To: Hollis Gentry

Online, look up the 1790 - 1850 Federal Census' for the states of Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia.

There you will find "free" people of color who were slaveowners who held more than 10,000 slaves that later became "freed people of color".

The former group were "FREE" people of color,...while the latter group were "FREED" after the Civil War.
That's my point.

Also, GOOGLE the book entitled Black Slaveowners, by Koger.

cpc