I wasn't aware of Charleston and what freed blacks did there. It was the Christian thing to do. Nor was I aware that similar things were done in multiple cities & towns throughout the south. I know what was done in Petersburg because I grew up there. So, while what happened in Charleston was great, it wasn't the only place those things were done. I grew up in a neighborhood between the the "Crater" and Blandford cemetery. Now, I've learned ,after researching it due your reply, that 'Decoration' days happened all over the south, not just in Petersburg.
"But there were hundreds, if not more, "free" black people who owned their wives, husbands, and/or children in order to, and for the sole purpose of, keeping them out of the cluthes of would-be (or former) white slaveholders."
That's the same excuse white slave holders used to justify owning slaves so it doesn't hold water.
Oh, and NO WOMAN ever owned her husband, black or white, slave or free- wives were always 'owned' by there husband, or father if not married and many people still act that way, but voluntarily.
According to Carter G. Woodson, author of the cited study, who is often referred to as “the father of Black history.”
https://nationalvanguard.org/2017/03/blacks-in-america-owned-black-slaves/
"that about a half million, almost one-seventh of the Negroes of this country, were free prior to the emancipation in 1865. It is hardly believed that a considerable number of Negroes were owners of slaves themselves, and in some cases controlled large plantations."
Slaves of Negroes were in some cases the children of a free father who had purchased his wife. If he did not thereafter emancipate the mother, as so many such husbands failed to do, his own children were born his slaves and were thus reported by the enumerators.
Blacks like to claim that when Blacks owned slaves, they did so only for humanitarian reasons, for “good” reasons, which justified the “technical” slave status of whomever had been purchased. But the truth is that Blacks used slavery to apply pressure or punishment on others.
Some of these husbands were not anxious to liberate their wives immediately. They considered it advisable to put them on probation for a few years, and if they did not find them satisfactory they would sell their wives as other slaveholders disposed of Negroes. For example, a Negro shoemaker in Charleston, South Carolina, purchased his wife for $700; but, on finding her hard to please, he sold her a few months thereafter for $750, gaining $50 by the transaction. "that about a half million, almost one-seventh of the Negroes of this country, were free prior to the emancipation in 1865. It is hardly believed that a considerable number of Negroes were owners of slaves themselves, and in some cases controlled large plantations."
As for blacks fighting in the CW, I find it hard to believe that FREE black slave holders had any reason not to support the south because if the south lost they'd lose ownership over their own slaves and the economy of the south was built on slave labor.
Of course more blacks fought for the north rather than the south and were often considered great soldiers.
Arkansas- https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/black-union-troops-5135/#:~:text=Black%20troops%20fought%20for%20the%20Union%20despite%20the,soldier%20fighting%20for%20the%20Union%20would%20be%20executed.
The Crater, behind my childhood home, where black soldiers were considered much better than the white soldiers:: https://study.com/academy/answer/why-were-black-soldiers-in-the-battle-of-the-crater.html
At the Crater, the black troops were well-trained for that battle but the white General got nervous and sent white troops in first, causing the deaths of nearly all the troops, black and white. Mostly the black soldiers, though.
You're also right about one thing you didn't mention: American history has been white washed (pun not intended) and more factual information needs to be taught. There is so much about history in this country that I never learned of in school.
You seem a determined man, maybe you can put your mind toward correcting the history all American children are being taught. Doing that would go a long ways toward eliminating much of the racism and prejudice we are taught as children.
