Ladye Clay, you are absolutely right on.

America has not yet fully acknowledged the wrong of our slavery past. We don't deny slavery existed, but we subtely almost excuse it by such concepts as "not judging people of yesterday by today's standards". After all, the argument goes, it was legal at the time to "own slaves".

Well I have been to the concentration camp museum at Dachau and remember well the displays of the legal documentation that the Nazis processed to "justify" the passage of the laws, the processing of the charges and the convictions of those condemned to death. The Nurenberg trials confirmed the concept that there are basic natural laws of human rights which prevail over the laws created by any nation at a given time. America has never had its slavery Nurenberg.

One of the subtleties that works toward trying to excuse American slavery is the use of the term "slave owner" , reminding us it was legal at the time to "own" slaves. As you so correctly point out,"slave holder" is a more accurate name for this forced relationship.

When I started my large slaveholder web project, I noticed the Historical Census Data Browser used holder rather than owner, and I decided to do the same. Though I have consciously been trying to avoid using the term slave owner for a full year, I still find myself using owner once in a while. Old habits are hard to break and America has been excusing slavery with the owner word for almost 400 years.

I have resolved to always use holder instead of owner. It appears you have done the same. I join you in encouraging others to do the same. I ask those who are interested enough to have read this post to join us in resolving to drop the owner terminology and to please post a response indicating that resolve.

Those of us who are so resolved should consider starting a campaign to gtradually remove the owner terminology from all American slavery dialogue. A good starting point could be on this very forum. In fact, with your excellent post, Ladye Clay, you have already done so.

Tom Blake, descendant of a former slave holder