sooda
Veteran Member
That does not appear to be the case. Jews as a population had a higher percentage of slave ownership. But their numbers were so small that they still played a very limited roll in the slave trade:
Jews and the African Slave Trade | My Jewish Learning
From the linked article:
'Davis went on to note that in the American South in 1830 there were “120 Jews among the 45,000 slaveholders owning twenty or more slaves and only twenty Jews among the 12,000 slaveholders owning fifty or more slaves.” '
A high percentage of Jews owning slaves can give a false picture. Population wise they were a fraction of a percentage of the overall population so even with a high percentage of slave ownership they still played a very minor role.
By 1800 there were about 2,000 Jews in South Carolina (overwhelmingly Sephardic and settled in Charleston), which was more than in any other U.S. state at that time.
The also owned shares in shipping.
History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina - Wikipedia