Slavery in the United States

The history of slavery in the United States is not as black and white(no pun intended)as it is often portrayed. It is far more complex than that. It was in fact a very ugly point in our history, but it is far from being as simple as it is told to be. Not all slaves were black...not all blacks were slaves. The hay day of slavery was fromabout the early 1800's to shortly after the civil war. Some litle known facts: There were several times early on when the Texas (our most southern state) house of represenatives actually had a black majority. There were slave owners who were black The first black man elected to federal office was elected in the early 1700's,and he wasn't the last. Many of the heros of our revolutionary war against England were black..including among Paul Reveres famous riders and a man considered the hero of the battle of Bunker Hill. The first double agent intelligence officer was black...as was the leader of the first special forces "commando" group in the U.S. army. Before the civil war...blacks had the right to vote as (like non slaves of the time) they owned property. There were many successfull black enterperneurs, lawyers and bankers at the time. And those are just a few tidbits out of a wealth of information. Much of this history has been washed out or burried or simply not taught any more...it is a shame. Blacks in the U.S. have been denied a very rich history and do not get nearly enough credit in the founding of this nation. A good number of our founding fathers were black.