedom after completing the period of their indenture, others were manumitted and some slaves bought themselves out of slavery. The number of free African-Americans in just the 14 Southern states grew from 52,190 in 1800, to 160,063 in 1830, and then to 230,958 in 1860. As of 1860, 11% of all blacks in the United States were free; in 1830, 13.7% of blacks were free in the United States. For free blacks, life was often better than for black slaves or their relatives left behind in Africa, though the life of free African-Americans carried significant disadvantages and discrimination.Self-purchase was relatively common. While the slaves’ property was technically their owners’ property, wise slaveholders realized that their servants would work harder and smarter if they had this incentive open to them. A variant of self-purchase was “buying time.” For a set amount of money, a servant worked on their own, away from the plantation, paying their owner a set amount of money every week, month or year, and retaining any earnings above the cost of “buying their time.” Semi-freedom sometimes allowed servants to save enough to purchase their full freedom. Many of the fugitives interviewed by the AMERICAN FREEDMEN’S INQUIRY COMMISSION in Canada had previously purchased their time, which indicates buying one’s time encouraged thoughts of full freedom. When working in relative isolation, a servant did not enjoy the companionship, team spirit, social events, family togetherness and community atmosphere, which softened the servile condition of plantation workers.White owners who fathered slave children often freed them, sometimes with their mothers. Frederick Douglass alludes to this in reference to a slave son of Colonel Lloyd’s who wound up free in Baltimore. The vengeance of the plantation mistress might be painful prior to manumission. Biracial children reminded their white fathers of sexual transgressions, caused feelings of guilt, provoked white wives to anger and created social embarrassment. Many white slave-owning fathers felt genuine love and familial attachment to their children and wanted to help them. The majority of free blacks in the South prior to 1860 were free because of their white ancestry. Many free blacks in the North or Canada obtained freedom due to white parentage. Abolitionist propaganda characterized slave owners as so lacking in decency that they sold their own children. While this occurred, it was more common for the children to be helped in some way and to live better than the average slave. If slaveholders sold their children, they might condition the sale upon good treatment, as Isaiah Green remembered about his grandmother, Betsy Willis: “My grandmother was half white, since the master of the plantation on which she lived was her father. He wished to sell her, and when she was placed on the block he made the following statement: ‘I wish to sell a slave who is also my daughter. Before anyone can purchase her, he must agree not to treat her as a slave but as a free person. She is a good midwife and can be of great service to you.’ Col. Dick Willis [“a very kind man”] was there, and in front of everyone signed the papers.” Those papers may have included a reversionary provision, whereby Betsy would revert to her father in the event of mistreatment. Isaiah Green became his master’s pet.Anthony Johnson arrived at Jamestown in 1621, became free, married and acquired land and indentured servants of his own. Blacks owned black slaves, though not in large numbers. The 2003 novel The Known World contains some interesting details and ironies about African-Americans owning slaves. Today, it is common to assume that blacks are entirely descended from slaves, but they were sometimes descended from free blacks and white people. In Louisiana, the free blacks had their own social circle and a lifestyle very similar to the white planters. Some free Louisiana blacks were extremely wealthy, went to Europe, and most spoke French.Manumission was a moderately common practice, especially in the wake of the American Revolution. “Manumissions were in fact so common in the deeds and wills of the men of '76 that the number of colored freemen in the South exceeded thirty-five thousand in 1790 and was nearly doubled in each of the next two decades. The greater caution of their successors, reinforced by the rise of slave prices, then slackened the rate of increase to twenty-five and finally to ten per cent per decade. Documents in this later period, reverting to the colonial basis, commonly recited faithful service or self purchase rather than inherent rights as the grounds for manumission.”When Robert E. Lee’s father-in-law, George Washington Parke Custis, willed that 196 slaves be freed within five years of his death, Robert E. Lee carried out this instruction to the letter, freeing the last of his deceased father-in-law’s slaves in 1862, during the War. Robert E. Lee sent those who wished to Africa, to settle in Liberia. Those manumitted slaves wrote affectionate letters to Robert E. Lee, and some of the letters made it through the U.S. naval blockade, telling Lee of their new life in Liberia. Sometimes testator’s heirs defeated testamentary manumissions on legal technicalities, results that contradicted the intent of the deceased and seem very unjust today.Some faithful slaves were freed, such as Uncle Joe, according to his grandson Uncle D. Davis: “Marse Tom he up en sot Uncle Joe free, en gib him er home en forty acres, en sum stock kase Uncle Joe done been good en fathful all dem years, en raise Marse Tom all dem seben chillum, en one of dem seben wuz my own mammy.”Tom Molineaux, the first well-known African-American boxer, earned his freedom in a prizefight, with his fists. Born a slave in 1784 into a family known for their bare-knuckles fighting ability, Tom Molineaux’s master placed large bets on one of his boxing matches, promising him his freedom if he won. He won. Tom Molineaux then became a free man, eventually moving to London, England, where he fought professionally before large audiences in 1810.Freed slaves often faced more ill-treatment in the North because the personal relationships were not close between blacks and whites in the North. Freedom up North was not the paradise many would suppose, just as Emancipation would later disappoint many. A host of discriminatory laws affected free blacks in the North. Ohio, Illinois and Indiana passed laws discouraging the immigration of free blacks and required blacks to post a bond when entering their states. Runaways made their homes in Northern states, but were not as law-abiding or normal as the slave population in the South. Some blacks returned to the South after a trip up North, because the South was more humane to them.Holidays, Dances, Frolics, Corn Shuckings, Hog Killings, Weddings, Log Rollings, Music and Barbeques. Slaves enjoyed regular good times on most plantations. Special occasions, especially corn shuckings and log rollings, made work fun. Frederick Douglass believed holidays prevented slave insurrections more than any other factor. Although he doubted the motives of slaveholders in granting holidays, Frederick Douglass remembered good times. “The days between Christmas and New Year's day are allowed as holidays; and, accordingly, we were not required to perform any labor, more than to feed and take care of the stock. This time we regarded as our own, by the grace of our masters; and we therefore used or abused it nearly as we pleased. Those of us who had families at a distance, were generally allowed to spend the whole six days in their society. This time, however, was spent in various ways. The staid, sober, thinking and industrious ones of our number would employ themselves in making corn-brooms, mats, horse-collars and baskets; and another class of us would spend the time in hunting opossums, hares and coons. But by far the larger part engaged in such sports and merriments as playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whisky; and this latter mode of spending the time was by far the most agreeable to the feelings of our masters. A slave who would work during the holidays was considered by our masters as scarcely deserving them. He was regarded as one who rejected the favor of his master. It was deemed a disgrace not to get drunk at Christmas; and he was regarded as lazy indeed, who had not provided himself with the necessary means, during the year, to get whisky enough to last him through Christmas.” Christmas was generally a holiday of from three to five or more days, with “constant partying,” presents for the slaves, barbecues, visits from and to other plantations, singing, dancing, and alcoholic refreshments. New Year’s was typically celebrated. Other holidays might include Thanksgiving, Easter Monday, the completion of the harvest, the Fourth of July and sometimes a slave’s birthday. One slave-owner, Hiram B. Tibbetts, wished the abolitionists could see how happy the slaves were at these times. During festivities, food was usually plentiful.No positive aspect of slave life shines forth brighter than the frolics, Saturday nights, holidays, corn shuckings, hog killings, dances, music, weddings, harvest feasts, cadences, candy pullings, barbeques, quiltings and parties enjoyed by slaves. “My mother went to cornshuckings, cotton pickings, and quiltings,” said Minnie Davis, and “They must have had wonderful times, to hear her tell it.” The slaves did not have to worry about whether they were invited, the clothes they wore, the costs, how they would get home, who they would go with . . . they were always invited, it did not cost them anything, nearly everyone would be there, the food was good, alcohol was sometimes distributed – but usually not imbibed in excess – and they did not usually have far to go to be home in bed. Easter Huff said, “Dere was allus somepin’ to do on Sadday night – frolics, dances, and sich lak.” Lina Hunter spoke at length about the good times, too. Plantation slaves likely attended more dances, feasts and festivities than modern Americans, irrespective of race. A key element of festivities on the plantation was that they could always look forward to them, and not just on their own plantation. Invitations issued to neighboring plantations for various festivities. Attendance might include up to a dozen off-plantation events per year. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s character Rev. Silas Todbury, pastor of a New York City church attended by African-Americans from the old Confederacy, “knew that when Christmas came they wanted a great rally, somewhat approaching, at least, the rousing times both spiritual and temporal that they had had back on the old plantation, when Christmas meant a week of pleasurable excitement.”Music. Music accompanied African-Americans at work, play and worship. Most sang or chanted in the fields, and choral performances were common. Many plantations had a fiddler who would play the violin for Saturday night dances, holidays, special occasions of all types, and church. Sometimes the master was the fiddler, as Easter Huff remembered: “Marse Jabe Smith was a good white man. He was a grand fiddler and he used to call us to de big house at night to dance for him.” Slaves to make music and rhythm would rattle bones, play triangles, blow the quills, beat tin pans, play the banjo, slap their legs, knock tin buckets, clap hands, scrape wood, shake tambourines made of cowhide over cheese boxes, knock cow bones together as a drum, use broom straws on fiddle strings, or use any other means they could.Slaves developed the banjo from a similar instrument they knew in West Africa. The name “banjo” is derived from a West African name for the instrument, which was generally a large gourd with a round hole over which leather was stretched, and then over which strings attached to an extension were played. African-American musicians abandoned this slave invention, perhaps due to the minstrel show stereotype and their distaste for the antebellum era. The minstrel show portrayed the Old South as benign, which some say the country needed at the time, but the NAACP eventually objected to federal funding of minstrelsy in 1935. Justified as opposition to racism, the NAACP objections also reflected the denial of good things associated with slavery. Anti-black racism contaminated much pro-slavery minstrel show material, literature and thought. Nevertheless, blacks enjoyed minstrel shows, too. Positive reflections on race relations, slavery and blacks were rejected with the bad.Music with the slave’s instruments is not played today, not like the slaves did in the past. It would be fascinating to see it re-enacted. The “quills” were very popular before the War, but today there are only a handful of sound recordings of the quills, and few of the actual instruments exist. The quills were a homemade pan flute made on an African design, a series of cane or other wooden pipes, open at one end, and played by blowing across the open end in some manner. Knowledge of the quills might have died out but for an early bluesman, Henry Thomas, who recorded their sounds in the late 1920s. The woodworking and metalworking abilities of enslaved Americans created good musical instruments. Slaves did not wallow in envy for lack of the standard orchestra instruments white people enjoyed. They developed their own instruments and music, crafting their own stringed instruments.At harvest time, there would usually be a festive corn shucking on each plantation, where two competing groups would race each other to see which group could shuck their massive pile of corn first. Each massive pile of un-shucked corn was surmounted by a “general” or “captain,” each with a special cap or hat, who led the chants, singing and fun, enhanced by great amounts of food, alcoholic beverages most of the time, music, visitors from neighboring plantations and a general atmosphere of fun. James Bolton would sometimes attend 10 or 12 corn shuckings in one year. The work of shucking the corn was fun – and it got the job done.Elisha Doc Garey considered days off because of inclement weather to be holidays, too. “De only other holidays us had was when us was rained out or if sleet or snow drove us out of de fields. Everybody had a good time den a frolickin’. When us was trackin’ rabbits in de snow, it was heaps of fun.” The slaveholding states all received above average rainfall and much of the Deep South lies in extremely wet territory. For several days each month, slaves were not expected to work in the fields, although sometimes they would have indoor work such as corn shelling in the corncrib to perform.Experiences varied widely, of course. Annie Hawkins didn’t like slavery, but said, “I know lots of niggers that was slaves had a good time but we never did.”Food, Clothing, Shelter & Work. The supposition in abolitionist and neo-abolitionist literature is that slaves were forced to do things they did not want to do . . . mainly work. From the abolitionist’s cozy library, the idea of a long, hard day of manual labor was horrendous. But people generally like to do what they are good at, and the slaves were good farmers. Yes, many or most enjoyed farming, weaving, cooking, sewing, animal husbandry, blacksmithing, tailoring, plowing, carpentry, masonry, managing others, picking cotton, serving aristocrats, childcare, lumberjacking, driving teams of horses and mules and gardening. Berry Smith at 116 years old confirmed longevity through hard labor, saying “I’d ruther pick cotton dan eat, any day.” Getting up before sunrise is characterized as something tough. Anyone who has worked outside in a Deep South summer will appreciate the advantages of rising early during the growing season, the main advantage being that it is much cooler.Slaves in the fields did not work in isolation. They worked with their families and friends, sang and told jokes. Tasks went faster and easier when the work gang sang songs. Music lifts the spirit, creates a fun atmosphere and satisfies an inner need. Exercise reduces emotional stress and anxiety. Mollie Williams’s mammy preferred fieldwork to housework. Field hands worked under less supervision than factory workers did. Factory-hands were “worse slaves than the Negroes in America, for they are more sharply watched,” according to Friedrich Engels.One of the favored occupations was that of a coachman, a driver of the family’s carriages. The coachman visited homes, towns and plantations, enjoyed a close relationship with the planter’s family, kept up the horses and carriages, wore nice clothes and enjoyed being around horses. The British royal family enjoys coach driving, Prince Philip having been a competitor in four-in-hand events.A favorite pastime of modern Americans, the one that occupies the greatest share of their leisure time, is gardening and yard work. Most slave families either had their own garden patches or a large garden fed the entire plantation. Just as Russian collective workers cared for their gardens better than the fields of their agricultural collectives, antebellum servants cherished their gardens and livestock, too.Some slaves enjoyed plowing. Others preferred to work in timberlands or as boatmen, away from direct supervision and close to nature. Sewing, a favorite pastime for many Americans, was the dedicated career of seamstresses and tailors on the plantation. According to ex-slaves, most chief plantation seamstresses could simply look at a man and prepare a fitting coat and pants for him. Quilting was another festive activity enjoyed by the slaves, often in their own quarters. Arrie Binns of Washington-Wilkes loved to hear the old spinning wheel, loved her plow horse ‘Toby,’ and was “glad she knew slavery, glad she was reared by good white people who taught her the right way to live, and . . . glad I allus worked hard an’ been honest – hit has sho paid me time an’ time agin.”By the time they reached adulthood, all slaves had job training, job experience, and were usually working hard. While they might be sold away, they were not isolated long from co-workers. While the continuous hard work performed by slaves is most often characterized as an oppressive aspect of slavery, unemployment is worse. Unemployment is highly correlated with a host of problems. Many Americans suffer a devastating job loss at least once in their lives. For breadwinners, it is awful. Egos shatter, social status dives, finances tighten, situational depression increases, homes are lost and the school grades of a displaced worker’s children drop. Modern workers who are fired or layed off usually sever ties to most co-workers, people they have worked with for years, and then become more socially isolated. Unemployed felons often return to prison. Employment, a job, is one of the main things that reduces recidivism among new age slaves.Slaves usually occupied the middle and sometimes upper management positions on plantations. The overseer of Jefferson Davis’s Mississippi plantation was his trusted James Pemberton, a man who helped Davis clear the land for Brierfield Plantation. While some states attempted to enforce white supremacy by requiring white overseers, planters routinely ignored this law and had African-American managers of the entire plantation. Blacks were often elevated into the ranks of a specialized trade. Slaves were promoted to drivers (i.e. foremen), tradesmen making more than the average field hand, coach driver and other skilled or favored positions. Slave drivers were very commonly field hands with the strength to enforce work discipline and achieve results from their fellow slaves. Field hands became artisans, drivers, head drivers, coachmen and overseers of the plantation. Women, for example, would start out bringing in wood, move up to maid or waitress, and perhaps ultimately become a cook if they progressed satisfactorily. Uncle Robert Henry was proud that his Pa was the butler at the big house and that his mother had been head seamstress. In the hot months, whites might leave plantations in malarial environments to the sole sovereignty of a slave overseer with greater immunity to tropical diseases.Planters employed many different incentives to boost production and profits: prizes for the best cotton picking, unscheduled holidays, trips to town, extra pay for overtime work, proceeds from work on their own account, yearly bonuses based on performance, patches of land to grow their own crops (which they could use or sell), promotions to artisan, house servant, driver, or overseer, allowing artisans to move to town and assume a freer lifestyle, improvements in food, clothing and shelter, and manumission. Some planters even used detailed profit-sharing plans whereby the slaves earned a percentage of the crops they grew and harvested. It was emphatically untrue, as abolitionists claimed, “that FEAR is the only motive with which the slave is plied during his whole existence.”Plantation visitors gave servants tips for their services, which put servants in the role of mediating Southern hospitality. Guests would be uncomfortable offering money to their hosts, but payment to plantation servants in the form of tips allowed the guests to repay hospitality.Plantation discipline taught the advantages of hard work. Alabama freed-woman Jane proclaimed, “I raise my chillums jes’ lak Ole Mistis raise her’n en’ dats de way to raise ‘em, to wuk en’ keep outen debilment.” Sam Polite of South Carolina gave slavery credit for his work ethic: “W’at I t’ink ‘bout slabery? I t’ink it been good t’ing. It larn nigger to wuk. If it ain’t mek nigger wuk, he wouldn’t do nutting but tief (thief). . . Me – I slabing for self right now. I don’t want nobody to mek me wuk, but slabery larn me for wuk. . . Slabery done uh good t’ing for me, ‘cause if he ain’t larn me to wuk, today I wouldn’t know how to wuk.” Hard work was not in itself bad. “Work never hurt nobody,” said Charles H. Anderson. On her deathbed, Julia Cole’s mother asked their master to make men out of her two sons by making them work hard, and he did what she asked. Many slaves in their later years appreciated learning to work hard and disdained the generation of their people born in freedom. Perhaps as important as specific trades, antebellum methods inculcated the culture of productivity found in successful organizations today.“Overdriving” slaves to the point of ill health or shortened life expectancy was bad business. Published accounts of successful slave owners and slaves repudiate the common misconception that slaves starved or worked past the point of exhaustion or to death. Slaves were productive until their very old age, often learning valuable trades, and working into their 70s if they lived that long. The dark legend that Southern slaves were worked to death was propagated by Harriet Beecher Stowe and then by Karl Marx in Das Kapital: “Hence the negro labour in the Southern States of the American Union preserved something of a patriarchal character, so long as production was chiefly directed to immediate local consumption. But in proportion, as the export of cotton became of vital interest to these states, the over-working of the negro and sometimes the using up of his life in 7 years of labour became a factor in a calculated and calculating system. It was no longer a question of obtaining from him a certain quantity of useful products.” As with many of his “facts,” Marx had it wrong. Rev. Dr. Nehemiah Adams wrote after his 1854 journey that the slave’s workload was “no more toilsome than is performed by a hired field hand at the north.” Dr. Ulrich B. Phillips successfully disproved the myth of slave exhaustion from overwork. But the misconception persists. In 2008, the Public Broadcasting System website proclaimed, “The diets of enslaved people were inadequate or barely adequate to meet the demands of their heavy workload.” William L. Dunwoody remembered differently: “The slaves ate just what the master ate. They ate the same on my master’s place. . . He had hogs, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks. . . My old master’s slaves et anything he raised.” The sweeping generalization of PBS cannot be true; there was wide variation in the way slaves were treated. Many accounts of plenty in the Slave Narratives clearly refute PBS’s blanket proclamation. Rias Body said, “No darky in Harris County, [Georgia] that he ever heard of ever went hungry or suffered for clothes until after freedom.” While food was usually “allowanced” at regular intervals, some had free access to food supplies. “Food was there in abundance and each person was free to replenish his supply as necessary,” said Pierce Cody, who also remembered an abundance of fish and wild game. Slaves didn’t always have to wait for fish to bite their lines, because they often used seines to bring up substantial quantities of fish and turtles. “Our white folkses b’lieved in good eatin’s,” said Carrie Hudson, who expressed the view of the majority of slaves. Mama Duck said, “I reckon I a heap bettah off dem days as I is now. Allus had sumpin’ t’ eat an’ a place t’ stay.”Agricultural work is exhausting by its very nature, and requires substantial sustenance, but there were times of the year when agricultural work was necessarily less strenuous. Agricultural workers in pre-modern times typically worked very strenuously on a regular basis. . As Mary Rice observed, “De fiel’ han’s had a long spell when de crops was laid by in de summer and dat’s when Massa Cullen ‘lowed us to ‘jubilate’ (several days of idle celebration). I was happy all de time in slavery days, but dere ain’t much to git happy over now . . . Niggers dese days ain’t neber knowed whut good times is. Mebbe dat’s why dey ain’t no ‘count. And dey is so uppity, too.” Cotton growing itself only takes four months, about one-third of the entire year. Preparation and other crops took up an additional two months. The entire growing season was only for about half the year. The planters had other work for the slaves to do in the late fall, winter, and early spring, but it was during the growing season that work took on urgency. Statements that slaves worked 6 days a week from sunup to sundown did not refer to the winter months or rainy days. “All of de hard work on de plantation wuz done in de summertime,” Mrs. Amanda Jackson said, “In rainy weather an’ other bad weather all dat dey had to do wuz to shell corn an’ help make cloth.” On rainy days, which are very common in the South , the slaves could rest from their heavy manual labor. Rule 13th of published Rules of the Plantation states: “The overseer is particularly required to keep the negroes as much as possible out of the rain, and from all kind of exposure.” During the summer, the slave workforce often went to the river to eat, swim, cool off, and be with their co-workers and friends. A mid-day break, often in the highest heat of the day, was common, and slaves were thus allowed rest during the daylight hours.Slaves took breaks and naps in the field or back at their cabins. Breaks are not usually mentioned when the working hours are stated in the popular media. One TV mini-series, a more balanced soap opera, depicted these down-by-the-river mid-day breaks. On small plantations, whites worked alongside blacks. In those more intimate work relationships, it was even less likely that slaves would be overworked.”*Names of slaves and former slaves given in bold; most quotations from Federal Writers’ Project Slave Narratives; footnotes omitted for this excerpt; quoted passages given with permission of author).