--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in…" description: "\"“for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in this country for 244 years, from 1619 to 1863. As of 2010, they have been free for 147 years.”\" — Isabel Wilke..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_for-far-longer-blacks-were-enslaved-in-t_1290666.jpg" --- # for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in this country for… ![“for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in this country for 244 years, from 1619 to 1863. As of 2010, they have been free for 147 years.” quote by Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_for-far-longer-blacks-were-enslaved-in-t_1290666.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_for-far-longer-blacks-were-enslaved-in-t_1290666.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/isabel-wilkerson-10765_quote_for-far-longer-blacks-were-enslaved-in-t_1290666.jpg) > ““for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in this country for 244 years, from 1619 to 1863. As of 2010, they have been free for 147 years.”” [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The long history of slavery and the relatively short period of freedom highlight ongoing racial inequities. **In simple terms:** Slavery lasted centuries; freedom is recent. Key Takeaway Recognize lasting impacts of oppression. Themes history race justice Mood thoughtful serious Type informative historical When to use this quote - education curricula - policy reform - community dialogue Key Concepts systemic racism historical trauma Questions to Reflect On - How does this timeline affect current racial dynamics? - What actions can address lingering inequities? A Different Perspective Numbers alone don’t capture lived experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free. Never forget that for 250 years black people were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/never-forget-that-we-were-enslaved-in-this-country-longer-than-we/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [When you think of 244 years of slavery and 81 years of that finally you are going to be allowed to be part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-you-think-of-244-years-of-slavery-and-81-years-of-that-finally/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I didn't make a 147 until few years ago - I just wasn't the sort of player who went for them. But it's like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-higgins/i-didn-t-make-a-147-until-few-years-ago-i-just-wasn-t-the-sort-of/) [John Higgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-higgins/) > [Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/blacks-were-not-enslaved-because-they-were-black-but-because-they/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Whites have been the most subsidized group in the history of the United States and maybe the history of the world, while Blacks were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/whites-have-been-the-most-subsidized-group-in-the-history-of-the/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/none-are-so-hopelessly-enslaved-as-those-who-falsely-believe-they-are/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [“It is not for you to say - you Englishmen, who have conquered your freedom so long ago, that you have conveniently forgotten what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/it-is-not-for-you-to-say-you-englishmen-who-have-conquered-your/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [We would rather see London laid in ruins and ashes than that it should be tamely and abjectly enslaved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/we-would-rather-see-london-laid-in-ruins-and-ashes-than-that-it/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/all-spirits-are-enslaved-which-serve-things-evil/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [“You hide it well, but I can see it, Lord Verniers. You hate us. We have beaten you to obedience but it's still there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ryan/you-hide-it-well-but-i-can-see-it-lord-verniers-you-hate-us-we-have/) [Anthony Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ryan/) > [“Your realm is an insane place. In Volaria, no-one goes hungry, slaves are no use when they starve. Those freeborn too lazy or lacking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ryan/your-realm-is-an-insane-place-in-volaria-no-one-goes-hungry-slaves/) [Anthony Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ryan/) > [The majority of the cocoa that we eat, it is actually produced by young kids which are being enslaved in the plantations of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-napoleoni/the-majority-of-the-cocoa-that-we-eat-it-is-actually-produced-by/) [Loretta Napoleoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-napoleoni/) > [“She had made a vow—a vow to free Eyllwe. So in between moments of despair and rage and grief, in between thoughts of Chaol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/she-had-made-a-vow-a-vow-to-free-eyllwe-so-in-between-moments-of/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [Modern capitalism seeks to assure us that it operates according to the principles of free creativity, endless development and diversity. It glosses over its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadezhda-tolokonnikova/modern-capitalism-seeks-to-assure-us-that-it-operates-according-to/) [Nadezhda Tolokonnikova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadezhda-tolokonnikova/) > [We Muslims believe that the white race, which is guilty of having oppressed and exploited and enslaved our people here in America, should and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/we-muslims-believe-that-the-white-race-which-is-guilty-of-having/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) ## More by Isabel Wilkerson > [“That one over this is the one for the use of the white people,” Judge Amistead Jones said. “Not that I am a stickler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-one-over-this-is-the-one-for-the-use-of-the-white-people-judge/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“...they speak like melted butter and their children speak like footsteps on pavement...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/they-speak-like-melted-butter-and-their-children-speak-like-footsteps/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-immigrants-do-not-talk-about-what-they-endured-back-home-they/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Many of the people who left the South never exactly sat their children down to tell them these things, tell them what happened and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-of-the-people-who-left-the-south-never-exactly-sat-their/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Fifteen thousand men, women, and children gathered to watch eighteen-year-old Jesse Washington as he was burned alive in Waco, Texas, in May 1916. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/fifteen-thousand-men-women-and-children-gathered-to-watch-eighteen/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [It occurred to me that no matter where I lived, geography could not save me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/it-occurred-to-me-that-no-matter-where-i-lived-geography-could-not/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Well, I'm a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/well-i-m-a-daughter-of-the-great-migration-as-really-the-majority-of/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [There were colored and white waiting rooms everywhere, from doctor's offices to the bus stations, as people may already know. But there were actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/there-were-colored-and-white-waiting-rooms-everywhere-from-doctor-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“I don’t see one white person in this block selling drugs. They got the nerve to be mad at the blue-eyed devil. You don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-don-t-see-one-white-person-in-this-block-selling-drugs-they-got-the/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“That the Negro American has survived at all is extraordinary —a lesser people might simply have died out, as indeed others have. — DANIEL…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-the-negro-american-has-survived-at-all-is-extraordinary-a-lesser/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“The reality was that Jim Crow filtered through the economy, north and south, and pressed down on poor and working-class people of all races.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/the-reality-was-that-jim-crow-filtered-through-the-economy-north-and/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [I mean my mother migrated from Georgia -Rome, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., where she then met my father, who was a Tuskegee Airman who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-mean-my-mother-migrated-from-georgia-rome-georgia-to-washington-d-c/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [You must leave this world a better place than it would have been if you had not existed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/you-must-leave-this-world-a-better-place-than-it-would-have-been-if/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“County supervisors relented only after losing their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing finally to reopen the schools rather than face imprisonment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/county-supervisors-relented-only-after-losing-their-case-in-the-u-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [My parents sent me to a school across town, an integrated school, where I had the chance to meet and grow up with people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/my-parents-sent-me-to-a-school-across-town-an-integrated-school-where/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) [Explore all 63 Isabel Wilkerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## More Enslaved quotes > [We Muslims believe that the white race, which is guilty of having oppressed and exploited and enslaved our people here in America, should and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/we-muslims-believe-that-the-white-race-which-is-guilty-of-having/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Modern capitalism seeks to assure us that it operates according to the principles of free creativity, endless development and diversity. It glosses over its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadezhda-tolokonnikova/modern-capitalism-seeks-to-assure-us-that-it-operates-according-to/) [Nadezhda Tolokonnikova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadezhda-tolokonnikova/) > [“She had made a vow—a vow to free Eyllwe. So in between moments of despair and rage and grief, in between thoughts of Chaol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/she-had-made-a-vow-a-vow-to-free-eyllwe-so-in-between-moments-of/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The majority of the cocoa that we eat, it is actually produced by young kids which are being enslaved in the plantations of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-napoleoni/the-majority-of-the-cocoa-that-we-eat-it-is-actually-produced-by/) [Loretta Napoleoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-napoleoni/) > [“Your realm is an insane place. In Volaria, no-one goes hungry, slaves are no use when they starve. Those freeborn too lazy or lacking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ryan/your-realm-is-an-insane-place-in-volaria-no-one-goes-hungry-slaves/) [Anthony Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ryan/) > [“You hide it well, but I can see it, Lord Verniers. You hate us. We have beaten you to obedience but it's still there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ryan/you-hide-it-well-but-i-can-see-it-lord-verniers-you-hate-us-we-have/) [Anthony Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ryan/) > [All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/all-spirits-are-enslaved-which-serve-things-evil/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [We would rather see London laid in ruins and ashes than that it should be tamely and abjectly enslaved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/we-would-rather-see-london-laid-in-ruins-and-ashes-than-that-it/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [“It is not for you to say - you Englishmen, who have conquered your freedom so long ago, that you have conveniently forgotten what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/it-is-not-for-you-to-say-you-englishmen-who-have-conquered-your/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/none-are-so-hopelessly-enslaved-as-those-who-falsely-believe-they-are/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [How many demons and people are enslaved here? (Jericho) Define slavery. (Asmodeus) Kept against their will. (Jericho) Good definition. Counting me? (Asmodeus) Why not?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/how-many-demons-and-people-are-enslaved-here-jericho-define-slavery/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [To be enslaved to oneself is the heaviest of all servitudes.-](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/to-be-enslaved-to-oneself-is-the-heaviest-of-all-servitudes/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [America is not perfect. It took a bloody civil war to free over 4 million African Americans who lived enslaved. It took another hundred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/america-is-not-perfect-it-took-a-bloody-civil-war-to-free-over-4/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [“It's time to get healed. It's time to confess. Falling for the bait doesn't make you the worst person in the world. You were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-groeschel/it-s-time-to-get-healed-it-s-time-to-confess-falling-for-the-bait/) [Craig Groeschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-groeschel/) > [There's a history of enslaved African-Americans having to make their slave masters comfortable. This business of what we call skinning and grinning - that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxine-waters/there-s-a-history-of-enslaved-african-americans-having-to-make-their/) [Maxine Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxine-waters/) Browse all 155 Enslaved quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“for far longer: Blacks were enslaved in this country for 244 years, from 1619 to 1863. 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