Because of the grayscale color it almost looks like a bad weld job and metal just dripped all over. It's so hard coming to terms with just how deep those must have been in order to scar up that much and probably often not just deep

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 85 points 8 months ago (3 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_(enslaved_man)

In this transcript Peter mentions "salt brine, which Overseer put in my back."[8] This practice, sometimes called salting, was attested in many accounts of slave torture reported over many decades.[16] Other substances, including turpentine, hot-pepper juice, and dripping candle wax, were also used

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 62 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Jesus fuck. And we let those white supremacist slave torturing fucks walk free.

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 42 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Reconstruction was too soft and ended too soon.

[–] divineslayer@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Andrew Johnson is top three worst presidents

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 6 points 8 months ago

Let's also not let Lincoln get away from this discussion. He absolutely did huge harm to the radical reconstruction movement, although Johnson turned that to 11. He also has an awful record in regards to indigenous peoples. (As has every president)

[–] teh_bishop@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Yes his name should be repurposed to be defined as rancid rat shit injected in a forehead of a shitty president.

[–] nbafantest@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Sherman could only do so much, unfortunately

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Five or six months after the scourging...the frightful laceration was partially healed, and only scars remained. But what must the whipping have been to leave such scars! The back looks like a plate of iron, eaten by acids and corroded by rust; or like a walnut-table honey-combed by worms... Bits as big as the hand seem to have been cut out of the flesh. No wonder that, at this distance of time, the man looks thin and ghastly, though he was a strong man, and must be a man of fine physique and presence....This card-photograph should be multiplied by the hundred thousand, and scattered over the states. It tells the story in a way that even Mrs. Stowe cannot approach; because it tells the story to the eye. If seeing is believing—and it is in the immense majority of cases—seeing this card would be equivalent to believing things of the slave states which Northern men and women would move heaven and earth to abolish.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@aussie.zone 1 points 8 months ago

Morbidly fascinating.

I had thought the salt brine was a crude antiseptic, I hadn't realised it was intended to hurt. Perhaps both?

Note that the overseer who did the whipping in this case was terminated by the slaves owner, so while I'm sure this wasn't that uncommon, it wasn't the case for every slave.

[–] Aleric@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

As someone who forms keloid scars, I'm pretty sure they're keloids. Keloid formation is more common amongst Africans than Caucasians. I get fairly hefty scars from even mild abrasions, this poor guy got cut deep, plus the bit about salting. I feel guilty if I kill an insect. I can't imagine the depravity of someone who would do something like this.

[–] nbafantest@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

There are still countries that do this today.

Several countries also do "caning" which can leave similar scars.