Wow, I thought this kind of thing was done away with years ago

[Jester]

If slavery had been strictly along race lines, perhaps. But the situation was much more complex than that. But, lacking a time machine or access to alternate universes, I doubt the issues will ever be settled. For sure, one hundred and forty years of discussion has not added much clarity to the issue.

The situation was slightly more complex than that. I wouldn't say "much". If one operated for the rest of one's life under the impression that slavery was all about white people enslaving black people, one wouldn't be straying very far from the truth. A few thousand "black" slave owners (many/most of whom would have thought of themselves as mixed race) is a drop in the bucket against the entire system of white slaveownership.

However, you're right that we don't have a very good sense of how things might have been different.

-Jester