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Question to all:

What percent of blacks were slaves in 1865? Were they all slaves?

Don't know the percentages ,but there were always at least some free blacks even in the South.

What percent of blacks were slaves in 1865? Were they all slaves?

In the entire nation, the % was likely under 30% but this is just a guess. There were many free blacks in the south and also the blacks owned slaves. I did see a statistic that in the south ONLY 2% of white families ever owned a slave. The rest were too poor to afford a slave.

Re: "What percent of blacks were slaves in 1865?" Following is from the U.S. Census for 1860:

State	AGGR. NO. OF FREE COLORED PERSONS	TOTAL POPULATION	TOTAL NO. OF SLAVES
ALABAMA	2,690	964,201	435,080
ARKANSAS	144	435,450	111,115
CALIFORNIA	4,086	379,985	M
CONNECTICUT	8,627	460,138	M
DELAWARE	19,829	112,216	1,798
FLORIDA	932	140,424	61,745
GEORGIA	3,500	1,057,286	462,198
ILLINOIS	7,628	1,711,942	M
INDIANA	11,428	1,350,419	M
IOWA	1,069	674,904	M
KANSAS	625	107,206	2
KENTUCKY	10,684	1,155,684	225,483
LOUISIANA	18,647	708,002	331,726
MAINE	1,327	628,270	M
MARYLAND	83,942	687,049	87,189
MASSACHUSETTS	9,602	1,231,057	M
MICHIGAN	6,799	749,104	M
MINNESOTA	259	172,014	M
MISSISSIPPI	773	791,305	436,631
MISSOURI	3,572	1,182,012	114,931
NEBRASKA	67	28,841	15
NEVADA	45	6,848	M
NEW HAMPSHIRE	494	326,064	M
NEW JERSEY	25,318	672,035	M
NEW YORK	49,005	3,880,726	M
NORTH CAROLINA	30,463	992,622	331,059
OHIO	36,673	2,339,502	M
OREGON	128	52,456	M
PENNSYLVANIA	56,949	2,906,206	M
RHODE ISLAND	3,952	174,611	M
SOUTH CAROLINA	9,914	703,708	402,406
TENNESSEE	7,300	1,109,801	275,719
TEXAS	355	604,215	182,566
VERMONT	709	315,089	M
VIRGINIA	58,042	1,596,318	490,865
WISCONSIN	1,171	775,872	M

Not all Africans were slaves back then. A friend of mine had an interesting book written about the wealthy African Americans back then who also owned African slaves. So i wonder if they will be sueing that family, along with the other black families (according to this book there were quite a few) who put them into slavery? Another friend of mine whose mother in law lives in Africa told her she did not understand the point, since most of the slaves brought over were slaves in Africa. So all in all they were moved from Africa where they were slaves, to America where they were still slaves. Maybe they should sue the people in Africa who sold them to the big bad white ppl in America? There were also many African women in New Orleans who willingly had children as a pre arranged type situation so they could have a nice home, dresses, attend balls, and also OWN SLAVES. I am sure the spin put on this now is they were somehow forced to do so, dispite the homes, jewels, clothing, children,balls, and social standing they received. Either way 140 yrs later should I still be complaining as well? After all I am hispanic and my ancestors were forced into missions and forced to build the railways in CA, along with chinese immigrants. Maybe I can sue Amtrack? LOL! I bet I can find a distant great great great second or third cousin 100 times removed who worked on the railways.