Salon: Slaves of a different color. “In writing a book on the mixing of black

and white life throughout American history, I discovered

that white slavery did occur before the Civil War in small

but significant numbers. And in unearthing this fascinating

lost chapter in American history, I also discovered how

slavery has been partitioned into a piece of

African-American cultural property — made sacred by black

Americans, abandoned by whites. Petrified by politics and

shame, the richest and most central drama of early American

history is now playing to segregated houses.”