You, a white male, step through a magic portal and find yourself in a place that seems very similar to America in 1850. You are “recognized” as the missing son of a wealthy slaveowner; you have the same name, and a photograph of that son looks exactly like you did a few years ago. Your “family” appears to believe that your odd behavior and loss of memory must be due to an injury that you sustained during your absence.
Having familiarized yourself with your new identity and environment, you come to the distressing conclusion that your 21st century education taught you relatively little technical information of practical use to someone in 1850. On the bright side, your father seems very willing to spend money on your behalf, and you even have quite a lot in your own name that you could rely on if you happen to end up alienating the rest of your family somehow… by, say, becoming an outspoken abolitionist. It’s obvious to you that slavery is a great moral wrong, but what should you do about it? And because you’re not actually in your own country’s past, you can’t count on a civil war deciding the issue in your favor fifteen years from now—and fifteen years is a long time to wait for freedom...
Thought experiment:
You, a white male, step through a magic portal and find yourself in a place that seems very similar to America in 1850. You are “recognized” as the missing son of a wealthy slaveowner; you have the same name, and a photograph of that son looks exactly like you did a few years ago. Your “family” appears to believe that your odd behavior and loss of memory must be due to an injury that you sustained during your absence.
Having familiarized yourself with your new identity and environment, you come to the distressing conclusion that your 21st century education taught you relatively little technical information of practical use to someone in 1850. On the bright side, your father seems very willing to spend money on your behalf, and you even have quite a lot in your own name that you could rely on if you happen to end up alienating the rest of your family somehow… by, say, becoming an outspoken abolitionist. It’s obvious to you that slavery is a great moral wrong, but what should you do about it? And because you’re not actually in your own country’s past, you can’t count on a civil war deciding the issue in your favor fifteen years from now—and fifteen years is a long time to wait for freedom...