re: #220 HappyWarrior

A child who was 8 at Emancipation… was old enough to understand. He/she knew the difference between before and after, 8 is old enough to be a credible witness at trial.

Some of those children were still going into schools to tell their stories, share memories, answer questions, well into the Eisenhower administration.

The 2nd graders who met those former slaves (or former slave owners) and heard their testimony first-hand… are only just now reaching retirement age. There are hundreds of thousands of people alive today, in New York and Los Angeles and Chicago and Atlanta, who’ve looked into their eyes while they relived the memories. Including Jimmy Carter, John McCain, George HW Bush, Bob Dole.

Haley Barbour knew (as in, socialized with in his home) people who used to own slaves. Mike Huckabee knew people who used to own slaves. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell knew people who used to own slaves.

It’s not “ancient history” at all.