Sentence:  The slaves never shared in their profits , while they did share , in a very real sense , in the profits of the slave owners : they were fed , clothed , doctored , and so forth ; they <WSD>were</WSD> the beneficiaries of responsible , paternalistic care . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)