The emphasis on black slavery, and its effect on mental images Options

[sadolakced acid]

from elementary school (in america), children are often introduced to the enslavement of africans, and the resulting civil war. It comes up quite a bit in the south. the expectation is, most likely, that children will learn that slavery was wrong and history will not repeat itself.

however; observation of america right now reveals that most americans do not learn from history.

however, once into higher education, it seems these fewer americans do learn from history. good thing too, because they'll (hopefully) be running the country.

but then, what's the problem with teaching kiddies about slavery, you ask.

the problem is an incomplete explination.

what introducing children to the enslavement of africans does is, yes, teach children about slavery and how it is wrong.

however, it also creates the idea in children's minds as slaves as black, always in history.

therefore; when these children hear about spartacus, they will envision a black man leading a slave revolt of other blacks against thier white enslavers.

when they hear that aesop was a slave, they will envision a black man writing down stories of tortosise and hares.

what this does is create the idea in children that a slave is black.

sure, people who choose to go on and learn more will learn differently. However, this is simply because they have overcome thier old (accidental) indotrination.

however, those who choose not to learn more, will forever have the image of a slave as a black person.

this increases the likelyhood that these people will believe blacks as inferior in some way.

which, opposite to the original purpose, would make future enslavement of blacks easier, not harder, to do.

[*disco infiltrator*]

I agree it's a little too..pushed. There were sooooo many other enslavements, big, gigantic, completely inclement enslavements, worse than that in America, that people never even hear about unless you try to find out for yourself.

I mean, black people are enslaving other black people right now in Darfur, alongside commiting genocide. Obviously, the white people are not the only wrong, and the black people are not themselves the only slaves..

Europe and the Mediterranean
[edit]

The ancient Mediterranean civilisations

See also: Slavery in the ancient Mediterranean; Slavery in Abrahamic religions.

Slavery in the ancient Mediterranean cultures and the Islamic Caliphate was a mixture of debt-slavery, marriage, slavery as a punishment for crime, and the enslavement of [[prisoner of war|prisoners of no, you're wrong
[edit]

Medieval Europe

    Main article: Slavery in medieval Europe

During the medieval period, slaves were traded openly in many cities, including Marseille, Dublin and Prague, and many were sold to buyers in the Middle East
[edit]

Early Modern Europe

In the 17th century, slavery was used as punishment by conquering English Parliament armies against native Catholics in Ireland. Between the years 1649 and 1653, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland by the New Model Army under the command of Oliver Cromwell, thousands of Irish Catholics were forced into slavery. Cromwell had a deep religious dislike of the Catholic religion, and many Irish Catholics who had participated in Confederate Ireland had all their land confiscated and were transported to the West Indies as slaves.
[edit]

Modern Europe

Main articles: Holocaust; Nazi concentration camps.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime created many Arbeitslager (labour camps) in Germany and Eastern Europe. Prisoners in Nazi labour camps were worked to death on short rations and in bad conditions, or killed if they became unable to work. Hundreds of thousands of people, possibly millions, died as a direct result of forced labour under the Nazis.
[edit]

Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East

For Muslim views on slavery see Religion and slavery.

The Arab world traded in slaves like many other cultures of the time. The Moors starting in the 8th century raided mediterranean coastal areas and would carry away sometimes whole villages to the Moorish slave markets on the Barbary Coast. The slave trade from East Africa to Arabia was dominated by Arab and African traders in the coastal cities of Zanzibar, Dar Es Salaam and Mombasa.

Many Slavic males from the Balkans, and Turkic and Circassian males from the Caucasus Mountains and the eastern Black Sea regions were taken away from their homes and families and enlisted into special soldier classes of the army of the Ottoman Empire. These soldier classes were named Janissaries in the Balkans and Asia Minor, and Mamelukes in Egypt. The Janissaries eventually became a decisive factor in the intrigues of the Constantinople court of the Ottoman sultans, while the Mamelukes were mainly responsible for the expulsion of the Crusaders from Palestine.
[edit]

Slavery in Africa
[edit]

Slavery in North Africa

Slaves were imported from Europe to North Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Slave-taking persisted into the 19th century when Barbary pirates would capture ships and enslave the crew. In all, about 1.5 million Europeans were transported to the Barbary Coast. It was a period when Europe was preoccupied by sectarian wars and European navies were depleted. The trade was run by the Moors and the expeditions were often captained by Europeans with North African crews. In the early 19th century, European powers started to take action to free Christian slaves. The first major action was the bombardment of Algiers in 1816.
[edit]

Slavery in Sub-Saharan Africa

See also the articles Atlantic slave trade and triangular trade.

Slavery was common and widespread in Africa long before the 19th century, perpetrated on Africans by Arabs or other Africans, usually but not always of a competing tribe. "Slavery was endemic in Africa, part of the structure of everyday life," Fernand Braudel has noted. "Slavery came in different guises in different societies: there were court slaves, slaves incorporated into princely armies, domestic and household slaves, slaves working on the land, in industry, as couriers and intermediaries, even as traders" (Braudel 1984 p 435). Two aggressive slave-trading civilizations intensified it out of all recognition, and during the 16th century Europe began to outpace Islam in the export traffic. The Dutch imported slaves from Asia into their colony in South Africa. The United Kingdom, which held vast colonial territories on the continent (including South Africa), made the practice of slavery illegal in these regions. Ironically, the end of the slave trade and the decline of slavery was imposed upon Africa by its European conquerors. This action is what today may be called an instance of cultural imperialism.

The nature of the slave societies differed greatly across the continent. There were large plantations worked by slaves in Egypt, the Sudan, and Zanzibar, but this was not a typical use of slaves in Africa as a whole. In some slave societies, slaves were protected and incorporated into the slave-owning family. In others, slaves were brutally abused, and even used for human sacrifices. Despite the vast numbers of slaves exported from Africa, it is thought that the majority of African slaves remained in Africa, continuing as slaves in the regions where they were first captured.

Prior to the 16th century, the bulk of slaves exported from Africa were shipped from East Africa to the Arabian peninsula. Zanzibar became a leading port on this trade. Arab slave traders differed from European traders in that they would often capture slaves themselves, sometimes penetrating deep into the continent. They also differed in that their market greatly preferred the purchase of female slaves over male slaves.

The Middle Passage, the crossing of the Atlantic to the Americas, endured by slaves laid out in rows in the holds of ships, was only one element of the well-known triangular trade engaged in by Portuguese, Dutch, French and British. Ships having landed slaves in Caribbean ports would take on sugar, indigo, raw cotton, and later coffee, and make for Liverpool, Nantes, Lisbon or Amsterdam. Ships leaving European ports for West Africa would carry printed cotton textiles, some originally from India, copper utensils and bangles, pewter plates and pots, iron bars more valued than gold, hats, trinkets, gunpowder and firearms and alcohol. Tropical shipworms were eliminated in the cold Atlantic waters, and at each unloading, a profit was made.

The transatlantic slave trade peaked in the late 18th century, when the largest number of slaves were captured for bounty by their own people in West Africa and shipped by European traders to the colonies of the New World. As a result of the Spanish War of Succession, the United Kingdom obtained the monopoly (asiento de negros) of transporting captive Africans to Spanish America. It is estimated that over the centuries, twelve to twenty million people were shipped as slaves from Africa by European traders, of whom some 15 percent died during the terrible voyage, many during the arduous journey through the Middle Passage. The great majority were shipped to the Americas, but also went to Europe and the south of Africa.

Some historians conclude that the total loss in persons removed, those who died on the arduous march to coastal slave marts and those killed in slave raids, far exceeded the 65-75 million inhabitants remaining in Sub-Saharan Africa at the trade's end. Others believe that slavers had a vested interest in capturing rather than killing, and in keeping their captives alive; and that this coupled with the disproportionate removal of males and the introduction of new crops from the Americas (cassava, maize) would have limited general population decline to particular regions of western Africa around 1760-1810, and in Mozambique and neighbouring areas half a century later. There has also been speculation that within Africa, females were most often captured as brides, with their male protectors being a "bycatch" who would have been killed if there had not been an export market for them.
[edit]

Modern Africa

Slavery persists in Africa more than in all other continents. Slavery in Mauritania was legally abolished by laws passed in 1905,1961,and 1981, but several human rights organizations are reporting that the practice continues there. The trading of children has been reported in modern Nigeria and Benin. In parts of Ghana, a family may be punished for an offense by having to turn over a virgin female to serve as a sex slave within the offended family. In this instance, the woman does not gain the title of "wife". In the Sudan slavery continues as part of an ongoing civil war. Evidence emerged in the late 1990s of systematic slavery in cocao plantations in west Africa, see the chocolate and slavery article.
[edit]

Slavery in America
[edit]

Slavery among indigenous people of America

In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica the most common forms of slavery were those of prisoners-of-war and debtors. People unable to pay back a debt could be sentenced to work as a slave to the person owed until the debt was worked off. Slavery was not usually hereditary; children of slaves were born free. In Tahuantinsuyu, or the Inca Empire, workers were subject to a mita in lieu of taxes which they paid by working for the government. Each ayllu, or extended family, would decide which family member to send to do the work.
[edit]

Slavery in Brazil

During the colonial epoch, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining and sugar cane production. The Clapham Sect, a group of Victorian Evangelical politicians, campaigned during most of the 19th century for the United Kingdom to use its influence and power to stop the traffic of slaves to Brazil. Besides moral qualms, the low cost of slave-produced Brazilian sugar meant that British colonies in the West Indies were unable to match the market prices of Brazilian sugar, and each Briton was consuming 16 pounds (7 kg) of sugar a year by the 19th century. This combination led to intensive pressure from the British government for Brazil to end this practice, which it did by steps over several decades. Slavery was legally ended May 13 by the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") of 1888.

Brazil obtained 37% of all African slaves traded, and more than 3 million slaves were sent to this one country. The Portuguese were the first to initiate the slave trade, and the last to end the slave trade. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade African slaves to work the sugar plantations once the native Tupi deteriorated.

The African slaves were useful for the sugar plantations in many ways. First, African slaves had immunities to European diseases. The white workers were less able to fend off deadly diseases of the Caribbean, such as malaria. Second, the benefits of the slaves far exceeded the costs. After 2-3 years, slaves worked off their worth, and plantation owners began to make profits from them. Plantation owners made lucrative profits even though there was approximately a 10% death rate per year, mainly due to harsh working conditions.

The very harsh manual labour of the sugar cane fields saw slaves use hoes to dig large trenches. The slaves planted sugar cane in the trenches and then used their bare hands to spread manure. The average life span of a slave was eight years. In the mid to late 19th century, many Amerindians were enslaved to work on rubber plantations. See Içá for more information.
[edit]

Slavery in the British and French Caribbean

    Main article: Slavery in the British and French Caribbean

Slavery was commonly used in the parts of the Caribbean controlled by France or the British Empire. The Lesser Antilles islands of Barbados, Antigua, Martinique and Guadeloupe, which were the first important slave societies of the Caribbean, began the widespread use of African slaves by the end of the 17th century, as their economies converted from tobacco to sugar production.

By the middle of the 18th century, British Jamaica and French Saint-Domingue had become the largest slave societies of the region, rivaling Brazil as a destination for enslaved Africans. Due to overwork, the death rates for Caribbean slaves were higher than birth rates. The conditions led to increasing numbers of slave revolts, campaigns against slavery in Europe, and the abolition of slavery in the European empires.
[edit]

Status of African slaves compared to Caribbean slaves

African slaves and Caribbean slaves both received little respect from their masters, who looked at them as objects for work and trade. Slavery and slave trading was widespread in both the Caribbean islands and in Africa. Many of the slaves were unable to reproduce because the stress of the work caused still births in women and sterility in men.

Caribbean slavery granted the masters complete freedom over the control of their slaves. Caribbean sugar plantations resembled factories in a modern capitalist society. In contrast, African slavery was less harsh than slavery on Caribbean sugar estates. African kinship groups sought to assimilate new slaves into their circle. Many slave villages worked under their own management and paid tribute for their services. The family lifestyle of slavery in many parts of Africa had a closer bond as smaller groups usually had face-to-face relationships.
[edit]

Slavery in North America

Main article: Slavery in Canada, History of slavery in the United States, Atlantic slave trade

The first imported Africans were brought as indentured servants, not slaves. They were required, as white indentured servants were, to serve seven years. Many were brought to the British North American colonies, specifically Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. However, the slave trade did not immediately expand in North America.

Slavery under European rule began with importation of European indentured labourers, was followed by the enslavement of indigenous peoples in the Caribbean, and eventually was primarily replaced with Africans imported through a large slave trade.

The shift from indentured servants to African slaves was prompted by a growing lower class of former servants who had worked through the terms of their indentures and thus became competitors of their former masters. These newly freed servants were rarely able to support themselves comfortably, and the tobacco industry was increasingly dominated by large planters. This caused domestic unrest culminating in Bacon's Rebellion.

It is unclear whether the first Africans in North America were chattel slaves or other kinds of unfree labourers, such as indentured servants. In any case, chattel slavery gradually became the norm.
Example of slave treatment: Back deeply scarred from whipping
Enlarge
Example of slave treatment: Back deeply scarred from whipping

Several slave rebellions took place during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Through the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (also known as the Freedom Ordinance) under the Continental Congress, slavery was prohibited in the Midwest. In the East, though, slavery was not abolished until later. The importation of slaves into the United States was banned on January 1, 1808; but not the internal slave trade, or involvement in the international slave trade externally.

Aggregation of northern free states gave rise to one contiguous geographic area, north of the Ohio River and the old Mason-Dixon line. This separation of a free North and an enslaved South launched a massive political, cultural and economic struggle.

Refugees from slavery fled the South across the Ohio River to the North via the Underground Railroad, and their presence agitated Northerners. Midwestern state governments asserted States Rights arguments to refuse Federal jurisidiction over fugitives.

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 asserted that slavery's presence in the Midwest was nominally lawful (when owners crossed into free states) and this turned Northern public opinion even further against slavery. After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, armed conflict broke out in Kansas Territory, where the question of whether it would be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state had been left to the inhabitants. The radical abolitionist John Brown was active in the mayhem and killing in "Bleeding Kansas." Anti-slavery legislators took office under the banner of the Republican Party.

In the election of 1860, the Republicans swept Abraham Lincoln into the Presidency. Lincoln however, did not appear on the ballots in most southern states and his election split the nation along sectional lines. After decades of controlling the Federal Government, the Southern states seceded from the U.S. (the Union) to form the Confederate States of America.

Northern leaders like Lincoln viewed the prospect of a new slave nation, with control over the Mississippi River and the West, as unacceptable. This led to the outbreak of the Civil War.

The Civil War spelled the end for chattel slavery in America. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was a symbolic gesture that proclaimed freedom for slaves within the Confederacy, although not those in strategically important border states which had remained in the Union. However, the proclamation made the abolition of slavery an official war goal and it was implemented as the Union captured territory from the Confederacy. Slaves in many parts of the south were freed by Union armies or when they simply left their former owners. Many joined the Union Army as workers or troops, and many more fled to Northern cities.

Legally, slaves within the United States remained enslaved until the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on December 6, 1865 (with final recognition of the amendment on December 18), eight months after the cessation of hostilities.
[edit]

Slavery in Asia
This section is a stub. You can help by adding to it.
[edit]

India

Unfree labour has existed in India for millenia, in different forms. The most common forms have been kinds of bonded labour. During the epoch of the Islamic empires in India and the Mughals, debt bondage reached its peak, and it was common for money lenders to make slaves of peasants and others who failed to repay debts. Under these practices, more than one generation could be forced into unfree labour; for example, a son could be sold into bonded labour for life to pay off the debt, along with interest.

Much of India was ruled by the so-called Slave Dynasty from 1206-1290: Qutb-ud-din Aybak, a slave of Muhammad Ghori rose to power following his master's death. For almost a century his descendants ruled presiding over the introduction of Tankas and building of Qutub Minar.
[edit]

Japan


    Main article: Slavery in Japan

Slavery in Japan was, for most of its history, endogenous, since the export and import of slaves was restricted by the fact of Japan being a group of islands. The export of a slave from Japan is recorded in 3rd century Chinese history, although the system involved is unclear. These slaves were called Seikō (生口) (lit. "living mouth").

In the 8th century, a slave was called Nuhi (奴婢) and series of laws on slavery was issued. In an area of present-day Ibaraki prefecture, out of a population of 190,000, around 2,000 were slaves; the proportion is believed to have been even higher in western Japan.

By the time of the Sengoku period (1467-1615), the attitude that slavery was anachronistic had become widespread. In a meeting with Catholic priests, Oda Nobunaga was presented with a black slave, the first recorded encounter between a Japanese and an African. In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered all slave trading to be abolished. This was contined by his successors.

As the Empire of Japan annexed Asian countries, from the late 19th century onwards, archaic institutions including slavery were abolished in those countries. However, during the Pacific War of 1937-45, the Japanese military used hundreds of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war as forced labour, on projects such as the Burma Railway. (For further details, see Japanese war crimes.)
[edit]

Korea

Endogenous slaves existed in Korea. It is widely known that the last names "Chun", "Bang", "Ji", and "Chuk" are recognizable as last names having once been given to slaves.

Ummmm..yea. Way more enslavement has happened besides that of blacks in America.

[sadolakced acid]

yes, and all american schoolchildren will ever think (mostly) is that slaves are black.

[coconutter]

Abarham Lincoln will stop it all!!

[AngryBaby]

we'll we are in america so we're gonna dwell on what happened in america the most. simple as that. my elemenarty schools never taught about slavery, i dont expect them too, considering its.....elementary school, kids black or white or hispanic or asian wont fully grasp the concept that well. but if they did teach us more that alot of other slavery happened there wouldnt be the "oh poor black people" concept. but for some reason, people cant help but have the feeling that the slavery with blacks had a difference. maybe it was this, other slavery's were more based on social classes, africans it was strictly because of the color their skin, other slaves were at least still considered as human considering there masters or whatever were practically the same race, africans were only considered as 1/3 human. i dunno

[sadolakced acid]

^ with africans it was about knowledge and avalibity.

african slaves could be bought from warring coastal tribes, and these slaves would be able to survive in the climate of the americas, as well as knowing how to cultivate rice and indigo and sugar.

[AngryBaby]

are you saying slavery was a good thing?

i heard on the news awhile back thats what they're trying to teach kids in the south. trying to make it seemed like they were "helping" the africans back then

[sadolakced acid]

black slavery in the americas had the unintended effect of being beneficial to the (most) decendents of slaves.

this is because it's a lot easier to become someone like colin powel if you're already in the US, instead of in somewhere liek rawanda or darfur.

[aera]

hmm... i never realized that. everytime "slave" is mentioned, i think black, unless the race is given.

we watched a movie in history about spartacus and they portrayed him as black too.

[yummy_delight]

this increases the likelyhood that these people will believe blacks as inferior in some way.

which, opposite to the original purpose, would make future enslavement of blacks easier, not harder, to do.

I disagree. Living in America, we have a duty to teach students the history of the United States, including slavery. Of course we're going to put an emphasis on BLACK slavery because Africans were basically the entire slave population before the civil war. We can't try to downplay the issue of black slavery in America just to try and teach the kids that OTHER people besides Africans get enslaved, too. We can't just skim over it and focus more on slavery by the ancient Romans. Of course the slavery of other countries should be and already is taught in schools. But, we are in the United States, and as such, are taught more American history more than anything else.

By learning about the history of slavery and civil rights in America, we're not teaching students to look down on African Americans. I've been taught about it and I definitely don't feel that way. Neither do any of my classmates. The ignorants and racists who think blacks are inferior felt this way even BEFORE they were taught about slavery. It was an idea that was instilled in them by their parents not from history. The best we can do is keep teaching about slavery and make absolutely clear how wrong it is.

[sadolakced acid]

I disagree. Living in America, we have a duty to teach students the history of the United States, including slavery. Of course we're going to put an emphasis on BLACK slavery because Africans were basically the entire slave population before the civil war. We can't try to downplay the issue of black slavery in America just to try and teach the kids that OTHER people besides Africans get enslaved, too. We can't just skim over it and focus more on slavery by the ancient Romans. Of course the slavery of other countries should be and already is taught in schools. But, we are in the United States, and as such, are taught more American history more than anything else.

By learning about the history of slavery and civil rights in America, we're not teaching students to look down on African Americans. I've been taught about it and I definitely don't feel that way. Neither do any of my classmates. The ignorants and racists who think blacks are inferior felt this way even BEFORE they were taught about slavery. It was an idea that was instilled in them by their parents not from history. The best we can do is keep teaching about slavery and make absolutely clear how wrong it is.

i'm not saying don't teach about black slavery, or de-emphasis it. hold off on it a bit to when children will have a bit more understanding, like 3rd grade, and teach them first of slavery, then of the specific case of black slavery in teh americas.

the thoughts of blacks are inferior aren't consious thoughts, they're subconsious. even the most open minded people are racist as a result.

think you're not racist? well, if you do, then this may suprise you. if you don't, find someone who you think isn't racist and tell them to take this test:

quickly go through this list and organize it under the two catagories. you have 15 seconds. so hurry. (that part's important)

the two categories are: good and bad.


hammer



gun



tank



doctor



criminal



firefighter



black



knife



white





alright; that's the first test. if you're not going through it very quickly, your subconsious will not show through, and the results will be meaningless.

here's a variation. same rules, 15 seconds:

the two categories are black and white

classify the following:


hammer



knife



ballet



gun



opera



gang



criminal



policeman



thug



hero



good



pure



mob



murder



superior



now; this is a text version of the psycology test administered with photos and two buttons. It was found that almost everyone classified most bad stuff as black and most good stuff as white. it made no difference as to whether the subjects were show speeches of MLKJ or of hitler beforehand. this was thier true subconsious thought.


it's very hard to think differently from these things we've learned from our youth.

[*Weird addiction*]

You know, ppl should emphasize more on things. We are talking about BLACK AMERICANS not "BLACK" in general.

Classify this (black or white)

Basket ball player
psychopath sp?
serial killer
hip hop
A song that says "kill me now!! save me from death" or whatever
racist.

[*nightmare4taki*]

The reason people envision a black man as being a slave is because it happened in America. Its more closer to home. Last time I checked if you live in America, you learn more about the history or America rather than World history. Since mostly black people were slaved in America, it makes since why everything is envisioned this way.

[sadolakced acid]

it's a variation of the test where they show you a picture of a black man, and over 90% of the people classify them as bad, even if it's MLKJ.

[*tweeak*]

But if it was taught that many peoples had been enslaved overtime, then white people could start to assume that in some point in time they had an ansestor who was enslaved somewhere. Afterall, it's probably just as likely as it is that a black man has ansestors who were slaves here. People start assuming that just because they're black, they had ansestors who were slaves and that that's somehow an injustice to them and so of course we should make amends by ridiculous things like affirmative action. While we certainly can't ignore the fact that slavery was wrong and that these things happened, the ways it's taught is actually leading to more ignorance, because those who don't put forth the effort to take their education seriously may assume that they're worse off because they're black, and that they deserve special treatment because they had enslaved ansestors (which may or may not even be true). I can't ask people to to pity me because everyone hated thee Irish when they first came to America. Descrimination has pretty much happened to everyone at one point in time or another. They're promoting racism, really. If black people really want equality, they need to stop assuming that they are accounted a certain way because they're black. it's racist to have a whole nother PSAT scholarship qualifying thing just for blacks. All kinds of things are racist under the facade of trying to promote equality. It's a joke, seriously. If you don't want to be stereotyped, don't be the stereotype. I obviously don't mean everyone here, so don't get personally offended or whatnot. I'm not racist. And more importantly, I'm actually not racist, not "not racist" like my family, who claims not to be and then sits there and mocks Koreans or says that if people can't learn English they need to go back to Mexico. I profusely disagree. I am not them. I am ALL FOR equality. But real equality. Not fake equality. The way things are now, that's not what's happening. Stop trying to make amends and move on, dammit.