Sjors's Reviews > The Willy Lynch Letter: How To Make African-Americans Slaves For A 1000 Years

Avoid! Discredited (a.k.a. fake) document regarding slavery still causing a stir despite the availability of many true historic sources that paint a much more complete (and terrible) picture.

I read a copy of the “Willie Lynch Letter” after I saw references to it online. It is a 4-page document that purports to be a transcript of a speech given in 1712 by a British plantation owner from the West Indies to plantation owners in the USA. The speech concerns itself with how to “create reliable slaves” by following a process analogous to the process of breaking horses. Taken at face value, this is a horribly cruel and inhumane document - even by the standards of the early 1700s.

Since the text puzzled me, I turned to wikipedia and found that this document is widely considered to be a forgery by historians. Anachronisms abound in the text. Provenance can not be traced back to before the 1970s when it first appeared in print. The historical figure ‘William Lynch’ was born over 4o years after this speech.

When it comes to historic documents, provenance is key - as various forgeries of new “Dead Sea Scrolls” have proven. This wouldn’t be the first time that a made-up document is used to inflame public opinion; just think about “the donation of Constantine” and “the protocols of the Elders of Zion” which have been at the root of major upheavals in history.

It is a shame that a publishing house continues to produce books like this without a “health warning” on the cover or in the introduction. I was taken aback to learn that some educators use this fake inflammatory tract in classroom and home school settings. When it comes to education, there are many authentic historic sources available that bear ample witness to the horrible injustices and inhumane behaviors connected with the practice of slavery. Teach history, not opinions.