Truth is, many of us Americans descend from pretty mean & humiliated forbearers on this "foreign" soil we occupy. Forbearers who were often treated sub-human by the people they depended upon.

But it's only part of our history. Factories, like plantations, were hardly a system run mainly to keep people down & without any expression of the good life. Life improved for the slaves/servants in both institutions over time, so neither should be viewed in cut-n-dry negative terms.