1. Stanley Maurice Elkins was an American historian, best known for his unique and controversial comparison of slavery in the United States to Nazi concentration camps, and for his collaborations with Eric McKitrick regarding the early American Republic.
Stanley Elkins obtained his BA from Harvard University and his Ph.
Stanley Elkins was born in Boston to Frank and Frances Stanley Elkins.
Stanley Elkins attended Boston English High School and enlisted in the US Army in 1943, serving in the 362nd Infantry Regiment, fighting in France but primarily Italy during World War II.
Stanley Elkins served as initially a Scout and later a Prisoner Transport Guard.
Stanley Elkins argued British abolitionists were more pragmatic and thus effective, allowing them to abolish slavery without war.
Stanley Elkins went on to contrast slavery in North America with that in Spanish America, suggesting it was more important to focus on the structures governing the institution, rather than its conditions.
The removal of personal rights and utter dependence on their owners resulted in what Stanley Elkins called "chattel slavery", which he contrasted with the system prevailing in Spanish America.
Stanley Elkins suggested pre-Civil War slavery was a similar environment, views that were influential in the late 1960s when politicians like Daniel Patrick Moynihan supported affirmative action programs as a way to counteract the longterm impact of slavery on black culture.
Stanley Elkins's arguments have since been heavily criticised, particularly for his use of the racial slur "Sambo" to describe the allegedly "infantilised" state which black Americans were reduced to by slavery.