A Brief History of Nonwhite Slave Owners in America

Very recommendable! History is much more complicated and complex than what ideologues want us to believe!

Something to keep in mind:

1. Slavery in Africa was common at the time like slavery was common in most of human history
2. An unknown number of African slaves were slaveholders themselves before they arrived in the Americas
3. Former slaves owned slaves in America
4. Native peoples were involved too
5. The Noble Savage has been recognized to be a myth for a very long time

"... However, free blacks who [bought and] held loved ones [as slaves] bought other slaves to be exploited for profit. To classify these transactions as benevolent would be a mistake. Even though these slaveowners usually demonstrated benevolent behavior towards their slave relations and friends, a commercial and materialistic exchange existed between them and their slaves purchased as investments. In fact, the free blacks who maintained a dual relationship with their slaves had no universal commitment against slavery. To them, slavery was an oppressive institution when it affected a beloved relative or a trusted friend, but beyond that realm, slavery was viewed as a profit-making institution to be exploited. ...

Also, like their white peers, some black slave owners were notorious for their brutality. Ronald E. Hall in his landmark publication An Historical Analysis of Skin Colour Discrimination: Victimism among Victim Group Populations challenges the assumption that black owners were always humane using the example of William Ellison: "William Ellison is prominent for both his wealth and the cruelty toward his black slaves, for which he was known among Southern blacks and whites.  ...

Similarly, Native Americans were also players in slavery, and it must be noted that the institution existed before the arrival of Europeans. According to the scholar Joyce Ann Kievit: "Many North American Indian tribes practiced some form of slavery before Europeans arrived in North America. The status of slaves varied from tribe to tribe. Some slaves were exploited for labor, others were used for ritual sacrifice, a few provided for the needs of women whose husbands had been slain in war, and many were adopted into the tribes." However, with the introduction of plantation slavery by European settlers, Native Americans became alert to the financial opportunities that could be gained from this venture. ...

From the late eighteenth century through the end of the U.S. Civil War, Choctaw and Chickasaw men and women held people of African descent in slavery. Like their white Southern counterparts, Indians bought, sold, owned, and exploited black people's labor and reproduction for social and economic gain. ..."

A Brief History of Nonwhite Slave Owners in America | Mises Wire