Though he said slavery was not the reason for the slaves developing their skills, he still cited slavery whether intentional or not as the period in which they allegedly developed their skills. The unmistakable inference was
that slavery was not an impediment but a help mate to them in developing those so-called beneficial skills.
One didn't need to cite or defend Harris or castigate DeSantis to demonstrate that this was pure double speak, and an absurdity, that undergirded the not-so-subtle political intent of his to pander to the still considerable number of slavery apologists in America. The vast majority of whom were Trump backers. The Board gave specific examples in detailing what its slavery soft pedal entailed. That provided even more ammunition for attack.
The Board cited more than a dozen Black notables as supposed proof that Blacks developed skills under slavery. Topping its list was Booker T. Washington, the former slave and renowned writer and educator. The problem with citing Washington was that he was emancipated as a child at age nine and developed his literary and educational skills that resulted in the founding of the Tuskegee Institute years after his emancipation.
A Tuskegee University history chronicle noted Washington worked in mines and as a houseboy before entering school. The same could be said in almost every other example of a successful Black that the Board named. As with Washington, they developed skills after their emancipation. And what should have been an embarrassment to the Board, some were never even slaves.
Lewis Latimer and James Forten are two glaring examples of this blatant distortion. Latimer was a blacksmith. It's hard to imagine a four-year-old developing such a rigorous skill as blacksmithing. That was the age he was freed.
Forten was a shoemaker. His parents were not slaves. The Museum of American Revolution noted that Forten served on privateer ships during the Revolutionary War and later became wealthy as a sailmaker.
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