Most people in the south didn't own slaves. Only the rich people did. As a matter of fact, a lot of people took the "indentured servant" route to get over here from Europe. Somehow the rich people convinced the poor whites that they were "better" than the poor blacks. This led poor white people who had literally nothing to be convinced that slavery was good and black people should be slaves.
Do you see a trend here? Rich people love making poor whites feel like they can be part of the club. News flash, morons: you'll never get in. Those rich s will never, ever, ever include you. They DON'T GIVE A ABOUT YOU. They just use your racism to distract you. In reality, they see no difference between your poor white ass and the poor black man. They just use your racism to exploit things to get what they want. And if you try to stand in the way, they'll do awful things to you just like they do to the black man.