thanks for the response. I remember reading in books about the existence of slaveowners of color and wondering how could, they, being of african ancestry, could own black slaves. Didnt think that I HAD any ancestors of color who owned slaves until a few years ago. I was speechless like you. And I felt kind of ashamed. I couldnt accept it and I couldnt understand it until I decided to not judge them and try to understand them in the context of the times in which they lived. My history is complex. Our history is complex. I directly descend from several ancestors who were free people of that owned slaves. Two of them were themselves ex-slaves.
I also descend from slaves who were owned and freed by slaveowners of color. four were the slaves of Martin Donato. The other, Jean-Louis Sam, a slave manumitted by a free black woman in St. Martinville during the first decade of the 19th century. I get my unique last name from this man.