In her piece, Phillips bends herself into a pretzel to avoid using the word "slave." She says things like, "The Hermitage knows of 26 enslaved people who died on the farm." And, "People who were enslaved by Jackson." And, "I couldn’t find the child mortality rate for enslaved people."
Let me say from the get-go that slavery was an abomination and that I am no admirer of Andrew Jackson. For many reasons he is one of my least favorite presidents, one main reason is his removal of the Cherokee. There are other reasons also. I don't much like that he let the rowdy frontiersmen stand on the Whitehouse's fine French furniture in muddy boots. In some ways he reminds me of Donald Trump. He was crude and ruthless. However, I don't think he "enslaved" anyone. He owned slaves. He did not go out and capture free people and make slaves of them.
The murder of the language by self-righteous, hectoring progressives really galls me. One of the words that annoy me is "they/them" when referring to just one person. I think a "they/them" is someone who on some days identifies as male and other days identifies as female, which is different than sexual orientation. However, a single individual is not a "they," or a "them." Just weird!
More and more I am seeing people go out of their way to avoid the term "slave." This excerpt from an NPR piece explains it:
What is NPR's guidance on using the terms 'slave' and 'enslaved'?
Some journalists and historians prefer to use the term "enslaved" instead of the word "slave," to better describe those held in American slavery, and to acknowledge the horror and exploitation they were forced to face.
The language nuance was discussed by the leaders of The New York Times' 1619 Project, which was published in 2019 with an aim "to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."
During a Fresh Air interview in 2020, the project's creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones, said, "I think when we hear the word 'slave,' we think of slavery as being the essence of that person. But if you call someone an enslaved person, then it speaks to a condition. ... These people were not slaves. Someone chose to force them into the condition of slavery. And that language, to me, is very important, as is using the word 'enslaver' over 'slave owner' because these people didn't have a moral right to own another human being, even though the society allowed it."
Okay, I get it. I will still use the term "slave", but I get it. Using the term "enslaved" as explained above is using the term as an adjective or a noun. It would make sense. I won't get on board but the meaning is clear. The way Phillips uses it in the article titles is a past participle of the verb to enslave, i.e. to make someone a slave.
Andrew Jackson owned people who were enslaved. Enslaved people were owned by Andrew Jackson. He did not enslave anyone.
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