2. Numbers and Statistics
By 1860, estimates suggest that roughly 3,000 Black slaveowners held about 12,000 enslaved people in the South. While this number is significant, it pales in comparison to the vast majority of slaveholders, who were white and collectively owned millions of slaves. These figures highlight just how rare Black slaveownership was, yet they underscore the complexity of the social hierarchy and relationships within the Antebellum South (via Smithsonian Magazine).
