re: American Civil War Animated Maps

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Most slave quarters were just wooden shacks with dirt floors. Many were malnourished, and they were usually fed scraps, sometimes only once a day. Not to mention the horrible conditions of enslavement they endured. Constant physical and psychological abuse. Oh, but thanks for the "lodging" and "food" bro.

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Let's tap the brakes on this. "Most" may be accurate, but let's describe the whole range. "Many" slaves lived in similar conditions to the landless white dirt farmers I described above. Outside of Virginia, and in the cotton belt, particularly, slavery was worse than most of us are capable of imagining - particularly in a post-Age of Reason America - bordering on and probably equalling the worst of the Spanish abuses in Central/South America - everything you can imagine and more was imposed on the slave. In the more genteel areas of Virginia, slaves associated with more prosperous and enlightened families were only nominally slaves (although abuse was still relatively common - they were in some cases, better off than a lot of poor whites in the deep south, from a material and comfort standpoint).

Jefferson himself described it as a moral depravity. In many ways more harmful to the slaveowners than the slaves themselves, at least long-term. A corruption at the very heart of this country that purports to be a beacon and shining example of freedom - a classic case of the mirror casting a harsh dose of reality in its reflection.