Category: Slavery in the World

It is 2019 and here we are making our selections for our ATAR courses for next year. We are thinking about the years to come and we are quietly excited that there is a future awaiting us where we will hold decent jobs, have decent homes and decent lives. Perhaps we will travel. Perhaps we will go and live in a country across the world and get to know a new culture or lifestyle. Perhaps we will go into business with our dads and be financially independent in record time. We have many options because we are free. You and I are free. To plan, to dream, to have a future, but not everyone is. We don’t often think of them, because we are already caught up in our daily lives. The fact, however, is that millions and millions of young people just like us are not like us because they are slaves.

I take it that you all know that In 1865, slavery was abolished in the USA. But is that really true when even as we speak, more people than ever before are enslaved, despite the ‘abolition’ of slavery? I’m not trying to say that our valiant efforts as a society to grant human rights to many people over the past centuries should be ignored. However, can we really focus on ourselves only if millions of people are still treated as mere property or tools? I’m going to draw your attention specifically to the countless children who are trapped in forced labour. You might be under the impression that I’m talking about the past, I am talking about now, in 2019. We turn a blind eye to the millions of children who are physically, mentally and emotionally abused every single day. And let me stop you before you imagine some setting far away from the civilised world, some of this enslavement of children is happening right here in our lovely Australia. We are so proud of ourselves for achieving human rights for all that we have not noticed that we have not actually achieved the goal at all. We do not notice that millions of enslaved children will lead to more millions of enslaved children and more millions of enslaved children as the generations go by because there is nothing to break the cycle. No education, no awareness, no regulation.

In 2019, 73 million children between the age of 5 and 11 work in forced labour. Here we are, in this auditorium, taking pride in ourselves on recognizing human rights and protecting the powerless while many children take part in jobs that are almost never visible, legal, or paid. The tragedy of these children’s lives is often unnoticed by the busy world, but once you have heard a story like this one, you should never be oblivious to it again. This is the story of Sapphira Rambe, who became a domestic servant at the age of 10. Her own family sent her into child labour. She served the landlord and his family, counting 15 members, from 5 in the morning to 11 at night, every day. She washed up, cooked, looked after the children, cleaned the house and collected cow dung. Her food was the leftovers. Her master abused her frequently until the day her leg was fractured and she became permanently disabled. The master then sent her home. Imagine you, or your best friend being abused day after day, only to be disposed of like a tissue after they’re deemed useless.

The sorrows of child labour further include the treatment of children as people who are completely defenceless. Children in forced labour are still suffering from extreme violence. For instance, in Afghanistan there is still an ancient practice that is performed in modern days. The practice involves impoverished boys becoming sex slaves. The Afghan law prohibits the practice, but it still thrives. Boys are forced to dress up as women to dance for groups of men. After the dancing, the boys are then taken to hotel rooms for sexual abuse. Of course most of these boys are poor and to be able to eat and provide for their families, they allow the abuse. The next stage in the sad lives of these boys is that when they grow into young men and lose their boyish appearances, they are rejected. Rich and influential men prevent any prosecution of those caught at this incredibly foul crime. UNICEF’s research shows that boys who try to escape this lifestyle are violently attacked and even murdered. They are trapped by hunger or by madmen. In 2019, we still have barbaric practices that harm our children for life!

Obviously, I have now spoken about the most elementary understanding of child labour. But there is more. While these children are enslaved, they miss out on the opportunity to build an independent life. They lose the chance to break the poverty cycle in their families. Organisations such as UNICEF, the World Bank, and UNESCO all agree that the only weapon that can stop and destroy forced child labour is education. Without education, there will always be Sapphira’s and dancing sexually abused boys. Imagine a world where these millions of children are educated and capable of decent lives with enough to provide for themselves and their families. Yes, it is hard to imagine a world without poverty, but it is possible.

Here we are. In education. In privileged positions where we are growing stronger every day. We are empowered every day through our education. What will we do with our power? I hope that you will agree with me that one of the best things we can ever do is to use our collective power to save those children who have no education and therefore no power. All they have is suffering, but we can change it because we have an education! By using our educated voices and joining action groups against enslavement, we speak on behalf of those suffering, we can give a voice to the voiceless. By using some of that money that will set us up in comfortable lives, we can help to free trapped children. By refusing to become too busy with our own dreams, we can save the lives of others.

Forced child labour is not a thing of the past. Children are still begging for food while they are beaten, maimed, abused and even killed. It happens all around us – today. We, as a society, have not secured human rights for all as long as there are millions and millions of children excluded from human rights. We can save them. Let’s start right now.

It is widely believed that slavery, in all, has ceased to be practiced. However, despite the fact that many people falsely think slavery has completely ended, it truly hasn’t for everyone. Slavery is still a very present, brutal reality worldwide and has become a global problem. The number of people enslaved are higher today than ever in history. According to the Global Slavery Index, in 2018, “There are 40.3 million slaves still throughout the world.” This presents the idea that varying forms of slavery exist : including prison labour, forced labour, debt bondage or bonded labour, human trafficking, child slavery , and forced/ early marriage. This essay will reveal the issues with the staggering fact that slavery is still an occuring practice on a local, national, and international level. Possible steps that can potentially solve this major issue will also be discussed in the conclusion.

To fully understand the entirety of slavery that still exists around the globe, each of the different forms must be carefully evaluated. The 2018 Global Slavery Index, from the Walk Free Foundation, defines modern slavery as “Situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.” An example of this would be a family who desires to migrate away from a foreign country, but is troubled by government interference. Furthermore, discouraging the family from achieving their initial goal, freedom to a better life. Families like these have experienced their passports being taken away, as well as other extreme measures of violence and mistreatment. To begin the description of each of the different types of slavery, prison labor is the act of prisoners being subject to forced, unpaid labor within detention facilities. In addition to serving time, prisoners receive little to no pay and brutal punishments. Next, forced labour is the work and services of people that are forced against their will, with fear of punishment, to complete certain jobs under harsh conditions. The world’s most common form of slavery is debt bondage or bonded labor. This is when people borrow money with knowledge that they’re in no proper financial position to repay, now having to physically work to pay off their debt. This places people in a continuous cycle of debt , making repaying their loans nearly impossible. In turn, they are “losing control over the conditions of both their employment and the debt,” says the author of Antislavery.org. Human trafficking is another form of slavery that involves “transporting, recruiting and harbouring people for the purpose of exploitation,” also according to the website. Child slavery occurs when a child is exploited for someone else’s benefit. It can include child trafficking, child soldiers, child marriage and child domestic slavery. Forced/early marriage is when someone is married against their desire, given no option to leave the marriage. These are the six different forms of slavery still abundantly present in the twenty-first century.

To start off nationally, when America ratified the 13th amendment in 1865, most people were in belief that the all slaves were now free because of this amendment. The problem is, that’s not entirely true. The 13th amendment helped African Americans throughout the United States, except for the incarcerated which is unfair, showing a still very relevant problem with the prison/industrial system. According to the 13th Amendment, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The part of that sentence, ”except as a punishment for crime,” is a phrase that is often ignored when we are taught about America and its history of slavery. The 13th Amendment didn’t get rid of slavery like many were taught, rather they moved it from the farms to a prison cell. Referencing a history professor, Ms. Cruz, in the federal prisons, prisoners work for free or get little pay which is a system of slavery. Inmates make items such as car license plates and also toilet seats. In 2018, it is estimated that a staggering 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States. According to the article on Openinvest.co, “People of color account for 37% of the US population, yet they represent 67% of the prison population.” White people aren’t nearly as targeted as Black people are. A black individual is six times more likely than a white person to be incarcerated, and federal courts imposed black men with 19 percent longer prison sentences than those imposed on a similarly situated white man between 2011 and 2016.(Ibid). Police officers incarcerated black people for irrelevant crimes so that they would have to go to prison and become a laborer rather than being free. This makes them slaves again, but this time, in prison. An example of this would be arresting a black person for being unemployed. People in America are legally considered slaves under the Constitution in the federal prisons. According to Huffingtonpost, “More black people are enslaved today than in the 1800’s.” Of those still enslaved, 71% are women and 29% are men. The Netflix film,13th by Ava DuVernay, connects the loophole in the 13th amendment to the mass incarceration in America amongst blacks. The amendment abolished slavery, but the clause turned incarceration into a modern-day slavery. In the film, since slavery was now abolished because of the 13th amendment, they needed people to rebuild the economy of the South. The South was destroyed in the American Civil War but in the process achieved a ban on slavery which was the ultimate goal. African-Americans were therefore arrested for minor crimes to help with the labor. The film also shows how The United States makes up 5% of the world’s population, but has 25% of the world’s prisoners. The land of the free has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The prison population in 1970 was 357,292 and as of 2014, the prison population is 2,306,200.

Modern slavery affects all people no matter their race, age, or gender. Slavery targets uneducated and impoverished minority groups and takes advantage of these groups by forcing them to work without wages. Slavery also affects people and communities who are vulnerable to being taken advantage of. To get a bigger picture here are some examples from Antislavery.com: a poor person with no real opportunities or basic rights to get a decent job may be viewed as vulnerable and be taken advantage of. Someone may offer them a job that turns out to be something else then what was promised and expected, like sex trafficking. Another example, could be a person from a community that’s very discriminated against, “such as Dalits in India,” who must borrow money for healthcare such as a medical operation from a wealthy farmer, and will fall into a debt bondage for multiple years with zero chance of help from corrupted authorities. It could be a young girl who happens to live in a place where early marriage is a normal thing and completely acceptable. She will have no choice and will have to marry an older man to follow tradition or to obey her parents. Or lastly, it might be someone who is born into being a slave through something called a ‘slave’ cast, where they are owned by their masters from the day they are born. Also, slavery is more likely to occur when laws are not followed and corruption is widespread. For example, groups of people who aren’t protected by the law, like foreigners who don’t have their green card or visa.

To view slavery on a global standpoint, these are the slavery statistics from Antislavery.com: Across the world, 40.3 million total people are in modern slavery and 10 million children are in modern slavery. In the Asia-Pacific region, 30.4 million people are in mostly bonded labour slavery. In Africa, 9.1 million people are in slavery, and in The Americas, 2.1 million people are in slavery. In developed countries, 1.5 million people are in modern slavery. The number of slavery victims who are exploited in economic activities is 16 million, and the number of people forced into sexual exploitation is 4.8 million. 99 percent of targeted people trafficked for sexual exploitation is females, adults or children. Slavery exploited by governments is 4.1 million. The illegal profits in the United States from forced labour, generates 150 billion per year. In the graphs included, are more statistics to show the modern slavery numbers. According to the first graph,Modern Slavery Is A Brutal Reality, all of the countries with the highest slave numbers are listed. India has a total of 18.40m slaves, China has 3.40m, Pakistan has 2.10m, Bangladesh has 1.50m, Uzbekistan has 1.20m, North Korea has 1.10m, Russia has 1.00m, Nigeria has 0.88m, Indonesia has 0.74m, and Egypt has 0.57m. In the other graph, it shows that there are 71 percent female slaves and 29 percent male slaves. 25 percent were children, and 75 percent were adults. Forced labor exploitation is 16,000,000. Forced marriage is 15,400,000. Forced sexual exploitation is 4,800,000, and state-imposed forced labor is 4,100,000.

On an international note, many people believe that slavery happens in only developing or underdeveloped countries but that’s not the case. In fact, no country is free from modern slavery. Slavery occurs everywhere in many different forms. According to Borgenproject.org, India has 18.4 million slaves. India has the highest number of slaves compared to the other countries listed below. Modern slavery in India includes forced marriages, usually at early ages, sexual exploitation such as trafficking , bonded labor, and domestic services. In the Indian factories, many of the slaves make products and export goods for other countries around the world. Consequently, everyone is involved. Women, men and children all work many hours a day in very poor conditions. Next, China has 3.4 million slaves. “a CNN report states that, people in China are forced into labor across different industries.”(ibid) Many families that travel to China together get split up eventually. Either by trafficking when they are migrating. Or young boys are sold to other families who are wanting sons, and girls often face forced marriage or sex slavery . In Pakistan, there are 2.1 million slaves. Modern slavery in Pakistan, like India, revolves around debt bondage, or bonded labor. Children and families often have to work 10 hour days while being denied basic rights/laws to protect them. Because they have no protection, these workers face torture and sexual exploitation. Bangladesh has 1.5 million slaves. The slavery in Bangladesh is accounted for by “80 percent forced labor and 20 percent forced marriage”, according to the Global Slavery Index. Bangladesh is vulnerable and is the 11th most vulnerable country in Asia. Uzbekistan has 1.2 million slaves and its the main crop produced there is cotton. When the cotton is growing very rapidly, the government makes people quit their jobs, work on the fields, and harvest the cotton. The government also does not compensate these people. North Korea has 1.1 million slaves. Many people are enslaved here because the government has done little to criminalize it. All ages groups and people are susceptible to forced labor since they are a socialist country. “One in twenty North Koreans is enslaved.”says Borgenproject.org This country has the highest concentration of forced labor but it doesn’t have a high number of slaves.

Locally, Slavery in Florida still also exists according to this story by Marilyn Perez who was an undocumented Guatemalan woman. She worked on farms picking fruits and vegetables, and became a slave without her even knowing what she was getting into. She took a job at a random truck-farm in Florida. When Perez received barely any payment for her full week of hard work,she went to the person in charge, Reyes Tapia-Ortiz. He shrugged at her and informed her that amount was the going rate for the job, and that she wasn’t allowed to leave. Perez worked 10 through 12 hour shifts, mostly on the fields, but sometimes in the guys house at night, where her employer groped her which is sexual assault. What is worse is that he would threaten her with a gun if she complained. “Organizations like the National Human Trafficking Hotline find that 91 percent of cases of modern-day slavery in the agriculture industry involve foreign nationals, mostly in Florida.” Tapia-Ortiz had threatened to harm his workers for complaining about not being paid or about the little amount. He also forced labor by holding up a gun, he sexually harassed a female worker as stated above, and falsely imprisoned a worker.(Ibid)

To conclude, Modern Slavery is still a prevalent problem today and should be stopped. Some solutions include being informed about the topic. Many people believe that slavery ended in the 1800’s with the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment, so by being informed and knowing that it never ended, you can help spread the word. You can post on social media and try and spread the message that way or another way is to communicate to many people about it through things like setting up clubs or volunteer organizations talking about slavery . Also, another way is through educating people at the school level. In history class we can discuss more on the the loophole of the 13th amendment and also how slavery in general never ended in many aspects. I believe that slavery is wrong and should not be used especially when it’s the highest then any time in history. In the future, I hope that slavery numbers can go down and better solutions to really make an impact and make change are formed.

Slavery. We associate slavery with the nineteenth century trade of Africans across the Atlantic ocean and that it was abolished then. But was it really ever abolished? Slavery itself has always been considered a third world problem when really it happens at every corner of the world, right under our noses. We don’t seem to notice or apprehend that it still exists. How did we let modern slavery into our everyday lives? Is it our fault, as consumers, that this is still occuring to this day? Even after the modern slavery act established in 2015, why do we still find it in our supply chains? Are our selfish needs the reason for the never ending chain of slavery?

With the increasingly fast growth of the human population there is no doubt that because of this slavery is still lurking in the shadows of our day to day lives. The entire planet consists of over seven and a half billion people! We all need clothes and food and obviously we want the newest technology, we want wealth and we want a new car but whose lives are at stake because of our wants and needs? Since there is a higher demand for food and clothing businesses need to work at an extremely fast pace to get our goods into shops and onto websites while still making a profit. As social media is used by millions of people clothing websites are easily advertised. When we come across an oddly cheap online clothing site, we are overwhelmed by the many items we can by for so little. It is tempting to buy all these new things, right? Of course we are saving lots of money! But we do not take the time to evaluate the situation. Why is it so cheap? Where is it coming from? Slaves. That is the simple answer. Businesses and companies want to make profit and what better way to do that than get slaves who are profitable and easily disposable and need little to no pay, right? They are not living breathing humans like the rest of us let us use them to feed our selfish needs, wants and greed. Of course not! We need to abolish it not encourage it! An educated individual, like yourself, would agree that this is morally wrong and we should not fall into the trap of cheap goods. I do agree that saving money is acceptable but not when it is spent on items produced by helpless beings with no way of getting out of this lifelong chain. Who do these companies target? Can we stop this once and for all?

Slavery is not just considered forced labour. In fact, there are different kinds of slavery but all are inhumane, cruel and morally unacceptable. In 2016 over forty million people were victims of modern slavery and unsurprisingly a quarter of them were children. That is ten million children being exploited to harsh conditions! Children are often targeted since they do not need to be paid a lot or anything at all which is perfect for sustaining a profitable business surely. How could anyone think that it is justifiable to condone these actions! Children are forced to work in unbearable conditions for long hours and are unable to leave or they are threatened and experience violence. This often occurs in the developing world as children have little to no education and are not aware of the signs of enslavement. So, as we continue to buy items from these sellers we are only getting more children trapped for the rest of their lives. Would you let that happen to your child? In 2017, of the near twenty five million people, four million of them were forced into military conscription. We can only assume that many of those people are children who have been brainwashed and holding a gun. What have we let this world come to where a child is holding a gun? Why are these people in this situation? Why does slavery continue?

Debt bondage is one of the many causes that slavery still exists in the modern world. Dent bondage happens when families borrow money that they can not return and begin working in factories, farms or in the fishing industry to pay of their debt. But soon enough they lose control over the conditions and the debt becomes impossible to pay off and so their children will join this chain and so will their children. They can not leave or the employer threatens to harm their families and so this debt will never get any smaller and the people will continue working for decades in unimaginable conditions. How does that benefit us? We get cheap and affordable goods. Everyday of our lives we may come across an item that, somewhere down the supply chain, was manufactured by a an enslaved human.

It is not just the clothing industry that exploits their workers. Slavery can be found in any supply chain and you would be surprised that the food industry encourages it. Does it not? For example, the Italian tomato farm produces tonnes of tomatoes annually. They only way they can produce that quantity is with many migrant workers who live in filthy camps where hundreds can be sleeping in one. Sometimes this is the only option the people have. The farm owners exploit and sometimes even rape their migrant workers. You see, although children are an easy target and can be enslaved easily, it is also people who are trying to escape a war zone and are offered a better life elsewhere and are then trafficked across the continent. People who do not have a voice are silenced working away unnoticed. Imagine yourself working away twelve hours everyday for the rest of your life, your documents have been taken from you, you can not run away, you are threatened and abused. You can not see yourself in this position can you? So why should others have to suffer? We are aware of the issue and most of the time look past it. It needs to be acknowledged. This needs to end and it can only end if you know what you are buying and where it comes from. We should be educating people in the developing world not enslaving them. We have the power, including you, to stop monster businesses from manipulating and taking advantage of the ones that are unaware of slavery. This can only stop if we open eyes to the reality and that it will not go away if we do not try combat it.

In conclusion, we should be targeting companies and businesses to make sure that slavery is not occuring. We should not avoid it. Many of us are aware that it happens but only a few are trying to tackle the problem. Why has society come to this? We should be working together helping each other out and recognising when there is a major dilemma like modern slavery. We should take caution in the things we buy because somewhere in the world someone is paying for your goods with their life. With the modern slavery act established in 2015 there should be a major decrease in slavery in supply chains however it is also up to us to help out and abolish it once and for all! We should not have to teach our children about forced labour, human trafficking and debt bondage. This is why, as consumers, we are the source of enslavement and if we want to end it we must take into consideration what we buy and where we buy it from.

Life for slaves and indentured servants in colonial America was different from anything modern Americans have experienced. Not only did their lives differ from Americans’ lives today, the lifestyles of servants and slaves also differed from one another. Many colonists came to America as indentured servants in search of a new and better life, while slaves were often captured and forced into slavery. In Professor Twitty’s lecture “The Atlantic Slave Trade,” she discussed that British merchants sold slaves from West, West Central, and South East Africa. They were then loaded onto ships and transported to either the Old World, the Caribbean, British North America, Spanish America, or Brazil (Twitty). Indentured servants entered into servitude willingly to gain their freedom. Indentured servants and slaves in colonial America were more different than alike because indentured servants chose to come to America while slaves were forced to come to America, treatment of slaves was harsher than treatment of indentured servants, and freedom for slaves was less likely than freedom for indentured servants.

First, Africans were captured or abducted from their countries of origin and sold into slavery sometimes by other Africans and by white merchants. They were inhumanely loaded onto slave ships and sailed via the Middle Passage across the Atlantic to the Americas. The living conditions on the ships were unsanitary, so many slaves died before they ever reached the New World. Tight packing was a technique of loading slaves onto slave ships utilized during the Atlantic Slave Trade, which was from 1450 to 1870. Millions of slaves were transported during this time. As a result of the large number of transports, on ships, slaves would be given a coffin-sized space for the long journey. Laws were eventually passed to prohibit these harsh travel conditions, but not until thousands had suffered and died. Those who survived were often sick. According to author and historian James L. Roark, their only hope for freedom was to escape their captors or somehow buy their freedom from their masters. Otherwise, it was a life with little or no chance of advancement requiring working long hours in poor conditions.

Secondly, indentured servants and redemptioners chose to come to the New World looking for a better life. The indentured service guaranteed service to their masters for a specific time in exchange for passage to the New World. There were laws passed regulating the treatment of indentured servants. As the historian Roark asserts, “When the indenture expired, the planter owed the former servant ‘freedom dues,’ usually a few barrels of corn and a suit of clothes” (Roark 2015, 58) . They could even charge their masters if they did not live up to their contract. Roark’s words show that indentured servants actually were paid in corn and clothes, whereas slaves were working against their will without any form of payment.

Third, slaves were treated horribly. Slaves were often whipped, beaten, or suffered some type of abuse. They were also often verbally abused: this fact was especially true when looking at runaway advertisements. Slaves were malnourished and easily contracted diseases. Roark explained, “On average, about 15 percent of the slaves died, but sometimes half or more perished” (Roark 2015, 115) . In making this argument, Roark reveals that the conditions that slaves faced were inhumane. There were not as many laws set into place, if there were any at all, to protect these people. In Professor Twitty’s lecture, “The Atlantic Slave Trade,” she discussed that the gang system was common for slavery in the Chesapeake region, which is modern day Virginia and Maryland, in the seventeenth century. In this system, slaves would work from sunup to sundown. In this region, slaves experienced limited stability: they were often sold off and ripped away from their families. However, for slavery in the low country or deep south, the task system was more common, meaning that slaves only had to complete a certain number of tasks before their working day was over. Slaves in this region experienced more stability: they usually remained near their place of birth. Slaves did not have the same rights as the average American did. They did not have the same rights as indentured servants did.

Opportunities were also rarer for slaves than indentured servants. Slaves were born into the system, so there were generations of slaves. Families were often sold and separated. Slavery was permanent: there was no room for betterment. However, if a slave managed to escape and avoid capture, the opportunities increased. Runaway slaves and servants forged passes and changed their appearances and names in their attempt to escape, if they chose to do so. Some would head for the seaports hoping to find work, and others would join the Indians in their travels. Some sympathizers would help slaves run and hide. In some cases, there was hope to be had. For example, Olaudah Equiano was a slave for ten years before he bought his freedom in 1766. He then went on to write an account of his experiences as a slave in his Interesting Narrative (Roark 2015, 114) . Equiano’s experience shows that slavery can result in power or success in some cases.

Protection under the law for slaves and indentured servants differed. Masters preferred black slaves to indentured servants because colonial laws did not prohibit the force masters could use against slaves (Roark 2015, 116) . Slaves were also slaves for life, where indentured servants were only indentured for a designated time. With reproduction, slaves produced more slaves, and by the end of the seventeenth century, slaves replaced indentured servants as laborers of choice. Roark quotes Thomas Jefferson saying, “I consider the labor of a breeding [slave] woman as no object, that a [slave] child raised every 2 years is of more profit than the crop of the best laboring [slave] man” (Roark 2015, 115) . Simply put, Jefferson meant that the children the slave woman produced were more valuable than her labor.

In conclusion, there were many differences between indentured servitude and slavery. Both drove the cultural explosion, rapid growth and expansion of the colonies, but slaves were bound with little hope of freedom. The indentured servants went on to become merchants and farmers with opportunities to pursue what became the American dream. Slaves continued providing cheap labor for generations under difficult conditions with no chance for advancement.

Bibliography

1. Brown, Victoria Bissel and Timothy J. Shannon, Going to the Source. Vol 1. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
2. Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States. Value edition. Vol. 1. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2015.
3. Twitty, Anne. “The Atlantic Slave Trade.” Lecture, University of Mississippi. University, Miss., September 9, 2019.

Slavery, almost unanimously, can be viewed as a blemish on the history of mankind. It is immoral and simply wrong to own another human being and force them to work for very little in return. A hot topic in relatively recent years has been the following: can we continue to praise a society’s advancements and achievements if they participated in the practice of slavery? This paper serves as an attempt to answer that question and possibly a few others.

The largest problem in discerning the answer to this question is that it is impossible to tell if slavery had a large impact on the advancement of the society. Many may argue that because of slavery, those of wealth and high status had the leisure time to pursue science, art, philosophy, and so on. However, if this argument is to be made, another argument naturally progresses because of it: is it not possible that there were slaves who could have contributed to those same pursuits that were not allowed to due to their position as slaves? This leads to a stalemate in which both sides are attempting to guess at what could have been, rather than discussing facts, and therefore making imaginary scenarios to combat the other side. Because of this, the remainder of this paper will be as focused on the facts and ethics of slavery rather than this particularly muddy issue.

Starting with Greece, Aristotle claims that by nature some are meant to lead, and some are meant to follow. That in itself is not a problematic statement. It is where he continues with this line of thinking that causes problems. He claims that some people are born to be slaves, being naturally “inferior” and requiring a slave master in order to survive. Although these two claims may look similar, their implications are different. When a discussion of natural-born leaders and natural-born followers is discussed, it can be assumed that what is meant by the term “follower” is someone who still has control of their own life. Meanwhile when it comes to slavery, there is a lack of agency and consent in the matter. Living in Greece and believing in democracy whilst also holding these views is hypocritical. It also is reminiscent of eugenics, which is the belief in keeping the human race “genetically strong” by not allowing those with “inferior traits” reproduce. He also compares slaves to inanimate tools, as if they are nothing more than a means to an end.

Rome was also very reliant on slavery. Columella describes how to treat your slaves in order to get full control of them, including ways of emotionally manipulating human behavior into making slaves like their masters. Such behaviors include specifically speaking to them informally so that the master can then understand the slaves’ abilities and will make them feel as if the master truly cares about them. It would be one thing if this was done out of the kindness of the master’s heart, but the way it is presented makes it appear as if it is solely a tool for them to use to their advantage. This is morally repugnant and socially unacceptable behavior.

While there were possibly masters who treated their slaves well, which truly can not be confirmed since there are no writings by slaves themselves, there were definitely masters who were cruel to their slaves. If people were truly fine with being slaves, then there would not have been the slave revolt of over 70,000 men led by Spartacus and Crixus. If slaves were inferior human beings, why was Sparta so afraid of a helot rebellion that they created the military state that they are known for today? Why was the slave revolt as successful as it was if they were just tools? This proves that not only were slaves and helots powerful enough to give the state a run for their money, but that in some strange way the states were forced to acknowledge that.

In conclusion, while Rome and Greece provided the world with many advancements, it is morally wrong and unjust to praise them for these without consistently condemning their use of and treatment of the slaves working beneath them. They should not be over-romanticized. There can be no separation of art and the artist. The art is molded by and includes these putrid ideals and behaviors, whether visible on the surface or not. Does this mean that one can not appreciate the things that Greece and Rome provided? Of course not, but one must be aware of their own thought processes and realize how many people suffered for those things.

Beginning in 1619 and ending in 1865 the united states of America practiced slavery on African/African American individuals. Slavery is system where property law is applied to human beings, meaning one person can buy, sell, and own another person. Slavery has been a dark part of American history, a great wrong committed by the US government. From a young age we Americans are taught by our parents and teachers the importance of doing what is right and when we have done the opposite, we are expected to right our wrongs, simply because it’s the right thing to do, but if we as citizens are expected to right our wrongs then why is the government an exception?

Firstly, reparations should be paid to African Americans because Reparations have been paid in not only America but countries all over the world and have been done successfully, so if they were successful in the past why not now? After world war II many Jewish people had no homes or property because of the events of the holocaust and fearing the safety for themselves and their families more than 136,000 Jewish Germans emigrated to Israel so between 1953 and 1967 German chancellor Konrad Adenauer decided to pay three billion German marks in reparations to Israel, which is the equivalent of seven billion dollars, because he knew it was the right thing to do. 87.5% of the reparation money was used to develop the country by buying equipment and materials to build up its industry, buying mining equipment, paying for irrigations, paying for railways and electrical grids to be built, and to pay for fuel all these developments made life more comfortable for the Jewish population so if paying reparations made it easier for the Jewish to become comfortable living then the same thing can be done for African Americans today through reparations. The united states government themselves have even paid reparations in the past. Reparations were paid in 1988 for the unnecessary imprisonment of 82,000 Japanese Americans during WWII each getting 20,000 dollars and an apology to make amends for the suffering they caused, the American government paid these reparations because it was the right thing to do, but if African slaves have gone through a great deal more of suffering for an even longer time then that would mean they should also receive reparations.

In addition, slavery built the up Americas economy and yet they have never been paid back, without slavery there would have been no way for the north to industrialize as quickly as it did. One of the most notable forced labor African slaves were forced to preform was the act of picking cotton and on average would pick 200 pounds of cotton a day in the harsh heat with no breaks or payment, this cotton production is what help the American economy sky rocket, cotton textiles (breathable fabric) were one of the first industrially produced products, thanks to the African American slaves, and became the most important commodity in the world trade by the 19th century resulting in the world buying ¾ of its cotton from the south making the slave and plantain owners very rich and by bringing in money from other counties the American economy greatly benefited. Since the government and the country as a whole would not have been as successful without slavery it would only be fair that those slaves and their families would compensated for their grueling and painful work, it’s the right thing to do.

Finally, reparations should be paid because slavery and its effects have put African Americans today at a great disadvantage in life. Contrary to common belief slavery did not begin because of racism but because the Americans felt more superior then Africans due to the Americans having more developed tools and weapons like guns, while the Africans had primitive tools an weapons like bow and arrows, and spears. racism was a product of slavery, Slavery caused white Americans to grow prejudice towards the African Americans since they saw themselves as “above” the African Americans, this resulted in very discriminative laws being passed after slavery was abolished like the Jim crow laws that segregated people based on their race. Although racist laws like those have been abolished their effects still linger in today’s society, a prime example of this would be “redlining.” Redlining, defined by Wikipedia, is the systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities. In today’s society redlining is predominantly practiced by banks when offering loans, redlining puts African Americans at a disadvantage because almost all neighborhoods targeted for redlining are predominantly black neighborhoods and since blacks couldn’t acquire loans they couldn’t buy new houses in better areas like the suburbs like white Americans did and since white Americans could own more expensive property when the market went up they could sell that property and accumulate wealth an opportunity African Americans didn’t/don’t have which is one big reason so many African Americans live in poverty. A recent case of red lining happened in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis from 2008-2010 where people who were qualified but lived in minority neighborhoods were dined loans over qualified people who lived in predominantly white neighborhoods (source Washington post). In addition to racist laws and redlining African Americans are put at a disadvantage when it comes to schooling, because the majority of schools get government funding based on property taxes people who live in minority neighbor hoods have poorer education since they cannott pay for things like facilities, teachers, and supplies. A study by Edbuild showed that non-white majority schools received twenty three billion dollars less than white majority schools. If schools are aren’t well funded in African American schools then the African American students won’t do as well as they could with more resources, resulting in their grades suffering and hindering their chances of going to post-secondary school which in turn would lead the student to get a job that doesn’t pay well keeping them in poverty, but if reparations were paid this could all be avoided since the African Americans can use the reparations to move to a neighborhood with better schooling putting them at an even playing with everyone else.

In conclusion America should pay reparations for slavery because reparations have been successfully paid in the past for less damaging things, slavery built the economy, but African Americans haven’t been paid for their services, and finally slavery has put. For us to develop as a country and society we mustn’t neglect our wrong doings but amend them, the only way for society to progress is to right our wrongs because “it is the right thing to do”.

INTRODUCTION

In the 8th century, Arabs began taking slaves from Central and Eastern Africa and transporting them to the Middle East, India, and the Far East. Later, in the 15th century, Europeans began removing West Africans and moving them to the Americas and Europe through the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Even though slavery was present in many eras like the Greeks, Romans, and even ancient civilizations, it had a huge effect on America as it lasted for a long time. Slavery in the 16th-19th centuries has a profound effect on the New World compared to other eras because slavery was connected with racism and slaves were needed for economic reasons in the New World.

RACISM

Slavery was everlasting in the New World compared to other eras because slavery had a distinct connection with the race.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Slavery enters human history with civilization. Hunter-gatherers and primitive farmers had no use for a slave. They grew just enough food for themselves. One more pair of hands was one more mouth. There was no economic advantage in owning another human being. As people gathered in towns and cities, a surplus of food was created (due to the first Agricultural Revolution) which allowed for population growth and people to start specializing in certain skills. Only on a large farm or in a workshop is there a real benefit in a reliable source of cheap labor, costing no more than the minimum of food and lodging. These are the conditions for slavery. Every ancient civilization uses slaves and it proves easy to acquire them. War is the main source of supply, and wars are frequent and brutal in the early civilizations. When a town falls to a hostile army, it was normal to take some able-bodied inhabitants into slavery as they made useful workers. This is the main way civilizations, like the Babylons during the 18th century BC, acquired slaves. The Code of Hammurabi provides the punishment for slaves but also reveals that the system is not one of unmitigated brutality. In fact, Babylonian slaves were allowed to own property. During the 7th century BC in Rome, Slaves were more properly described as serfdom. Their existence is that of a traditional rural one to which certain rights remain attached. (Slavery in Babylon)

NEW WORLD DISCOVERY

When Columbus discovered the New World, it opened up the Age of Exploration to European countries. The Europeans countries went to utilize the New World for different purposes. The British wanted to grow raw materials like sugar, tobacco, indigo, etc, and the Spanish wanted to look for riches in the New World, and the Portuguese wanted to establish new trade routes. (European Exploration)

INDENTURED SERVANTS AND EARLY TENSIONS

In the New World, as more and more colonists survival brought population growth. Planters and colonists soon realized that they didn’t have enough people to keep up with the demand of the mother country. At first, colonists used Native Americans, but the Native Americans died in mass numbers. Colonists then decided to utilize Africans as indentured servants. Thus, Africans were imported and were given a contract stating they are obliged to work for a master for a certain amount of time and after that period is done, they will receive rewards like land and they were free. As more Africans were imported and the colonist’s population increased, the demand for land was great. The land became more scarce and further removed due to the need for access to roads and water transportation, both vital for agricultural commerce. The emerging planter class of colonists who had succeeded in accumulating scarce land and money shared fewer interests with newly arrived immigrants, developing an underlying hatred for them. As indentured servants’ labor period ended, they demanded land but the colonists and planters realized it was too costly to pay all indentured servants and they needed a new form of labor. As a solution, planters and colonists decided on importing Africans for cheap labor. The Africans would be life sentenced to labor and couldn’t be free, like indentured servants. (The Slave Trade)

SLAVE TRADE AND WHITE SUPREMACY

After establishing that African slaves could be used as an import for cheap labor, white supremacy started to flourish. The whites both verbally and physically implied that the African Americans didn’t belong there and were below them. (Bacon’s Rebellion)

BACON’S REBELLION

The tension between the two grew as decades passed and in 1676, a conflict arises, Bacon’s Rebellion. Initially, a conflict between William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, and Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy settler in the Virginia upcountry, was overland but as the rebellion continued, it sparked concerns about class and race. The short-lived rebellion showed the coalition between poor whites, African slaves and freedmen in Bacon’s rebellion and it produced a larger concern that such a coalition might remain a continuing source for further revolts and class uprisings. (Slave Treatment)

RACISM DEVELOPING

After the years following Bacon’s Rebellion, the distinction between indentured servitude and slavery grew into a pronounced difference. Indentured Servants became less attractive as a source of labor because servants now lived long enough to claim land – as the rebellion had demonstrated violently – and improved economic conditions in Britain reduced the supply of workers willing to come to America and increase the price of their contracts [1]. Africans continued to be readily available, and since most of them didn’t convert to Christianity, they could be enslaved and controlled while indentured servants could not. For example, Virginia passed a series of laws, constituting a formal slave code that removed almost all the rights given to slaves and added restrictions to their lives. Thus, slaves became Virginia’s primary workforce in its plantations, and slavery, an integral institution within its society. Before the emergence of slaves in the New World, people’s appearance and origins had not mattered as much before socially, particularly among the working class since the ethnic diversity was low. But as rebellions and laws were enacted, it created a rift and a mindset that all African Americans are below the color white and they are to be chained and do our labor. (Slavery in Brazil)

SLAVERY IN PORTUGAL

Slavery in Portugal was different because they were not only mistreated, raped, and beaten, but an intermixing of the Portuguese with the Africans ended up creating a fourth ethnicity. The mixing of the races contributed to the rich cultural diversity that Brazil still today exemplifies. (Cartoon Depicting White Supremacy)

RACISM COMPARED TO OTHER ERAS

The physical distinctiveness of African slaves not only marked their newly created subordinate position but it became the justification and reason for that position [1]. Because of this, people had an innate belief that African Americans were inferior to Whites which was backed up by white supremacy. ‘Race,’ explained why Africans were slaves, while the degradation that slaves received supplied the evidence for their inferiority [1]. (Slavery in the Roman Empire)

Compared to other eras, slavery took a stronghold in the Americas because there, they based slavery off of the color of one’s skin. In other eras of history, this was not the case, for example, the Greeks and Romans didn’t care who did the labor and nobody took notice of the color of the skin of each race that worked. In those empires, the race was diverse since the Greeks and Romans would constantly go into war to gain slaves and war prisoners. In America race has taken up a great aspect of slavery, and has caused it to be prevalent for many centuries.

ECONOMIC PURPOSES

Slavery in the Americas had a profound and lasting impact compared to other eras because slaves were heavily utilized for economic purposes.

PORTUGAL’S ECONOMY

In South America, Portugal utilized slaves for labor so that they could establish trade routes, create many raw materials and manufacture large numbers of goods to boost their economy. Once the slaves started to become a huge staple of Portugal’s imports, they were mainly assigned to sugar plantations to harvest molasses. Slaves were treated as objects without any care for their emotions due to the role of slaves in terms of their economic status in Portugal’s colonies. (Slavery in Brazil)

AMERICAN ECONOMY

After the American Revolution, Americans started relying on cotton as their staple export crop. From 1801 to 1862, the amount of cotton picked daily by an enslaved person increased by 400 percent. The profits from cotton propelled the US into a position as one of the leading economies in the world and made the South its most prosperous region. The ownership of enslaved people increased wealth for Southern planters so much that by the dawn of the Civil War, the Mississippi River Valley had more millionaires per capita than any other region [4]. Because the reliance on labor increased tremendously, the economy of America was boosted.

Due to the increased demand for raw materials such as cotton, American’s created a complex system aimed at monetizing and maximizing the labor of the enslaved. In the South, this is used as a record-keeping system. The labor of each person was tracked daily, and those who did not meet their assigned picking goals were beaten. The best workers were beaten as well, the whip and other assaults coercing them into doing even more work in even less time. As overseers and plantation owners managed a forced-labor system aimed at maximizing efficiency, they interacted with a network of bankers and accountants, all to manage America’s empire of cotton. An entire industry, America’s first big business, revolved around slavery. Slavery was used as a way to boost the economy of any state.

SLAVERY IN DEEP ROOT

The reason why slavery wasn’t outlawed in the world until the mid 19th century is because the exploiting of cheap labor of African Americans, global superpowers were able to increase their economy greatly. In other eras, slavery was kept in control and it ended when the global superpower died off. For example, when the Roman Empire collapsed, the slaves and war prisoners were set free because they weren’t tied to a master anymore. But without the help of the slaves, the Roman Empire couldn’t have flourished. In the Americas, slavery became more and more prevalent and countries such as America became superpowers. Slavery lasted for so long because it has gained complete root in the Americas and it takes a lot of effort to root the weed out. Slaves in previous eras like the early 8th century BC were utilized for economic purposes as well, for example, in the Roman Empire, slaves were utilized to build roads and aqueducts. Some Romans believed that masters would get more work out of slaves if they treated them well. They would pay a small allowance into a fund for their slaves. When there was enough money in the fund the slaves could buy their freedom. As the owner could stop paying the money into the fund if the slave misbehaved, this system was a good way of achieving complete obedience. Also, the owner could arrange that slaves would only have enough money to buy their freedom when they were too old to work. The man could then use the money to buy a new young slave while the old slave, unable to work, would be forced to rely on charity to stay alive. Since slaves were treated nicely and utilized in smaller numbers compared to that of the Americas, it had a positive effect during that era with a limited amount of slaves. In the Americas, since white supremacy flourished, slaves were treated horribly and imported in mass numbers. This increased the tension between Black and Whites but also made slavery almost impossible to eradicate due to the number of slaves in the Americas.

CONCLUSION

Slavery in previous eras didn’t have a profound effect as New World slavery because slavery wasn’t connected to race and slavery in the Americas was exploited to help boost and economy of the country. Slavery’s long legal existence created the American caste system that endures today, one that maintains a false white superiority and black inferiority built on an unfair education system, unfair employment system and social institutions that support this notion while appropriating black language, music, and fashion.

Slavery was the main provoking factor that made a Civil War break out in America. This was because there was a clear distinction between Northern Abolitionists and people in the South who heavily relied on slavery, because they were needed for their agricultural based economy. This issue escalated when the cotton gin was invented because slaves were needed to work the machines in order to produce/clean the cotton. There was only a small percentage of the South’s population that actually owned slaves. This was because they were so expensive to buy but they were profitable, as Planters made about a 10% profit from slaves annually. Even the people in the South who didn’t own slaves benefited from them, as they helped their overall economy, so therefore they supported slavery. In attempt, to convince the opposite side that their view on slavery was more necessary or morally correct, many authors wrote about their opinion on the issue of slavery.

Multiple authors argued that slavery was a positive institution. One of these authors was John C. Calhoun. In document A, his key argument in defense of slavery was that it was completely necessary for the South’s economy and he argued that “the political condition of the slave holding states has been so much more stable and quiet than that of the North” (Calhoun). His argument has some merit because of the fact that the South relied heavily on agricultural and in order to make a profit off of their plantations, Planters needed slaves to do the hard labor of planting, caring for, harvesting, and cleaning cotton as well as other crops. However, I believe that in the long run, the South would of been better off without slavery, because in many aspects slavery was holding the South back, such as their industries. There was only 10% of America’s industry in the South, compared to 90% in the North. In order for the south to progress they needed to learn about and use the industries more. Another author who believed slavery was beneficial, was George Fitzhugh. George viewed slavery as favorable for the poor laborers and thought that slavery helped them by giving them a house, food, and clothes. He argued that the free laborer had a lower social status than slaves. As he thought that free laborers sometimes didn’t have a house or a steady job. Fitzhugh also states that the statics of crime were higher for the free laborer population than the slaves. I don’t think there’s any merit to this argument because slaves were treated extremely poorly, with minimal regard for their safety, health and well-being. They lived in poor conditions, some living outside with hardly any clothes or food to survive. It was also out of fear of being shot and killed that they didn’t usually commit many crimes, not that they had higher moral superiority.

On the other hand, there were numerous authors that opposed slavery and wanted to eradicate it from the nation. One of these authors was Theodore D. Weld, whose position was radical, he was vehemently against slavery of any kind. He believed slavery was absolutely outrageous, as he said in document C, “The slaves in the United States are treated with barbarous inhumanity” (Weld). His position was radical because he didn’t wish to use militant force to abolish slavery, instead he wanted to collect eye-witnesses’ statements and facts to present in a testimony. The collection of all this evidence would’ve certainly helped to bring an end to slavery. It would’ve provided the appalling facts of the slaves’ conditions that were needed to prove how wrong and sinful slavery was, as well as the fact that it was unconstitutional because the slaves had little to no rights. Another abolitionist author was James G. Birney. He believed slavery was unjust in the eyes of God and men had no right to carry out slavery, as he thought it was just as bad as murder. Birney’s position on slavery was radical because he strongly states his very significant thoughts on slavery and he doesn’t believe slavery is right in any way and thinks it should be ended immediately. His words were definitely beneficial to bring an end to slavery because it helped people whom had not seen slavery first-hand, to be able to connect it to something everyone knew and agreed on as very wrong (murder, incest, adultery and blasphemy). He also reminded Christians that God would not approve of slavery. An additional author who absolutely despised slavery was William Lloyd Garrison, who was a radical abolitionist and his position on the matter was almost militant. He demanded an end to slavery and he strongly stated in document G, “On this subject, I don’t wish to think, or speak, or write with moderation,” (Garrison). Instead, he was determined to set every slave free and he wasn’t afraid to make the owners of slaves, and everyone who was not against slavery, suffer. Garrison’s strong words and determined actions definitely contributed to the end to slavery. This is because, as he clearly expressed in his writings, he would firmly stand against slavery, apply any force needed to abolish it and would not give in easily. The Declaration of the American Anti-Slavery Society was a group of abolitionists who were strongly against slavery and believed that colored people should have the same rights as any white American. Their position was radical because they openly spoke out against slavery, wanted to stop the institution, and believed that colored American should have the same rights and privileges as any other American. I think groups such as this one, would of had more of an effect when trying to stop slavery because the government is more likely to listen to a group of people than just one person, and as a group they could do more to attempt to stop slavery and save slaves than a single person. Henry David Thoreau was another radical abolitionist, who believe slavery was absolutely disgraceful and immoral. He explained that if the government supported slavery then he would not support the government. He believed that if he obeyed any laws that were unjust and required him to go against his conscience, in order to support the government then he would be indirectly supporting slavery. Therefore, he said that if any law is unjust or makes a man go against his moral beliefs, then he should break the law. His position was radical because he was willing to break the law in order to end slavery. His actions and words would further help people (mostly in the North), to understand how wrong and unethical slavery was and therefore, influence more people to try and prevent the spread of slavery. However, no one person could end slavery by themselves, but radical Abolitionists did greatly influence people’s view on slavery, and prevent its spread. It was evident through David Walker’s writing, such as “Appeal in Four Articles with a Preamble to the Coloured Citizens of the World”, that he deeply opposed slavery as well. His position was radical because of how strongly he spoke out against it, and also militant because, as he stated in document H, he believed, “That unless you speedily alter your course, you and your country are gone!!!!!! God Almighty will tear up the very face of the earth!!!” (Walker). Although some may see David Walker’s along with many other radical abolitionist’s position on abolishing slavery to be too strong and violent at times, these people’s words and actions were necessary in order to bring an end to slavery. This is because they helped others realize how horrific and shocking slavery was, which influenced people living in the North to be highly against it spreading into other parts of the country. Without these radical abolitionists, slavery was likely to end but over a longer period of time.

I agree with Henry David Thoreau’s position on civil disobedience concerning slavery. Civil disobedience is justified when the law that they are disobeying is completely unjustified, unfair, or immoral. If everyone just obeyed a law that was wrong, then our country wouldn’t improve and problems such as slavery wouldn’t be solved. For example, Henry Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax because he didn’t want his money going to a government that kind of supported slavery. The government was doing this to keep the peace between the South and the North, as they didn’t want a civil war, but Thoreau believed this was still very wrong and he didn’t want to encourage slavery in any way at all. Although, this alone didn’t end slavery, it did show the government that he did not support slavery, along with multiple others and it did influence many other people’s ideas on slavery.

For slave owners, many arguments that were believed to be powerful enough to overwhelm the abolitionist’s theories have been repeated and taught as a pro-slavery ideology. Slave owners argued that ending slavery would have had a profound and budgetary effect in the As their ethics became bombarded by the anti-slavery bias, slave owners and politicians used religion, the economy, and paternalism to sustain themselves and their beliefs. Slaveowners justified slavery on social and economic grounds. They were aware that owning people was wrong, but if they did not own people then they felt as if their sense of security and provision was gone. Southerners wanted to keep the tradition of the slave labor alive and were attempting to justify slavery in any way possible. The southern financial system had become so deeply tied to slavery that it would, arguably, fall apart.

First, since the time of the ancient Greeks, many have argued in support of the existence of natural rights, meaning those rights that men possessed as a gift from nature (or God) prior to the formation of governments. It is generally held that those rights belong equally to all men at birth and cannot be taken away (Natural Rights, History.com) Even though the natural rights theory posed the first major challenge to proslavery in America, advocates of slavery were not left defenseless (Tise, 2017) Their reliance on slave’s hard work turned into the foundation of their financial system. The cotton financial system would fall apart. The tobacco crop could dry inside the fields. Rice would stop being worthwhile. Many slave owners argued that if all of the slaves had been freed, there might be a colossal amount of unemployment and disarray. This would cause rebellion, bloodshed, and disorder. They pointed to the mob’s ‘rule of terror’ during the French Revolution and rooted for the duration of the demand, which turned into conveying wealth and equality for the slaveholding class and for all of the people who loved the bounty of the slave society.

Countless slave owners argued that slavery had existed throughout history and was the necessity of mankind. The Greeks had slaves, the Romans had slaves, and the English had slavery during these days. Slave owners even cited that in the Bible, Abraham had slaves. According to Time, “out of the more than three-quarters of a million words in the Bible, Christian slaveholders—and, if asked, most slaveholders would have defined themselves as Christian—(Rae, Cited, 2018) According to Genesis 9: 18–27, it says: “The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the people of the whole earth were dispersed. Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.’ He also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.’ After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭9:18-28‬ ‭ESV‬‬. The rest of the Old Testament become frequently mined by slave owners for examples proving that slavery was commonplace among the Israelites to justify holding slaves. In the long run, it turned into the primary text for the slave owners who wished to justify mastery on Biblical grounds.

Another defense card that many slave owners played after the Declaration of Independence was the excuse that they were “blessing” their slaves by giving them the bare necessities in life such as water and a place to sleep. The majority of slaveholders, white and black, owned only one to five slaves. More often than not, and contrary to a century and a half of bullwhips-on-tortured-backs propaganda, black and white masters worked and ate alongside their charges; be it in house, field or workshop ( Grooms, 6) they stated that they would defend and assist them when they had been sick and aged, unlike others, who did not have a job, we’re left to fend helplessly for themselves. In an article from 1842, it asserted that “Abolitionist, whether successful or not, is injurious to the slaves. It scatters discontent, and therefore unhappiness among them in their present state; it increases their insubordination, and thus subjects them to severe usage: should it free them from bondage, it would at the same time free their masters from the care of providing for them, and leave them an improvident class unprovided for, to suffer in rags and starvation, or under crime and its effects (Trott S; Cincinnati Post and Anti-Abolitionist) There was a sense of dependency and need when it came to the slave owners keeping slaves. To them, slavery was a wonderful thing because they attained a lot from it. For many, they enjoyed the control and assurance that it brought.

Furthermore, Historians have recognized that a crucial aspect of proslavery beliefs was planters’ assets in paternalism. According to Dictionary.com, paternalism is defined as, “the system, principle, or practice of managing or governing individuals, businesses, nations, etc., in the manner of a father dealing benevolently and often intrusively with his children.” This paternalism supplies an approach for scholars to explain the bias of slave owners to picture their homestead as extended households, themselves as benevolent fathers, and enslaved African Americans as wayward children in need of guidance (“Proslavery Arguments: An Overview.” Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America, Encyclopedia.com, 10 Dec. 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/proslavery-arguments-overview) But what if we look at things from a from a slave a slaves perspective? One of the foremost corrupt scenes in Douglass’ 1st biography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicts the way he ate: ‘Our food was coarse corn meal boiled. This was called mush. It was put into a large wooden tray or trough and set down upon the ground. The children were then called, like so many pigs, and like so many pigs they would come and devour the mush; some with oyster-shells, others with pieces of shingle, some with naked hands, and none with spoons. He that ate fastest got most; he that was strongest secured the best place, and few left the trough satisfied.’ Douglass makes it a point to nail the boastful lie put out by slaveholders that ‘their slaves enjoy more of the physical comforts of life than the peasantry of any country in the world (Martyris, Nina. “Frederick Douglass On How Slave Owners Used Food As A Weapon Of Control.”) This goes against the defense of paternalism that slaveowners have used to justify slavery.

According to Solomon Northup, in the book, 12 years a slave, he said, “…There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones…nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust and barbarous one. Men may write fictions portraying lowly life as it is, or as it is not — may expatiate with owlish gravity upon the bliss of ignorance — discourse flippantly from armchairs of the pleasures of slave life; but let them toil with him in the field — sleep with him in the cabin — feed with him on husks; let them behold him scourged, hunted, trampled on, and they will come back with another story in their mouths. Let them know the heart of the poor slave — learn his secret thoughts (Northup, 157-158) From a slaveowners perspective, paternalism was essentially practiced as a mindset. Part of its origin stems from a political need by Southern leaders to justify slavery beyond the previously traditional routes. To them, it was a ‘necessary evil,’ that without it there would be a race war, and they believed the only way to maintain the South’s agricultural economy. However, paternalism was also rooted in the very heart of Southern social values. Beyond simply believing that ownership over slaves was right, the Southern master class (who were not all wealthy planters,) concluded that it was a breed apart from traditional men of any color, that it was made up of society’s natural-born leaders who deserved to rule, while the rest of society (blacks, women, poor/propertyless whites) deserved to follow. Paternalism was a ‘father-knows-best’ attitude that expected people, not only slaves, to know their place, and to defer to their benevolent rule. It was, of course, assumed that the paternalist’s rule was for the ultimate benefit of everyone in society, that despite needing to keep people in line now and then, their rule created general harmony and happiness.

Often times, slave owners contended that their slaves were inferior beings.

Citations

1. Rae, Noel. “How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify Slavery.” Time, Time, 23 Feb. 2018, time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/.
2. Martyris, Nina. “Frederick Douglass On How Slave Owners Used Food As A Weapon Of Control.” NPR, NPR, 10 Feb. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/02/10/514385071/frederick-douglass-on-how-slave-owners-used-food-as-a-weapon-of-control.
3. Rae, Noel. “How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify Slavery.” Time, Time, 23 Feb. 2018, time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/.
4. “Black Slave Owners Civil War Article by Robert M Grooms.” Black Slave Owners Civil War Article by Robert M Grooms, americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm.
5. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.

Abstract

The article identifies the models of exploitation held in sugar plantations during the abolition of slavery in Brazil. It is argued that the process of abolition in the Northeast sugar region did not represent a transition from a race-based system of coerced labour to a post-slavery system based on free labour. The conditions for exploitation rooted in the Brazilian slavery system were perpetuated. Literature focusing on the definition of exploitation and a Marxist perspective is applied to the economic and social context of sugar plantations in Brazil. The central finding is that the maintenance of a social structure based on racial exclusion and the monopoly of ownership by a minor class caused the prolongation of exploitative conditions for former slaves.

The process of abolition of slavery in Brazil represented the establishment of a long-lasting legacy that had a major impact on the structure of the Brazilian society. The study of the decline of slavery and the transition to “free” labour will uncover the fundamental composition of Brazilian colonial slavery. The focus of this essay will be on the sugar plantations in the Northern East of Brazil due to its crucial significance to the economic development of the country. By 1560, sixty years after the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese, sugar production had become the dominant economic activity in the northeast region. The exports of sugar to Europe decreased by 1690 as the West Indies took the Brazilian position in the international market. The sugar industry was followed by periods of expansion and stagnation and maintained its importance to the regional economy, providing high profitability to plantation owners.1 Slaves represented the majority of the workforce in the sugar industry and as the abolition process developed, new forms of labour relations were established to assure the slave’s uninterrupted servitude.

The economy in Brazil relied on the continuous servitude of slaves. Not only for the production of sugar but for many other important goods that at some point were the base of the Brazilian economy, like gold, rubber, and coffee. Considering that the exploitation of slaves was the base supporting the economy and the ruling class of the colony, how were slaves exploited and to what extent did the abolition of slavery in Brazil put an end to exploitative conditions in the sugar plantations? It is argued here that the process of abolition in the northeastern sugar region of Brazil did not represent a transition from a race-based system of coerced labour to a post-slavery system based on free labour. On the contrary, land ownership was monopolized by a ruling class and a social order based on racial exclusion was further developed. Consequently, the forms of exploitation held in the sugar plantations were perpetuated.

This article is based on a series of secondary sources including reviewed journal articles, published books, and dissertations. These can be divided into three categories according to the topic researched for this essay. The first academic works that will be reviewed deals with the definition of exploitation and the framework of this essay. “Marx and Exploitation” and “Exploring Exploitation” written by Jonathan Wolf and Jon Elster respectively, contain a discussion about the adequacy of Karl Marx’s definition of exploitation. Although both authors accept Marx’s major points, they both criticize some moral assumptions underlined in the philosopher’s ideas. In addition, Jonathan Wolf gives a more broad analysis of the definition of exploitation while Jon Elster considers the situations on which Marx’s ideas can be applied. Both perspectives will be used for the analysis of the colonial sugar plantations in northeast Brazil.

Secondly, the general context and the economic structure of the colonial sugar plantations explained in this essay is based on two main journal articles: “The Economics of Sugar and Slavery in Northeastern Brazil” and “The Last Years of Slavery on the Sugar Plantations of Northeastern Brazil”. The first deals with the economic and social structure of sugar plantations when slavery was present and the latter explores the changes coming from the abolition of the slavery system. Although these sources do not include an analysis of exploitation in sugar plantations, it serves as a basis for understanding the economic development of the sugar sector in Brazil before and after the abolition of slavery.

Finally, the sources used to build the core of the presented argumentation are the following. Most importantly, The “Liberation” of Africans Through the Emancipation of Capital by David Baronov. The author argues that the abolition of slavery produced three outcomes in Brazil: “a strict racial hierarchy, extramarket methods of labour coercion and the previouse capital class’ continued monopoly…”2 David’s theory will be the main foundation to the consequences of abolition proposed in this essay. Secondly, the article “A Lei de Terras (1850) e a Abolição da Escravidão: Capitalismo e Força de Trabalho” written by the Brazilian professor, Regina Fonseca Gadelha, discusses the process of commercializing land as an elitist project aiming towards the transition to free labour in Brazil. The author’s arguments will be used to further proof the monopolized ownership by the ruling class in sugar plantations.

In regards to the structure, the first part of the essay looks at a possible framework to analyze the process of abolition in the northeast of Brazil. The framework will be established according to the identified definition of exploitation. The second part issues the composition of the sugar plantation economy during the slavery system before and after abolition. In this section, the forms of slave exploitation will also be identified. Finally, the third part proposes two major causes that permitted the perpetuation of the exploitative conditions in the sugar plantations and a discussion about these causes.

Exploitation can take various forms, however, this phenomenon will be analyzed in the context of labour. The definition of labour exploitation in most cases is attributed to the classical and influential theory of Karl Marx. For Marx, the income that a worker receives is not equal to the effort in hours put into the production process. A part of the worker’s salary, known as the surplus value, is taken away by the capitalist to generate profit.3 In addition, Marx’s concept of exploitation is intrinsically connected to his ideas involving class. Ronald Chilcote, in an investigation about the ruling classes in northeast Brazil, explains the link between class and exploitation in the following manner: “In Marxist theory, an exploiting class is a group of individuals whose ownership of the means of production enables them to appropriate products of the others’ labour.”4 Therefore, exploitation takes place when a ruling class holds enough political power to monopolize the means of production and guarantee a continuous subjugation of their workers.

Marx’s perspective is useful to understand the context in which exploitation takes place, however, it can be applied to any society where private property or market mechanisms are present. For a broader perspective, exploitation will also be identified through two main categories. The first one is understood through the definition proposed by Jonathan Wolff: “To exploit someone is to make use of their circumstances in a way which fails properly to acknowledge their standing as an end in themself.”5 Thus, exploitation can be identified when someone is used as a mean to accomplish some goal, in the case of the capitalist or plantation owner, to accumulate capital and maximize their gains. Secondly, exploitation will also be identified in terms of coercion or forcefull acts that limit an individual’s freedom. In the case of slavery in sugar plantations, the use of physical violence for punishments was a form of coercion that amplified the exploitative conditions imposed.

The production process in the sugar plantations was characterized by a strongly established hierarchy in labour relations. The sugar plantations in Brazil were formed in a region known as the zona de mata or forest zone which developed in states ranging form Rio Grande in the northeast coast to Bahia. In the 1850s, there were around three thousand plantations in the zona de mata.6 The basic unit of production for the sugar industry was the engenho, signifying mill. The engenho represented more than the mill, it encompassed the entirety of the complex surrounding the mill including the land and equipment associated to it. The senhores do engenho or the plantation owners were the ones with sufficient capital to invest in the mill, land, and slaves.7 Moreover, these landowners rented a part of their property to tenants known as lavradores, who owned slaves and were able to cultivate cane in exchange for a fee or a percentage of their yield paid to the senhor do engenho. In addition to the lavradores and the slaves, there was a social class of poor agrigultural workers who were given land at the edges of the engenhos to sell subsistence crops and carry out errands to the plantation owner. These sharecroppers, known as moradores, were significantly dependant on the senhor do engenho, despite being considered as free workers.8 The hierarchical structure present in the engenho was one of the contributing factors to the legacy of the Brazilian slavery. David Baronov identifies this legacy as an “institutionalized racial segmentation of the labour process”.9 The European (land owners and lavradores) produced profit from the harsh working conditions of the mullatoes (positioned as moradores) and the black African slaves.

The race-based organization in the engenhos can, with no doubt, be considered as exploitative. This can be argued by firstly reassessing the definition of Jonathan Wolff in the context of slave-labour in northeast Brazil. The act of associating a slave to a determined market price is already a form of exploitation in the sense that the slave is viewed as a commodity, as a component of production. Therefore, slaves are used as a mean for profit and not as ends in themselves. Secondly, for the continued servitude and control of slaves, coercion was necessary, which increased the exploitative conditions imposed. This is argued by Stuart Schwartz as he points out that “the slave regime itself created conditions in which the exercise of dominance that called for extreme physical force or punishment was a logical and in fact necessary element of the regime.”10 In sugar plantations, the management of slaves was commonly understood by the “three-p”: pau (rod for punishment), pão (bread), and pano (cloth).11 Finally, from a Marxist perspective, exploitation was inherently present due to the privileged position of the lavradores and especially the senhores do engenho, who owned the slaves, land and all the resources for the production of sugar. Consequently, a separation of classes can be established: the senhores do engenho and lavradores as the exploiting class and the slaves and moradores as the exploited class.

The factors which contributed to the practice of exploitation in the sugar plantations during the slavery system in Brazil have been identified, however, did this practice end after the abolition of slavery? To answer this question an analysis of the process of abolition must be carried out. The abolition of slavery in Brazil did not come with the end of slave trade at the beginning of the 19th century. The population of slaves in the northeast was maintained stable after the end of slave trade. Slavery was officially abolished in 1888 with the Golden Law. The gradual change from slave-labour to wage-labour was not a factor that negatively influenced the production or profit obtained in the sugar industry.12 The main transformation was in the structure of the plantation society. An entire social class, the slaves, who represented a major part of the work force, was eliminated. This signified an important consequence to the lavradores since they were dependent on the ownership of slaves to rent a piece of property from the senhores do engenho. Despite the lavradores’ economic loss, their social class in the northeast remained constant after 1888.13 Lavradores were now dependant on the moradores, who increased in population due to the addition of slaves to this social class, and were now required to carry out more obligations in return for the use of a plot of land.14 Therefore, the social structure in sugar plantations remained the same. Labour was still race-based, lavradores and senhores do engenho maintained their privileged positions and former slaves were still denied access to property.

In addition to the maintained structure based on racial exclusion, the structure of land ownership also presented a major obstacle for the further emancipation of former slaves. This was possible due to the implementation of the Lei de Terras (Land Act), a piece of legislation that recognized non-occupied land as property of the state with a fixed price.15 The Land Act, project led by the depute Joaquim José Rodrigues Torres, had three main objectives: increase the price of land to turn it unaccessible for the work force, provide financial security to landowners, and merge a dispersed population in one area to improve labour productivity.16 Therefore, the lei de terras was a legal instrument to ensure the monopoly of land property for a capitalist class in many different regions in Brazil, not only the northeast sugar sector. From a Marxist perspective, the monopoly of property and means of production is a form of exploitation, although coercion and forceful acts were not necessarily directly present.

Even though it can be argued that exploitative models were maintained after abolition, this does not imply that slaves were less free or that their serfdom continued at the same level as before. Former slaves were granted the possibility to move freely and therefore, when the golden law was established (1888), migration to other regions apart from sugar plantations were common. As Galloway explains, “some of the former slaves moved to towns, others to the interior, many it appears settled down as moradores either on the plantations where they had served as slaves, or on neighboring plantations”17 Despite the migration of former slaves, the impact it had on the sugar industry was not significant. In the northeast, there was no necessity for immigrant workers since free and cheap labour was abundant with the existing alternative choice to slave labour (the moradores). Slaves may have had the option to migrate to other regions, nevertheless, the exploitative models rooted from the slavery system were still maintained in sugar plantations. The worker force was still unable to enjoy the fruits of their own labour and they were still seen as a means for capital accumulation.

In summary, the concept of exploitation has been explored and applied to the context of slavery in sugar plantations. During the slavery system in northeast Brazil, exploitation was definitely an essential characteristic attached to sugar plantations that not only hindered the emancipation of slaves, but contributed to the maintenance of a ruling class represented by the lavradores and senhores do engenho. Additionally, the late process of abolition in northeast Brazil did not constitute the end of the exploitative conditions identified. Former slaves were able to migrate to other regions, however the economic and social structure of plantations was still based on the expropriation of the product from the worker’s labour. Legislation on land and a social structure based on racial exclusion, guaranteed the monopoly of ownership by planters and the continued exploitation of former slaves and moradores.

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