I've conducted 20 years of research on my families. I've traced the Scruggses back to Eliza, who was my great-great-great-grandmother.She and her children were born into slavery; she, at least, died a slave.
I know it's painful to accept that fact that our ancestors were slaves, but that's what they were. The fact of their slavery doesn't repudiate their humanity. But we have to take the past as it was.

Our ancestors were bought and sold. They were used as collateral for loans and mortgages. Mine were held in trust for the slave owner's heirs.

If we talk about "slave holders" we dilute the immorality of the institution.

The plain and simple truth is this: Slavery turned people into commodities. We have to realize that fact.