Since the end of the Roman Republic, America is the only democracy in which slavery has flourished. The American version of slavery is probably the most diabolical in history. This is so not just because of the conditions under which slaves lived, but because of the culture that developed to support and justify slavery. White people in the south became accustomed to treating black people with systematic brutality. The power structure used every means at it's disposal to persuade slaves and whites alike that Black people were inferior not fully human beings. Even the churches joined in. The Supreme Court rules that the negro was not fully a man and therefore was not entitled to the protection of habeas corpus. Even when slavery ended, in much of the South Black people were kept in de facto bondage by judicial terrorism condoned by the Federal Government. This peonage did not end until the early years of World War II. After the United States entered the war, the Axis powers began to use the peonage system in the South for propaganda purposes. At that point President Roosvelt at last acted to suppress the system..
Contrast this with slavery in the old British Empire. Slavery took place in the colonies under the patronage of the King for Britain was not yet a democracy, but an oligarchy dominated by the Crown. In 183x English men gained universal sufferage. By 1840 every slave in the British Empire was free.
But long before that no man of any race could be a slave once he set foot on English soil.
"In 1705 in Smith vs Brown and Cooper, Chief Justice Hold ruled 'as soon as a negro comes into England he becomes free; one may be a villain in England, but not a slave.'
It was Lord Henley LC, who in 1762 in Shanley v Harvey said 'As soon as a man sets foot on English ground , he is free'.
The people of most European countries freed the slaves in their colonies as soon as they gained freedom themselves.

There is much for America to be proud of, but the Supreme Court has seldom stood up for the rights of the underdog, but has tended to act as the oppressive tool of the elite. This has contributed to the terrible legacy of slavery, lynching, and the systematic discouragement of enterprise and achievement that still influences Black Culture in the inner city. The bitterness of old pastors like Rev. Wright has a real basis in a remembered past.
One can only hope that a successful Obama presidency will inspire the discouraged and free us from this legacy of past evil.