1) Betsy Ross made it
2) it wasn't about slavery
3) many of the DOI signers were anti-slavery themselves but didn't try to force it into the DOI at the time bc anti-slavery wasn't popular yet and they would've never agreed on terms to secede from England if they tried to abolish slavery (and some of them wrote that they hoped slavery would end in the near future)
4) slaves were sold to Europeans by other Africans who made a profit selling their own people.
5) Slavery wasn't about racism as it was about whoever had the most money. Sure many slave owners were racist, but there were multiple black men who owned slaves. And even Native Americans and Hispanics. Did you know in the 1600s when European merchants sent other Europeans to America to get a fresh start at life, they ripped them off and as a result many Americans ended up poor? The ones who ended up poor never owned slaves. But the ones who found ways to succeed anyway were more likely to have them. One family who got ripped off was black, and they found other ways to make money, and that family owned slaves in the early 1700s. Did you know Kamala Harris is the granddaughter of a black slave owner?
6) Slavery was indentured servitude back when the first Europeans came here. It was pretty much like a contractual job. You worked for someone (in return they took care of you) for several years, and then you were free. However, since folks got ripped off, many slaves didn't want to leave their masters and start a new life (im sure if they knew what would happen to their descendants in the 1800s, they would've), which turned unfortunate in 1660 when the government made lifetime slave owning legal.
7) Only 1.4% of people in the South owned slaves.
Yes, slavery and racism is a part of our history and a very sad part, but by no means is it as exaggerated and simple as people make it out to be today.
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