Free Black Slaveowners in South Carolina
Domestic slavery was quite common in West Africa, although the Europeans organized the trade to a much greater magnitude and value.
Free black slaveowners resided in states as north as New York and as far south as Florida, extending westward into Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri. According to the federal census of 1830, free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. The majority of black slaveowners lived in Louisiana and planted sugar cane. The majority of black masters had not been slaves themselves. Yet, the ranks of black slave masters were diverse: some acquired slaves as soon as they had accumulated enough capital after their own freedom, others received slaves with their own freedom from their white masters, and others had been free for several generations.
http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/w188/south/charles/charles3.htm
I am convinced there is something in the Senate water supply or perhaps the very air in that chamber, that kills the brain cells of all who have any of said cells that actually function. That is the only way to explain actions in that body, as a whole, or the actions of any given senator of either party.