Juneteenth forces U.S. to confront lasting impact of slavery economy

[Guno צְבִי]

In the 1800s, the U.S. became an economic power because of the use of enslaved labor in the growing cotton industry.

Enslaved Black people built the Capitol building, the White House, roads and infrastructure, and various universities across the country with little to no compensation.

The selling of enslaved people also financed universities like Georgetown.

By 1860, the value of the enslaved people was “roughly three times greater than the total amount invested in banks,” and it was “equal to about seven times the total value of all currency in circulation in the country," Steven Deyle wrote in Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life.

In the decades after slavery, Black Americans were often banned from buying property, limited in pursuing legal claims, prevented from voting, and banished to segregated schools.
Successful Black businesses thrived in enclaves like Tulsa, Okla., and East St. Louis, Ill., only to be destroyed by white mobs. Those business owners that had insured their enterprises were unable to collect on their premiums.

Juneteenth, a once-obscure commemoration of emancipation of enslaved people in Texas, has transformed into an annual reminder about how slavery robbed Black Americans of generational wealth.

Why it matters: That lack of generational wealth still denies Black families the economic security that many white families take for granted.

The ongoing disparities can be directly linked to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.


https://www.axios.com/juneteenth-slavery-business-built-us-1d1b522c-f1ee-404a-aaf4-e3c9185952c4.html

 

[T. A. Gardner]

In the 1800s, the U.S. became an economic power because of the use of enslaved labor in the growing cotton industry.

Wrong. Agriculture as a driving force of the economy in America declined steadily from the Colonial period onward becoming less and less the economic engine of the country. Manufacturing and attendant industries rose in economic power and by the mid 1800's had completely eclipsed agriculture as the economic engine of the country.

Enslaved Black people built the Capitol building, the White House, roads and infrastructure, and various universities across the country with little to no compensation.

Black slaves assisted in building the Capitol and other prominent buildings but were not the primary labor source for such work. These buildings required a much larger percentage of skilled and semi-skilled labor such as stone masons, carpenters, and such to build them--skills slaves lacked and would not normally be trained for. Even road and railroad construction generally didn't use slaves since most of these were done in parts of the US that outlawed slavery.

The selling of enslaved people also financed universities like Georgetown.

An outlier in the early university system in the US.

By 1860, the value of the enslaved people was “roughly three times greater than the total amount invested in banks,” and it was “equal to about seven times the total value of all currency in circulation in the country," Steven Deyle wrote in Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life.

They may well have been, I don't know if this is accurate or not. But since slaves couldn't be traded outside the Southern US slave states their economic value was severely limited in the general economy. Even in the South, they couldn't easily be converted to other forms of wealth. Thus, whatever their invested value was they were a relatively non-liquid form of wealth and therefore of far less real value than the estimated value.
You can see that from their usefulness to furthering the Southern war effort during the Civil war.

In the decades after slavery, Black Americans were often banned from buying property, limited in pursuing legal claims, prevented from voting, and banished to segregated schools.
Successful Black businesses thrived in enclaves like Tulsa, Okla., and East St. Louis, Ill., only to be destroyed by white mobs. Those business owners that had insured their enterprises were unable to collect on their premiums.

Yes, racism and racial inequality did continue.

Juneteenth, a once-obscure commemoration of emancipation of enslaved people in Texas, has transformed into an annual reminder about how slavery robbed Black Americans of generational wealth.

Black Americans wouldn't be in America if not for Slavery. Immigration from Africa to America would have been nil otherwise.

Why it matters: That lack of generational wealth still denies Black families the economic security that many white families take for granted.

One should note that Blacks were slowly gaining wealth and economic security, and doing so at a steady rate, right up until the US instituted the welfare state. That has caused the economic stagnation of many Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and others by substituting generational welfare and dependence on the government instead of self-reliance and a need to produce one's own economic means.

The ongoing disparities can be directly linked to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Among a great many other causes, most of which are by no means limited to Blacks.

That's during the 1920's "Dust Bowl" era and aimed at White "Okies" (a derisive term equivalent to "White trash" or "scum") who were moving to California to escape the economic disaster of the agricultural Midwest at the time.






https://www.axios.com/juneteenth-slavery-business-built-us-1d1b522c-f1ee-404a-aaf4-e3c9185952c4.html[/QUOTE]

 

[Lionfish]

 

[Port Tack]

Republicans were not racist shitheads in 1860.

 

[Lionfish]

Republicans were not racist shitheads in 1860.

 

[Lionfish]

 

[Lionfish]

 

[Truck Fump / h1b]

In the 1800s, the U.S. became an economic power because of the use of enslaved labor in the growing cotton industry.

Enslaved Black people built the Capitol building, the White House, roads and infrastructure, and various universities across the country with little to no compensation.

The selling of enslaved people also financed universities like Georgetown.

By 1860, the value of the enslaved people was “roughly three times greater than the total amount invested in banks,” and it was “equal to about seven times the total value of all currency in circulation in the country," Steven Deyle wrote in Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life.

In the decades after slavery, Black Americans were often banned from buying property, limited in pursuing legal claims, prevented from voting, and banished to segregated schools.
Successful Black businesses thrived in enclaves like Tulsa, Okla., and East St. Louis, Ill., only to be destroyed by white mobs. Those business owners that had insured their enterprises were unable to collect on their premiums.

Juneteenth, a once-obscure commemoration of emancipation of enslaved people in Texas, has transformed into an annual reminder about how slavery robbed Black Americans of generational wealth.

Why it matters: That lack of generational wealth still denies Black families the economic security that many white families take for granted.

The ongoing disparities can be directly linked to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.


https://www.axios.com/juneteenth-slavery-business-built-us-1d1b522c-f1ee-404a-aaf4-e3c9185952c4.html

many people have had no generational wealth.

 

[Port Tack]

See! By the time the affordable care act came along not one fucking republican was for it.

 

[Lionfish]

See! By the time the affordable care act came along not one fucking republican was for it.

Are you one of those that thought obamacare was going to LOWER the cost of healthcare? For most that I came into contact with, their deductibles tripled and their premiums skyrocketed.
We can discuss the hundreds of small clinics that closed or were bought out by large hospital chains at another time.