One thing that slaves were deprived of was their history. I've become more aware of this in recent years because I realize that my black friends and family can only trace their ancestry back two or three generations. For us folkies, who often like to trace our family back many generations, that's a loss. If you're black, unless you do extensive research and are fortunate to find records, you can't even tell what part of Africa you came from. I went on a tour of Ghana and the Ivory Coast with our church (being the only white person on the tour)and even though my friends were anxious to get back to their roots, they didn't know any more than that their ancestors were brought over from somewhere in Africa. We could have been in their family's village, and never have known it.

Jerry