Were your ancestors likely oppressed or the oppressors 200 years ago? How so? How do you feel about this?

Question

I'm just genuinely curious on your thoughts.

If your ancestors owned slaves, they were the oppressors.

If your ancestors were slaves, they were oppressed.

For everything in between, you can make your best judgment.

sassy_receptor · Accepted Answer

yes my ancestors were both the oppressed and oppressors. i identify as black because that’s what makes up most of my DNA and I’m American so the history of my ancestors is pretty well known. multiple white male slave owners have procreated with my black female ancestors and i’m the 11th great granddaughter of a Mayflower pilgrim, lots of which had descendents who went on to oppress Native Americans.

how do i feel about it? it is what it is i guess. i hurt for my ancestors who lived in captivity and who had no freedom to follow their dreams. who worked hard with no reward in return and who were treated less than simply based on the color of their skin. but i admire their strength and tenacity and research their stories and view their photos with interest and amazement. as far as the oppressors… eh. i mean without them i wouldn’t be here but knowing that majority of the interracial mixing within my bloodline isn’t consensual makes me sad. and a bit angry i suppose. but i am a part of them too so i research their stories as well. their stories don’t give me the same joy as my oppressed ancestors though.

overall i am proud of who i am and i hope i making my ancestors proud.

Prettygurl12 · Accepted Answer

Who even knows, dude. My great grandparents immigrated from Finland and the Netherlands, respectively.

No idea what was going on in Finland, but I heard a bunch of 'em on the Dutch side were burned at the stake for witchcraft so...

BeMuse · Accepted Answer

Royalty in Europe were the oppressors of the American colonies. They were the ones that owned fleets of ships to transport goods for trade across open seas. The White commoner are the ones that freed themselves through personal sacrifice to form nations of free people, and then freed you. If it wasn't for those plantation owners that stood up to the power elite, you'd still be under their boot. They want to put you there again, and the communist propaganda you parrot is engineered to get your there. It's funny that the people that scream loudest about oppression, fight hardiest to get back into the bondage of slavery.

WindAtMyBack · Accepted Answer

Oppressed. I think that's true of the vast majority of people with European backgrounds. My family started crawling out from under that in the early-mid 1800s. They eventually started making it on their own without being dependent on others. "Others" being the land holders and peerage.

strateguy632 · Answer

1, Well AROUND 200 years ago, is better wording, but isolating "200" is just a trick after u. s. was founded... all americans, even white, with ancestors in america DID suffer 250 years ago, "oppressed" by king of england, so isolating "200 years ago" is about as fair as isolating year 1840!

Similarly those fleeing Europe to u. s. 200 years ago, 1800-1830 were oppressed even white, which is why they fled to u. s. my ancestors were victims oppressed due to being jews... i don't see equal treatment of jews yet... and the problem is noticeable online internet! Even now!

2, but we don’t "milk" the "victim" pity, but jews, ( like latinos) have been generally successful in u s. Opportunity, despite a history of oppression and a holocaust mass murder (the real genocide) in 1940s, past oppression has not interfered with our ability, now , nor is it used As any excuse.

I don't think i should blame Christians now for what their ancestors did to jews 200 or more years ago, see picture.

Were your ancestors likely oppressed or the oppressors 200 years ago? How so? How do you feel about this?

Your judging "by slave ancestors" seems wrong, descendants of both slave and of slave buyer, have been same since 1865.

Mia-Wallace · Answer

The vast majority of all humans on earth had no "rights" untill very recently. Almost all the people today had "oppressed" ancestors by today's standards.

Rockstarrrrr · Answer

Well I'm Egyptian so as my ancestors... and Egypt has been occupied for like 90 % of the time... So Egyptians were often oppressed and exploited...200 years ago it was turks / ottomans... and yeah they were totally oppressed at the time... Basically just another occupied somewhat of a slave state in the ottoman empire... we had to wait until 1952 for Independence and Monarchy to be taken down...

4ngelic · Answer

my American family is 100% white so oppressors i guess. also a branch were plantation owners too lol..

Anpu23 · Answer

200 (1822) years ago, oppressor. 300 (1722) both, and possibly by each other. Irish, Scottish, Welsh and British

exitseven · Answer

My ancestors were oppressed. That is probably why they came to America,

Noahzaid · Answer

Oppressors, I don’t want to talk about it.

Were your ancestors likely oppressed or the oppressors 200 years ago? How so? How do you feel about this?

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