Final answer:
Free blacks who owned slaves were rare, but there were cases where they acquired wealth and power as slaveholders. These individuals often owned family members they had purchased and could not legally free.
Step-by-step explanation:
While it was rare for free blacks to own slaves, there were some cases where free black individuals owned slaves. For example, Andrew Dunford and William Ellison were free blacks who acquired great wealth and power as slaveholders in the South. These individuals would often own slaves who were family members they had purchased and could not legally free. It is important to note that this phenomenon was not common and most free blacks in the South lived under the specter of slavery and faced many obstacles.