Even privileged enslaved people faced vigilante violence and had to buy their freedom
Evidence
However, as with many other prosperous black people, Robert Harlan’s mixed-race family was constantly at risk of being attacked by local gangs of white vigilantes who targeted black businessmen and white abolitionists. … Despite his special privileges, he had lived his thirty-two years to date as an enslaved man. In September 1848, Robert asked James if he could purchase his freedom. James obliged and petitioned for a deed of emancipation, and Robert was thereafter declared free. In exchange, Robert signed a $500 promissory note that he planned to repay when he returned from California. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 397
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims