Nearly all the theologian’s slaves rejected his paternalist family myth

Evidence

Manly’s theology was developed in the heady days of Southern secessionism and optimism that victory in the war, a vindication of God’s favor, would be swift. After the South’s military defeat, and the dissolution of the slaveholding system on which his wealth depended, Manly, too, was a defeated and ailing man. In September 1865 he took an oath of loyalty to the Union and received a pardon signed personally by President Andrew Johnson. Despite his offer to pay them for their labor, most of his nearly forty slaves—whom he had thought of as members of the family under his paternalistic rule—left his Alabama plantation, and he was forced to suspend operations and auction off the farm implements. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 252

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Biblical master-slave duties were framed as protective guardianship — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 240; Religious myth, not class consciousness, drove slaves to free themselves — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1121; Enslaved people regarded religious masters as the worst masters — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 250 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Religious myth, not class consciousness, drove slaves to free themselves #contradicts (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1121
• Enslaved people regarded religious masters as the worst masters #contradicts (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 250
• Planter authority collapsed when slaves collectively rejected the whites chosen to manage them #exemplifies (0.75) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 453
• Enslaved African aspirations centered on family, land, and syncretized religion #corroborates (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 609