Tag Archives: # Civil War

American Slavery: Reframing the Narrative Toward Truth and Unity

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Disclaimer: This blog reflects historical research and personal interpretation. It is not meant to minimize suffering but to re-examine the larger history of slavery and America’s role in ending it.

The Global History of Slavery

When most Americans think of slavery, they picture early English colonists sailing to Africa, throwing nets over people on beaches, and dragging them to ships. This is a myth promoted by oversimplified history books. The truth is far more complex:

  • Slavery existed across the world for thousands of years before America was even founded. Ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and the Ottoman Empire all practiced slavery.
  • In Africa, slavery was not only present but was an established system long before Europeans arrived. African kingdoms and warlords captured rival tribes and sold them to traders. Europeans (and later Americans) were middlemen in a trade Africans themselves controlled locally.

Historian John Thornton notes:

“Europeans did not have the military power to capture Africans inland. They depended on African states and merchants to sell slaves.” (Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800)

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America’s Role in Ending Slavery

Here’s what rarely gets taught:

  • The United States was one of the first nations to outlaw the international slave trade in 1808.
  • Within less than 100 years of its founding, America fought a bloody Civil War (1861–1865) that killed over 600,000 men to end slavery once and for all.
  • Britain, too, abolished slavery in 1833, but many European nations kept forms of servitude much longer.
  • Today, no other country fought a war as devastating and self-sacrificial as America did to end slavery on its own soil.

This doesn’t erase the horrors of slavery, but it reframes America not only as a participant—but as one of the first global leaders to fight for abolition.

References:

  • U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9 (1808 ban on slave trade).
  • James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Civil War and abolition).

The Modern Slave Trade: A Hard Truth

Slavery did not end globally with America’s Civil War. In fact, modern slavery still exists today, especially in parts of Africa.

  • The Global Slavery Index (2023) estimates over 50 million people are enslaved worldwide, including forced labor, forced marriage, and trafficking.
  • In countries like Mauritania, hereditary slavery persists, where children are born into bondage.
  • In Libya, CNN reported slave auctions as recently as 2017, where migrants were sold for as little as $400.

References:

  • Global Slavery Index, Walk Free Foundation (2023).
  • CNN, “People for Sale: Where lives are auctioned for $400 in Libya” (2017).

This truth matters: America is blamed relentlessly for slavery, while modern slavery is ignored. If we’re going to tell history honestly, we must tell the whole story.

The Narrative Problem: Division vs. Unity

The sad reality is that many people in America are being taught a one-sided story:

  • That slavery was uniquely American.
  • That “white Americans” alone are to blame.
  • That we must constantly divide ourselves into victim and oppressor.

But the facts say otherwise:

  • No race has a monopoly on suffering or oppression. Every culture in history has been both enslaved and enslaver.
  • America is the only nation that not only abolished slavery early but also fought a devastating war to enforce freedom.
  • Black Americans have risen to the highest offices of the land—Barack Obama, our first Black president, was elected by a majority of white voters.

The constant focus on division benefits politicians, media personalities, and corporations—not everyday Americans.

Stop Making Victims, Start Celebrating Victors

The real story isn’t that African Americans are forever victims. It’s that they are victors—descendants of survivors who overcame slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic challenges to thrive.

America is strongest when it celebrates unity, resilience, and shared progress, not when it is divided by race wars stoked for profit and power.

As Frederick Douglass, a former slave turned abolitionist, said:

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.”

Final Word: A Higher Standard for America

America should be appreciated—not demonized—for being among the first to take a stand against slavery. That doesn’t mean ignoring our painful history—it means telling the whole truth:

  • Slavery was a global system, not an American invention.
  • African elites sold their own people into bondage.
  • America ended slavery through law, war, and sacrifice faster than almost any other nation.
  • Slavery still exists in Africa and other parts of the world today—yet rarely gets attention.

The only way forward is through honest history, unity over division, and refusing to let elites rewrite the story to pit Americans against each other.

About the Author

I’m A.L. Childers, a writer and researcher passionate about truth, history, and unity. My work challenges misleading narratives and seeks to uplift readers with honesty and perspective. I believe that America’s story is not one of shame, but one of resilience and redemption.

The Southern New Year Celebration

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The Southern New Year Celebration is a worldwide celebration for the beginning of the New Year. These festivals are among the oldest and the most universally observed.  This book takes you on a journey of the Southeastern part of America, honoring two southern states called North and South Carolina and sharing its rich history of southern superstition, tradition, culture, and lore.

Many believe, including myself, that what you do on News Years Day, you will do all year-While most of these superstitions and traditions are meant to usher in good luck and keeping bad luck at bay, what you do can reflect how you’ll live in the coming year.

My 6th generation great-great-great grandfather James Dawkins emigrated to the U.S. 10 years before the Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, which began in 1845.

There is a story that has been passed down through the generations that James Dawkins was in The Battle of Churubusco.

 During the U.S. invasion of Mexico in 1846, 200 plus Irish immigrants from the U.S. formed the Saint Patrick’s battalion and joined the Mexican side. From mistreatments, the catholic Irish saw parallels between the mistreatment of catholic Mexicans with their own mistreatment buy the British.  Although it consisted of mostly Irish immigrants, it also included black Americans who escaped slavery. Their flag read “Erin go Bragh ” which means Ireland Forever.”  Many were eventually captured in the battle of Churubusco.

In their final act of defiance, 30 men cheered The Mexican flag before they were hung. This isn’t typically taught in a U.S. history book lesson.

 However, Irish descendants still sing songs to uphold the legacy. Mexico holds joint commemorations with Ireland every year to celebrate this history, and there are statues of John Riley around Mexico.

My great-great-great grandfather James Dawkins survived that battle and escaped to North Carolina where he was already the father of George W. Dawkins of Robeson, NC born in 1840, who later married Martha Dawkins (Butler) of Laurel Hill, NC born 1860. They were the grandparents of my grandmother Martha Eva Shoemake of Gibson, NC born in Scotland County 1921.

I am the living link to my family history. I will tell my children the stories of all the struggles waged at home and in foreign parts from generations past. Of the sacrifices made for our freedoms, the struggles, the lessons learned and will tell them my own story as well because everybody has a story to tell.  

 I was born and raised in the southern eastern part of South Carolina, in a county called Marlboro.

When I eat the food that my grandma used to make, instantly I feel transported back to a simpler time and families meant something to each other.  

The memories and sweet smells from my childhood are the ultimate reason why I keep my southern traditions. I remember visiting my grandmother on many humid and hot Sunday’s afternoon after church; all the windows were open. There was no sneaking up on my grandmother no matter how fast or slow I entered; the rusty hinges from that old wooden screen door squealed like fingernails scrapping across a dusty old school chalkboard. As the old wooden door would snap shut.

My grandmother would be in the kitchen, humming an old gospel song, rolling out piecrust with a wooden rolling pin, and crimping the edges of the pastry with the tips from her arthritic fingers.

Depending on which part of the south you are from, the cooking style and the ingredients can vary.

There is a rich history in southern superstition, tradition, and culture. Southerners have a strong sense of regional heritage, and this is why I believe southern food belongs to a region, not a race or ethnicity. Never forgetting our ancestry but started creating new methods, with minimal equipment and scarce resources; using every portion of edible scraps in the home—nothing ever went to waste. Southern style food is not only about how we nurture people with every mouthful, but it tells a story of survival from each ingredient. 

I love trying out new recipes and experimenting with different flavors. Cooking is not just about nourishment for me, but also a fun and creative outlet. There’s something so satisfying about seeing a dish come together and enjoying the result. Whether it’s trying out a new fusion cuisine or simply recreating a childhood favorite, food always makes for a fun activity.

I hope you all enjoy this book along with cooking a few recipes and sharing them generously with friends and family while keeping the Southern News Year’s Day superstition, tradition, culture and lore to be never forgotten.