Even the poorest white, because he was white, could run educated and middle class black people's lives. They weren't anxious to lose this small sense of authority, which was really all they had. In the 1870s and 80s during the period of industrialization, people of influence saw the use of keeping low level workers in a state of mistrust. African-Americans who were formally skilled artisan slaves couldn't find jobs because industrialists preferred to give them to white immigrants, whom they pitted against freedman. Then these owners would pit the immigrants, who didn't want to work with former slaves, against freedmen by using the latter as scabs if the immigrants ever went on strike.
Black people are co-creators of American democracy.
Daily contact with the unfree gave a more poignant meaning to the Founders and to the concept of freedom and independence. This is a major contribution of African Americans and one to be proud of. Enslavement was terrible, but the legacy shows that it resulted in a half-full glass for the development of our republic, and the writing should reflect that and identify those many persons of African descent who made it possible. I think there is a problem separating out black history from American history. They need to be integrated into the larger story.