Only 1% of Americans owned others

One of the most pervasive “fun facts” about US history on the internet is A) NOT FUN and B) is a classic American Lie. Welcome back to American Lies, where we debunk lies told to and by white Americans to whitewash our history and keep us separate from our Black and brown brothers and sisters in an effort to control us.

It usually goes like this, well actually, not as many white folks in the south owned other people as you think. Statistically, it was only 1-2% and everyone else worked for these uber wealthy folks.

Now, this could be considered true, if you ONLY counted the individuals who owned them. But we know that’s not the whole story. And usually when we talk about history on the internet, especially social media in short form, it’s not the whole story.

So let’s get into it. Because we know and most historians will say this too - enslaving Black Americans wasn’t an individual thing, it was a family affair. How do we know this? Because women were allowed to own other people, when they couldn’t own anything else. Quite literally. There were exceptions to owning HUMANS FOR WHITE WOMEN.

An example is Martha Washington, who brought over 150 dowager enslaved people to her marriage with Mr George Washington. Her first husband passed away and she was able to keep this “property” aka people.

So owning other people was a family affair. Meaning, one name may have been on the property registrar, but they were passed down in wills, given as gifts, and of course, bought and sold. You can learn more about this by reading, They Were Her Property or Never Caught. (Books linked here, but also at the bottom of this writing).

The flip side to this is that, people think, the only way to benefit from the practice of slavery is owning enslaved people yourself.

So color me shocked, when I see this thread.

Many white Americans today think that they are absolved of any issues if they themselves didn’t own any slaves or any of their ancestors. And I have to tell you, that’s false.

Every single white American born (myself included) in the United States has benefited even to this day from the systems and structures that we live in. Because it’s a system made for us by us. And it’s the same fucking system as before the Civil War.

So when we talk about American history, we have to be honest, yes not every white person owned enslaved people and not every white person was a card carrying member of the Klan, but every. single. white. person. in. the. United. States. benefits. from. this. system.

To this day. AND ON THAT NOTE. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that every single one of us white folks, comes out of the womb in the United States, and we are a bit racist. It’s the system we’re dropped into. A system with over 400 years of inertia at its back.

So we have to fight against what I like to call factory settings. If you’re old enough, you may remember the days when we bought a cell phone and right out of the box it had its own factory settings. These were the days before you logged into your apple account and everything updated to something very similar to what you had. You had to go into each of the settings and change exactly what you wanted.

It took time, effort, and repetition. And NOT UNLIKE our phones’ factory settings, we white Americans have our own that come from generations before us. And even if we’re raised in the most progressive way possible, from time to time we fall back on them.

So what do we do? Right now, if you’re a white person prepping for an anti-racist journey. Step one, diversify your life. You can start with your FYP on social media. Follow and seek out Black American scholars and thought leaders, Indigenous leaders and creators, Latina/Latino folks, and more. Ideally find spaces to meet people IRL as well. Try out new spaces where you’ll have real world interactions and make new friends who don’t look exactly like you.

Begin to read books that push your understanding of American society and why we are the way that we are. My current favorite is How I know White People Are Crazy. Listen to podcasts hosted by anti-racist leaders.

Most importantly, start recognizing your triggers. What you do when you feel backed into a corner. How your nervous system reacts when you’re feeling attacked. And if you have been listening and learning it’s beyond time for you to start taking action.

It’s a fucking journey and it starts inside you. Then it spreads to your home. Then your community and you may be saying Amy do we have the time for this? We have to make the time for this.

If you want more on this topic, we’re yapping about it tomorrow over on Youtube. You can also support my work by following my podcast. Read with me here.