- Joined
- Dec 31, 2009
- Location
- Smack dab in the heart of Texas
No diaries have emerged from my family, but I doubt they considered themselves mistresses of anything. I just looked in the family bible pages (copies... it was published in 1834)...only 8 births of children "of color" were noted from 1854 to 1864. The majority were girls. Some earlier ancestors showed considerably more slaves, back in Georgia and Alabama, and South Carolina, but in all the wills I've seen, there is no mention of plantations... only farms. I guess what I'm saying is that most folks were small farmers--yeoman, if you will. The way they treated their slaves, we know, varied from owner to owner.
Think of this, if you can, as taking a survey of the general population today... there are knuckleheads, and there are good people. My grandfather often said there were bad men and good men of every color... color didn't make you better or worse. As a racehorse trainer, he lived right alongside his jockeys and others, so I guess he'd know. If you extrapolate to the antebellum period... well, I suspect the diary writers weren't necessarily representative as a whole--they're just the ones who had the education and time to put their thoughts on paper.
Like all of us... hope this made sense.
Think of this, if you can, as taking a survey of the general population today... there are knuckleheads, and there are good people. My grandfather often said there were bad men and good men of every color... color didn't make you better or worse. As a racehorse trainer, he lived right alongside his jockeys and others, so I guess he'd know. If you extrapolate to the antebellum period... well, I suspect the diary writers weren't necessarily representative as a whole--they're just the ones who had the education and time to put their thoughts on paper.
Like all of us... hope this made sense.