This hardly fitted the prototype of skills developed on a plantation that Forten never set foot on. The final historical ignorance was that Forten's profession was listed as a shoemaker. This was wildly at odds with his true profession and the wealth he accumulated from it.
Henry Blair, Paul Cuffe, and John Chavis were a few more of the prominent Blacks the Board named as supposed shining examples of those who benefited from slavery. The same pattern of distortion was plainly in evidence. They either were not slaves, or developed their skills after emancipation, or their professions or skills cited were erroneous.
DeSantis and the Board were even more blatant in their effort to sanitize slavery and its still ugly blight on America. As Jeffries made clear the battle lines were now even more tightly drawn over race matters.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He also is the host of the weekly Earl Ofari Hutchinson Show at 9 a.m. Saturday on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network. He is the publisher of thehutchinsonreport.net
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