Blacks Touted as Benefiting From Slavery Weren’t Enslaved

Of the 16 examples provided by Florida’s Department of Education of how slavery was purported to have “benefited” Black people, nearly half were people who were likely never enslaved at all, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The examples were supposed to justify the state’s new policies on teaching about slavery in the United States.

Another good point from Jonathan Last: “Slavery began in Jamestown in 1619 and wasn’t abolished until 1865. So that’s 246 years—a quarter of a millennium—in which generation after generation after generation of slaves wasn’t able to ‘parlay’ their good fortune at having been enslaved into professional advancement later in life.”