Talk:Aaron Lopez

A fact from Aaron Lopez appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 18 May 2008, and was viewed approximately 3,009 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Aaron Lopez, who was denied citizenship in Colonial Rhode Island because he was Jewish, later became Newport's wealthiest resident?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/May.

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Untitled[edit]

Wow, this man was one of the biggest African slave traders in the United States and nothing is said about it except a foot note? What a joke. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.130.189.213 (talk) 03:30, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Um, no. He was far from the biggest slave trader in the United States. The article includes his slaving among his other business activities. ("Between 1761 and 1774, Lopez was involved in the slave trade.") The footnote merely refutes the Nation of Islam's false view of history. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 03:51, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

any jewish people who have been guilty in history will not be portrayed as guilty bad men. correct me if im wrong. name names if you find condemned jewish people. apparently, owning slaves is not enough. --62.46.70.48 (talk) 11:51, 20 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsense[edit]

(Rabbi/ DR Marc Lee Raphael) (Not a part of the nation of Islam obviously and surely not an 'anti-semitic' source.)

"This was no less true on the North American mainland, where during the eighteenth century Jews participated in the 'triangular trade' that brought slaves from Africa to the West Indies and there exchanged them for molasses, which in turn was taken to New England and converted into rum for sale in Africa. Isaac Da Costa of Charleston in the 1750's, David Franks of Philadelphia in the 1760's, and Aaron Lopez of Newport in the late 1760's and early 1770's dominated Jewish slave trading on the American continent."

Please note DOMINATED. He was not a minor figure in the American/African slave trade. This article gives them impression that Aaron Lopez was a minor slave holder/seller which is in fact not true according to scholars who are NOT part of the nation of islam.

Another paper which documents the massive influnce this man had in the African slave trade. -- http://www.jstor.org/pss/1919556 (MS Platt Bowling green state university.)

He was ONE of the top players. He did not become wealthy as he did selling pumpkin pies. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.130.189.213 (talk) 04:14, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What a surprise. The quote from Marc Lee Raphael comes from the Nation of Islam's website. And the JSTOR article (written in 1975) says Lopez sent 14 slave ships to Africa. This article, which is based on more recent research, says Lopez sent 21 slave ships. During this period Newport sent 347 slave ships to Africa. And that was just Newport, one of many ports in the United States.

Also note that Raphael says Lopez "dominated Jewish slave trading on the American continent." (emphasis added) The fact is that Jewish slave trading was minor relative to total slave trading in the Americas.

Lopez grew wealthy because he had diverse commercial interests, not solely because he was a slave trader. He and eight other merchants monopolized the spermaceti trade and manipulated the price. "He manufactured spermaceti candles, ships, barrels, rum, and chocolate. He had business interests in the production of textiles, clothes, shoes, hats, and bottles." He owned or controlled 30 ships, which between them made only 21 slaving runs.

A contemporary wrote that the "extent of [his] commerce probably [was] surpassed by no merchant in America". That is the reason he grew to be so wealthy, not because of his role in the slave trade. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 18:46, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The fact that the quote is on BlacksAndJews.com is irrelevant. The quote is from Marc Lee Raphael's own book. Regarding the JSTOR article, I can only read the first page since I no longer have a JSTOR account; however, according to the front page, it states that while most of Newport's slave trade stories are myths, Lopez' slave trading was most assuredly real. In other words, Lopez constituted a significant role in the slave trade activities of Newport, RI. TPaineTX (talk) 18:16, 14 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's a shame you don't have access to JSTOR. First, you've misread the first page of the article. It says some historians call the triangular trade a myth, not the Newport slave trade.

Second, on page 618, the author writes "Aaron Lopez was not the only Newport merchant who engaged in trading for slaves. The seven Rhode Island vessels seen at Anomabu on May 1, 1762, by John Harwood and fifteen slavers that cleared for Africa from Newport during 1763, taken together with Lopez's fourteen journeys, demonstrate that the triangular trade was by no means mythical. Yet slaving was never the dominant interest of Lopez.... His slaving ventures constituted only a small part of his commercial activities...."

Which is my point. Lopez wasn't primarily a slave trader. This article gives appropriate weight to his slaving activities relative to his other commercial ventures. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 19:14, 14 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed an earlier sentence of mine that was misworded. I don't disagree with what you've said here, but merely disagree with the way you attempted to discredit the Raphael quote, which is legitimate. TPaineTX (talk) 22:27, 14 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

--- 10% of the entire slave trade as admitted by both sides is not small. He appears to be the largest Jewish slave trader, unless there were others. As another way to look at this, the Jewish population was probably .5% at best at that time, and he's dominating a tenth of the whole trade.

A few notes to add:

1. Rabbi Raphael changed his conclusion after new evidence was found. After seeing it, he has publicly stated his earlier position (as quoted by the Nation of Islam) is factually incorrect.

2. Faber's book finds that not only did Lopez (and all the Jews of Rhode Island combined) have almost no voyages involving slaves, his book notes that the definition being used as a "slave ship" is a shop that carried so much as one slave. And One of those "slave voyages" did include only one slave. Lopez made his money trading OTHER things, not slaves.

~affinity  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.170.210.63 (talk) 01:00, 14 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Slave trade[edit]

The article says: "While The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews describes Lopez as "Newport's leading participant in the Black Holocaust", historian Eli Faber determined Lopez underwrote 21 slave ships during a period in which Newport sent a total of 347 slave ships to Africa, and Faber described Lopez's ventures in the slave trade as "an infinitesimal part" of the British slave trade.[10] By the beginning of the American Revolution, Lopez owned or controlled 30 vessels.[11]"

1. I checked Faber. He does NOT say Lopez underwrote 21 Slave Ships nor that Newport sent 347 Slave ships. Faber says during that period 145 Slave Ships made 347 Slave voyages and that all Jews combined (whether Lopez or not) owned 10 of those ships.

2. It seems distracting and misleading to include what Nation of Islam's Secret Relationship claims since the book and its claims are long debunked by actual historians (the top historians on this topic as well as consensus statement by Historian academic group.

Sorry, I'm not sure how to edit signed affinity292 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:646:8C01:8910:7454:3EB7:577C:4E64 (talk) 17:18, 5 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I believe you're mistaken. Concerning Faber, please read the long paragraph on page 136: "However, the next known venture by Newport's Jewish merchants did not occur until 1761, when Rivera and his future son-in-law, Aaron Lopez, launched a voyage to Africa that resulted in the delivery of 134 slaves at Charleston at the beginning of 1763. Rivera and Lopez were subsequently partners on twelve more occasions between 1764 and 1774, while Lopez undertook eight additional ventures to Africa on his own, for a total of twenty-one during the course of his lifetime." (emphasis added) On page 137, Faber writes: "During the years encompassed by 1753, when Jacob Rodrigues Rivera first entered the slave trade to Africa, and 1774, when Aaron Lopez conducted his last venture, voyages from Rhode Island to Africa totaled 347." (emphasis added)

Second, while I agree that The Secret Relationship is garbage and has been debunked, editors frequently cited it (or online copies of its contents) as a source for additions to this article concerning Newport's "worst slave-trader". By addressing the allegation head-on, we've managed to avoid editors trying to sneak it in. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 02:20, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I double checked the book. I believe you are mistaken. The passage you cite on page 136 discusses "voyages" not individual ships. One ship may make more than one voyage. And on page 137 Faber says that there were 145 Rhode Island Slave ships operating between 1753 and 1774. Of the 145, Non-Jews owned 135 of them. That means Jews owned 10. He says there was no Jewish involvement prior to this period. And that after this period there were 421 "voyages" (again voyages not ships this time) and that only 7 involved Jews and always in partnership with Non-Jews. It doesn't say anything about who owned the ships used. I invite you re-read the passages you linked. Peace. - affinity — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:646:8C00:CE00:58D6:57EF:71B0:9F21 (talk) 21:08, 19 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Jewish slave trade[edit]

It should be noted that Jews have dominated the slave trade since before Christ

It's easy to be generous when you are the #1 slave merchant. Anything in an attempt to balance your terrible moral standing. 2600:1004:B0C4:9BB4:6158:C12E:E05A:6ED9 (talk) 10:55, 21 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]