🪧 BHM 2026 by QCT | Post #8 💔 Enslaved... and Conditioned to Protect Their Oppressors

 

BHM 2026 by QCT | Post #8

Enslaved... and Conditioned to Protect Their Oppressors

In 1860, 331,059 enslaved Black people—~1/3 of North Carolina’s population—lived under a brutal regime that didn’t just shackle bodies but worked to fracture minds and erase willpower.

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Whippings. Family separations. Psychological torture. These weren’t just tools of control—they were methods of mental conditioning, weaponizing trauma to make enslaved people see compliance as godly, or even “right.”

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Some followed enslavers to war. Some were forced to build forts or drive supply wagons. A few even donated to the Confederate cause—not from loyalty, but from deep psychological coercion, what today we recognize as Stockholm Syndrome or trauma bonding.

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It’s estimated 60% yearned to escape, while 40% remained, paralyzed by fear, dependency, and the learned lie that freedom meant death.

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This was not support. This was survival.

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It's time we call it what it was:

Trauma. Not choice.

Sources: https://nccivilwarcenter.org/north-carolina-civil-war-reconstruction-history-center-the-journey-from-disunion-toward-reunion/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOeBj1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFoWTBUbTZYcW01VHRFbHRac3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgEia2A-LB5VAueeeIRGorBMPiFBVFcmjSTLy4lHxy1Lq1MWBAJ9VwiUFNaz_aem_7NbMvkNSUF_AHkkFb0xfsQ https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Feji.org%2Freport%2Ftransatlantic-slave-trade%2Fcarolinas%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExaFkwVG02WHFtNVR0RWx0WnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4j7y3jN2FZmSOfvei4yW3vn8Iduczke5JiaXAdR1i3IfTeE_FDgL3gav2ZrQ_aem_5B4d0qHQA2QLQBplpghm4Q&h=AT2vhHnzn1EU3-Vf1otj5JJzK1iJDwCdXKZ-tmiNxt-8FZyTZxHRxCgMrSlluZkZ535Lt25zhMzcJjyHkspl82TTY32YjIoHhuWcXoB_Rezw2ZXB67iKzPlKmGZKpNvsmNDAefBHAoeSag&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1D55c5gXsCrOuU9PgssHvDGJihubjNrlCUENLNDVqIbtIgRkwh7FxO9wO3MxXdcg5WOWIJa0lDcRgVVIzRII7t4aZPhGj45zCnAGjcD9bIqXXqHDy9ZR-AkWHlUTR2r_fVtdPLyhsVIV8VsK6on83KeFlph0D9-vsfl-spIx1efRbS0EJ13LxYEb7PYqY https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsdonline.org%2Fissue%2F33%2Fsambo-thesis-revisited-slaverys-impact-upon-african-american-personality%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExaFkwVG02WHFtNVR0RWx0WnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4xsqKDIDGoHer6lhahU96Bg1s1viB15aQAn9j2E5MfhoQBUmTXEfJ9sqEZiQ_aem_q6Djoz2Spb8wSUa12g41pA&h=AT2GE9OcBn11mGu2WUl9f4OiEcfm8QjQ6XnLQcw3jo0_7Ge5EmOWiVM39PhusOJsy34tSrDcPfiHLJGs5GoY7miQc9AdtS-yy3kEnfI_sijsAziRbJnzqG20hwiPjWVKxdeV1fpTYu5SNA&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1D55c5gXsCrOuU9PgssHvDGJihubjNrlCUENLNDVqIbtIgRkwh7FxO9wO3MxXdcg5WOWIJa0lDcRgVVIzRII7t4aZPhGj45zCnAGjcD9bIqXXqHDy9ZR-AkWHlUTR2r_fVtdPLyhsVIV8VsK6on83KeFlph0D9-vsfl-spIx1efRbS0EJ13LxYEb7PYqY https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fread.dukeupress.edu%2Feighteenth-century-life%2Farticle%2F49%2F3%2F66%2F402359%2FPsychological-Coercion-Affection-and-Enslavement%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExaFkwVG02WHFtNVR0RWx0WnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4xsqKDIDGoHer6lhahU96Bg1s1viB15aQAn9j2E5MfhoQBUmTXEfJ9sqEZiQ_aem_q6Djoz2Spb8wSUa12g41pA&h=AT3wJZqr5VUVFzQ17xbcsRNCgb-JibBEOIHuGiqhQcVan7U1DtikfJ_fjG-vhLMWKqV_IRVaH6gA57OPPmWe8Gd09WJPDDFuZBNRWBvgQ1HNjN1fYiAc8FRNbXy4LJxfpnAo44DUwwHeBw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1D55c5gXsCrOuU9PgssHvDGJihubjNrlCUENLNDVqIbtIgRkwh7FxO9wO3MxXdcg5WOWIJa0lDcRgVVIzRII7t4aZPhGj45zCnAGjcD9bIqXXqHDy9ZR-AkWHlUTR2r_fVtdPLyhsVIV8VsK6on83KeFlph0D9-vsfl-spIx1efRbS0EJ13LxYEb7PYqY https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheexodusroad.com%2Fstockholm-syndrome-and-human-trafficking%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExaFkwVG02WHFtNVR0RWx0WnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6oZhnXoN_lVfW4hajzoLpSSSWDTRU5onW2L-04e_YMAbMs6OOKz6-xB9WDOg_aem_fmSKf75OMFo_OU7nAnowQQ&h=AT2WDHTNHew4JHqVxgJyoKjXRM57kKrqKkqAcCSwCmMv5oXqyUb1C62R9bDrEsRYspiPoa3BzzYqLAy3LuByKD5ThXADWOHpL09NayH36u-Y6ZlxSBveZXGCLz45TFpVOykoZCfDauoDjA&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1D55c5gXsCrOuU9PgssHvDGJihubjNrlCUENLNDVqIbtIgRkwh7FxO9wO3MxXdcg5WOWIJa0lDcRgVVIzRII7t4aZPhGj45zCnAGjcD9bIqXXqHDy9ZR-AkWHlUTR2r_fVtdPLyhsVIV8VsK6on83KeFlph0D9-vsfl-spIx1efRbS0EJ13LxYEb7PYqY