Slaves Leveraged Skills for Personal Gain

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

On or about July 19, 2023, a falsehood was deployed before a convention of black sorority women. The Florida Curriculum on Social Studies with respect to slavery was maligned as teaching “that enslaved people benefitted from slavery.” As best I can tell, there was no fact checking in real time. There was no nuance, no complexity. And so the estimable sorors were left with a misleading impression about the Florida Curriculum.

To his credit, a truth teller in Florida read the falsehood and was called to set the record straight in a masterful rebuttal. The truth teller was National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke. And the truth was stunning — there was no blessing of slavery. Instead, there was an epic and comprehensive accounting of 191 items about Black History. As the author of one hundred essays about one hundred pioneer black lawyers between 1844 to 1875, I must join in and concur with Cooke’s extensive critique.

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After reading 216 pages of the Florida Curriculum, I was moved by the detail and passion invested in the teaching of rich Black History. The Middle Passage of the slave trade was directly engaged. Living conditions of slaves in British North American colonies were laid bare. The material did not shy away from harsh conditions on plantations (undernourishment, climate conditions, etc.), both in the United States and the Caribbean. I read about efforts in the South to stop runway slaves and the resilience of the underground railroad.

Nothing in this overview could be construed as a blessing of slavery. The only gaslighting comes from those who single out a single phrase from 216 pages of documentation to deceive and manipulate sorors.

There is no comparison between what I learned about American slavery and Black History in Virginia public schools in the 1970s and what the gifted authors of the Florida Curriculum have accomplished. I was particularly impressed with the in-depth treatment of the distinctions between European and African indentured servants, the skillful differences between serfs and slaves, the recognition that Crispus Attucks was the first to die for American freedom, that the 1st Rhode Island Regiment won the American Revolution at Yorktown, the recognition of unsung white abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison who placed their lives on the line time and time again for abolition, and the long overdue acknowledgment of the lives of Free Blacks. When I read references to Bishop Richard Allen, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, I knew the teaching of Black History was in very good hands. See the 9-12 African American Strand, pages 124-137. https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/20653/urlt/6-4.pdf

If you ask me, the discontents are frustrated because the curriculum is not weighed down with slogan words like Systemic Racism, Institutional Racism, White Privilege, and Marginalized. The Curriculum presents real history as it happened, not manipulations and theories. Two thumbs up!

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As for the slur that the Curriculum is blessing slavery as a good thing, allow me to quote the actual phrase of contention: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Is this statement true? Of course, this statement is true. And I am glad this statement is true since innumerable wives and children became free as a result. But for developed skills, how many might have remained slaves?

For example, consider the case of Venture. Venture was captured at the age of eight from his native country, Guinea, and brought to Rhode Island. At the age of nine, the slave master assigned Venture the work task of cording wood which Venture became proficient at over time. Venture was around twenty two years old when he married his wife, Meg, a slave. Venture worked cording wood, saved a portion of his earnings and was able to purchase his freedom. Once free by the hand of his own enterprise, Venture continued cording wood and saving his earnings until, one day, he was able to purchase the freedom of his wife and two sons.

But for the skill of cording wood and his earnings therein, the entire family might have remained slaves — Venture, Meg, the two sons. https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/venture/venture.html

Another example would be the case of Cumono Morris. Cumono was a slave in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1750. He received invaluable training as a carpenter. As a result, he helped to build the town’s first church. A street in town is named after Cumono. Those carpentry skills were available to Cumono during his life as a free man. His grandson, Robert Morris, Sr., would be the second black lawyer in American history.

The next example of leveraging skills as a slave would be Edward Rainey. Like Venture, Edward had learned a valuable skill as a slave. He was a barber. He saved his earnings from his labor as a barber to buy his freedom and the freedom of his family in 1846. Once free, Edward and his son, Joseph, moved to the Mills House in Charleston, South Carolina where they both worked as barbers and acquired a comfortable living. By 1860, Edward owned a barber shop and several rental properties in Georgetown, South Carolina. He owned his home, three slaves and was the wealthiest black man in town. All these blessings of abundance were due to the skill of barbering learned during slavery.

Another example of leveraged skills during slavery would be James M. Simms. Simms was one of the first black lawyers in Georgia. Born a slave, Simms worked as a carpenter. He used his earnings to save money for his freedom. In 1857, Simms purchased his freedom for $740. Those dollars were acquired due to work as a carpenter.

Finally, I hasten to add the story of William Napier of Nashville, Tennessee. As a slave, William conducted his father’s business on his own. Once free, Williams transferred those business management skills to ownership of a livery stable business.

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To repeat, slaves were enterprising people with degrees of agency. Professor Eugene Genovese wrote at length about the enterprise, agency and humanity of slaves within the peculiar institution. https://archive.org/details/rolljordanrollwo0000geno_i2q9

Why dehumanize our slave ancestors and presume they were incapable of leveraging their trade skills for the freedom of themselves and their families?