We now know that there were wealthy freed slaves all over the colonies who even owned their own slaves.
Some of these freed slaves were actually against the end of slavery and even fought for the confederacy because it meant that their new wealth would dissappear.
Also black slaves must have had some money because how else did they become freed slaves???
To be freed you sometimes had to pay manumissions to your owner. Ulipe ndio uwachiliwe. Yaani you bought yourself from your owner.
The narrative told by activists is that slaves earned nothing and that they were not even allowed to touch money!
That is bullshiet of course because many black millionaires existed at that time including Dubuclet and William Ellison.
A skilled slave could make good money e.g if you were good at woodwork or repairing cotton gins. Being hired out to another farm because of your particular expertise was another way slaves made money.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/slave-labour/
[SIZE=7]Slave labour and wages[/SIZE]
Were American slaves ever paid for their work and, if so, how were they differentiated from employees?
Generally speaking, slaves enjoyed few material benefits beyond crude lodgings, basic foods and cotton clothing. Still, some plantation slaves were able to earn small amounts of cash by telling fortunes or playing the fiddle at dances. Others sold poultry, meats and liquor or peddled handicrafts. In some cases, slaves could earn money from their master if they performed tasks with particular skill.
The masters, for their part, saw small cash incentives as a way to encourage productive
work habits. In the towns, cities and manufacturing areas of the Upper South, slaves were able to earn money thanks to another way to manage labour: the hiring-out system. Contracts differed in terms of food, conditions and treatment, but most slaves hired out to work for others could expect to earn wages for working beyond what was considered a working day. In the tobacco factories of Richmond, Virginia, for example, they would complete their daily quota of work and receive ‘bonus pay’ for anything after that.
Some were also allowed to hire themselves out. Brokering their own deals, they paid their masters a monthly fee and kept anything they earned above the amount. Wages varied across time and place but self-hire slaves could command between $100 a year (for unskilled labour in the early 19th century) to as much as $500 (for skilled work in the Lower South in the late 1850s). Skilled cabinetmakers and joiners could sometimes earn as much as white workers; a select few could even afford to buy themselves out of bondage.