In a small town in Georgia, a white mother of three found that her white ancestors had enslaved the ancestors of a black couple, close friends of hers. She was understandably upset. (The story is told in “Living Reconciliation” (Christianity Today, July/August 2023.)

The black husband, a minister, spoke a prayer over his white friend, asking God to break the chain of generational racism. The three led efforts at racial reconciliation in the community.

Years later, a local historian’s genealogical research indicated that the two families were related by blood. An ancestor of the white woman was one of the black slaves. The black woman who had descended from the wronged slave called her white friend to ensure her that it didn’t change the love she had for her.

I was reminded of my own finding years ago that one of my ancestors had owned at least one slave. Whether my ancestor further abused the slave and fathered a child is not recorded. I hope not, but, regardless, I’m not proud of my ancestor’s choice to own a slave.

That ancestor later died in a federal prison camp of pneumonia. He had fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War and was captured. His death was attributed to illness caused by poor health care. Apparently, rations for the southern prisoners were cut in protest against the substandard treatment of federal prisoners in southern internment camps.

So much evil, including hatred and a horrible war, grew out of that early choice to own human beings as slaves. What recompense can we offer for that great sin, present from the beginning of America?

White Americans can begin with repentance and a refusal to those who would lull us by telling us “it was a long time ago” and “we need to move on.” The results remain with us today in a legacy of segregation, not seriously contested until the latter part of the twentieth century.

American school children need to know their history, all of it, warts and all. The purpose is not to induce a guilt complex. Our children are not guilty of the sins of past Americans. Indeed, some are the children of recently arrived immigrants. The purpose is to understand how easy is the temptation to do terrible wrong for a spur of the moment “benefit.” We have paid for the cheap labor of slaves many times over.