namely, that three-fourths of the white population of the South were not slave-owners. Equally important, however, is the fact that only one-seventh of Southern Negroes were domiciled in towns or cities. The proportion of Jewish slave-owners, then, was possibly even larger than that of non-Jews, since the overwhelming majority of Southern Jews lived in the towns and cities.13
It would seem to be realistic to conclude that any Jew who could afford to own slaves and had need for their services would do so. Jewish owners of slaves were not exceptional figures. Slavery was an axiomatic foundation of the social pattern of the Old South. Jews wanted to acclimate themselves in every way to their environment; in both a social and psychological sense, they needed to be accepted as equals by their fellow-citizens. It was, therefore, only a matter of financial circumstance and familial status whether they were to become slave-owners.
13 The thirty-three wills refer specifically to one hundred and thirty-two slaves; in two cases slave children are not enumerated or named; in a number of others, only a few slaves are referred to by name, while unspecified numbers are grouped together in general categories. It is quite likely that some of the ninety-seven remaining decedents owned slaves and lumped them together with all other types of property, but this can neither be proved nor disproved without extensive reference to the estate inventories. The Federal statistics are derived from John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom, 2nd ed. (New York, 1956), pp. 185 and 189.
The Treatment of Slaves by Jews