In her book A Belle of the Fifties the Confederate senator’s wife Virginia Clay wrote about slavery as though its principal purpose was to bring civilization to Blacks. Clay was a prominent figure in the United Daughters of the Confederacy and her book was recommendded reading by the organization.
Former-Senator James Henry Hammond was Confederate General Wade Hampton’s uncle. In 1842 he was elected governor of South Carolina. In 1864 Virginia Clay stayed at Hammond’s luxurious South Carolina home. She wrote extensive descriptions of slavery there. Here is her recalling attending the plantation’s church for slaves:
The Negroes, clean, thrifty, strong, all dressed in their best, vied with each other in their deference to Mars’ Paul’s guests, as we entered the church.
They listened quietly to the sermon as the service proceeded. It was a solemn and impressive scene. There was the little company of white people, the flower of centuries of civilization, among hundreds of blacks, but yesterday in the age of the world, wandering in savagery, now peaceful, contented, respectful and comprehending the worship of God. Within a day’s ride, cannon roared, and a hunter, laying his ear to the ground, might have heard the tread of armies, bent upon the blotting out of just such scenes as these. Only God might record our thoughts that morning, as the preacher alluded in prayer and sermon to the issues of the times. At the close of the morning, the hymn “There is rest for the weary” was given out, and when the slaves about us had wailed out the lines “On the other side of Jordan Where the tree of life is blooming There is rest for you!” my husband, at the signal for prayer, fell upon his knees, relieving his pent-up feelings in tears which he could not restrain. My own commingling emotions were indescribably strange and sad. Would abolitionists, I thought, could they look upon that scene, fail to admit the blessings American “slavery” had brought to the savage black men, thus, within a few generations at most, become at home in a condition of civilization.
When I remember that throng of well-fed, plump and happy colored people, and compare it with the ragged and destitute communities common among the freedmen of today, the contrast is a sad one. [Clay-Clopton, Virginia; Sterling, Ada. A Belle of the Fifties (Expanded, Annotated) (pp. 191-192). BIG BYTE BOOKS. Kindle Edition.]
While Virginia Clay described James Hammond’s family as “the flower of centuries of civilization,” the former-senator was known for molesting the teen-aged sisters of Wade Hampton. In his diaries, Hammond also wrote of sexually abusing women he enslaved.
Read more by Virginia Clay on slavery and race relations.
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Unfortunately there are still a lot people who believe this.