This book review examines the work of Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. The review focuses on Manning’s qualitative and quantitative approach at explaining the dynamics of slave trade when viewed from the Continent of Africa.
The author’s approach of examining the slavery issue from the lens of economic history and the involvement of normal Africans living in Africa is then examined. Manning’s main thrust of argument is that Africans themselves were no innocent bystanders but active collaborators who participated in enslaving their own brethren for narrow personal or tribal gains to dispose off an adversary or gather wealth and this ‘sacrifice’ was a boon to the Occident and the Orient whose masses were spared the forced migration.
The author’s statistical, graphical and pictorial representation is then examined to note that such a treatment has contemporary appeal rather than a dry narrative of historical events.
The review then examines the validity of Manning’s statistical data and opines that the extrapolations that manning indulged in determining census could result in large errors.
Irrespective of the possible factual errors Manning succeeds in holding the interest of his readers through his graphical and pictorial representations that makes even boring statistical numbers exciting.
A vast body of literature exists that study the period of slavery in American history and its consequent effects on the state of race relations. Patrick Manning’s work, Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades focuses on African slavery through the lens of the economic history of the continent and its people. This book review examines the main aspects of Manning’s work to capture the essence of African slavery.
Manning in this book concentrates not on the slaves or the dynamics of slave trade in America but on the Africans who were left behind in Africa during the slavery period. Manning holds that these Africans were not just mute spectators of the injustice but also participants in it who did so for narrow personal or tribal gains to dispose off an adversary or gather wealth (Manning, 1990, p. 2). In collaborating with the Colonial powers, these Africans contributed to the depopulation of Africa that led to her subsequent economic demise.
The enslavement of Africans, Manning argues, was a sacrifice that served to benefit the Occident and the Orient (Manning, p. 3) whose masses were spared the forced migrations and thus could in the modern world compete with the West. Africa’s losses of human capital during the slavery period have in a large way contributed to its present poverty and lack of economic growth, a harsh fact, which the developed world chooses to ignore.
Throughout the book, Manning offers comprehensive economic statistics on the number of Africans who were transported from across the continent. He breaks down these statistics as per regions and countries. Manning presents his evidence in a pictorial form (p. 10) as well as graphical form (p. 18) which clearly brings out that the volume of slave trade peaked from 1700 to about 1850 and declined thereafter by the turn of the 20th century. In chapter 3, Manning uses a demographic model in an easy to understand schematic representation (p. 40) to drive home the process of enslavement as it was operative during the period.
Manning then backs up his theses with a dispassionate and lucid analysis of slave trade numbers, computer simulation and the economics of slave trade to finally state that the actual end of slavery happened because of the protest and uprising by the slaves themselves, Christian and intellectual enlightenment as well as the growing realization of Africans who were left behind in Africa that their dwindling numbers harmed them in the long run even if it provided for short term prosperity. The weakness in Manning’s statistical approach lies in his extrapolation of unreliable census data of the middle to late colonial period which brings to suspect the numbers that Manning arrives at for example, the assessment that the Sub-Saharan population was 50 million in 1850 (p. 84) is doubtful.
The author has assiduously referred to all previous great works and thus he provides a comprehensive annotated bibliography for future research scholars to build upon. Manning’s unique treatment of the subject where the focus is on the Africans who were left behind in Africa throws new light on the subject. Manning’s use of modern analytical methods as well as computer simulations makes the book interesting for contemporary readers. Notwithstanding some errors in the statistical extrapolations, the book is an honest attempt at filling gaps in the recording of African Slavery history which would of use and interest to lay readers and scholars alike.
Works Cited
Manning, P. (1990). Slavery and African life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The development of medieval slavery is a negative page in human history. Numerous destinies were crippled by the existing order due to the domination of one race over others and resulted in centuries of inequality as a generally accepted phenomenon. Individual empires with dozens of colonies around the world used free slave labour, which, in addition, was traded. Only in the 19th century, real attempts to change the existing order and provide freedom of captive immigrants began to be made. The activities of human rights defenders promoting the abolition of slavery started to spread globally, which made it possible to achieve positive results. Today, issues of inequality are discussed, but individual references to the events of past centuries allow demonstrating the inadmissibility of slavery as a phenomenon. The aim of this work is to find and discuss specific examples of slavery and attitudes towards it in the media, with an emphasis on historical events before the mid-19th century. A gradual shift in values was a turning point in the course of the abolitionist movement, but before its emergence, the oppression of people along ethnic lines was considered natural.
Torture and Violence as the Norms
One of the reasons confirming the inadmissibility of slavery and the unfairness of the attitude towards this phenomenon is the unjustification of torture and violence. People who were held in inhuman conditions and forced to hard work were not considered full members of society and were subjected to severe punishment for any attempt at disobedience or violation of detention conditions. Moreover, slave owners made no distinction between males, females and children and applied severe punishments to those who, in their opinion, behaved inappropriately. Rendal (2020) presents an image that vividly conveys the attitude towards slaves in the early 19th century. In Figure 1, a situation is depicted in which a black woman is hung on a rope on the deck of a ship, which implies punishing her for a certain offence (Rendal, 2020). This image demonstrates the full range of emotions, including the fear of other female slaves and the pleasure of the torturers.
Fig. 1. Torture on the ship (Rendal, 2020).
This behaviour was not considered unnatural during the days of slavery, which was a good reason for abolitionists’ activities and the promotion of ideas about the protection of people held in inhuman conditions. Captives from Africa, South America and other colonies who were transported to Europe and America were treated as those who could endure any violence and survive torture as an essential element of slave education. This position reflects the unwillingness of society to accept the idea that equality and freedom are inalienable attributes that every person has the right to possess. Historical examples confirm that slavery was a phenomenon that was not geographically defined. As Spieler (2015) states, in some colonies, for instance, Guiana, there were no sugar or coffee plantations. Nevertheless, Europeans, in particular, the British, exported free labour from there in large quantities, which indicates the great commercial value of captives. To create stable and wide flows of slave trade routes, colonialists were brutal and showed unjustified cruelty. As a result, an inhumane attitude towards slaves became natural and was perceived as a logical principle of maintaining authority among vulnerable indigenous people in different colonies.
The idea that the slave trade was not limited by moral norms or social boundaries was supported at the official level. According to Rendal (2020), beginning in 1660, the British Crown gave the go-ahead for the supply of free labour from Africa to America, and there were no limits or forbidden rules. With world domination, the royal family had the authority to regulate the flow of the slave trade. There were no official documents or laws that coordinated the principles of keeping slaves since captives were not treated as people. This led to the fact that rudeness and cruelty were the key methods of interacting with them. Historical examples of mass executions, demonstrative punishments and other approaches to coercion into obedience were perceived as an essential attribute of domination. Spieler (2015) remarks that the attitude towards free labour was based on the idea that the nature of slaves did not imply high intelligence and was submissive to white colonists. Therefore, torture and violence that were used against captive immigrants from Africa and other regions were perceived as a social norm and promoted as a logical aspect of coercion into submission.
Early Attempts to Change Mass Consciousness
Although slaves had no opportunities to express their positions and defend their rights in other ways than uprisings, any attempts to regain freedom were brutally suppressed. Since the slave trade flourished during the era of colonisation, control over captives was tough, and immigrants from Africa and other colonies did not have a chance to organise squads and groups to counter the violent regime. However, despite this order, individuals among the general white population began to promote ideas of humanism and made attempts to change public opinion about the inadmissibility of slavery. These figures called themselves abolitionists and sought to legitimise the ban on human trafficking. Their activities were underground since their ideas contradicted with the existing social and legal norms and were considered extremist. In Figure 2, an example is shown of an armed troop attacking the home of John Brown, one of the well-known abolitionists (De Togni, n.d.). One can assume that the local authorities were afraid of shifts in the mass consciousness and were ready to go to great lengths to suppress riots. Thus, stopping illegal activities to organise uprisings and create resistance movements was a critical task.
Fig. 2. Attack on John Brown’s house (De Togni, n.d.).
Neither slave owners nor government officials were ready for society to abandon the idea of inequality and accept humanistic views as the key principles of interaction. As De Togni (n.d.) states, in a number of colonial countries, local industries were largely dependent on the slave trade. The author cites the example of Boston in which the textile industry was one of the leading spheres and developed due to the work of free labour (De Togni, n.d). However, the abolitionist views that emerged in this region threatened the production process significantly. At the same time, protest sentiments began to manifest in other places where the authorities had to make severe efforts to prevent riots, for instance, in Washington that was the centre of American power (De Togni, n.d.). According to Baszile (2015), the first serious attempts to change the mass consciousness began in 1776 after the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. Human rights defenders sought to create a society with equal rights and opportunities, which was unacceptable under the existing order of legal inequality. Thus, the end of the 18th century became a turning point for the slave system.
The late 18th and early 19th centuries were the stages when the activities of abolitionists began to spread among the masses. Baszile (2015) argues that after America gained independence from the British Crown, local movements in support of equality and the abolition of slavery became widespread. However, those stakeholders who were not ready to abandon the slave trade as a key resource for enrichment took strong measures to curb any attempts to change the situation. As a result, abolitionists had to act covertly, and underground activities to prepare measures to combat the existing order was the only possible approach. As De Togni (n.d.) remarks, human rights defenders had to rely on their own forces and resources since any association with representatives of the movement in other countries was impossible due to total control. However, abolitionists succeeded in achieving their initial goals: society began to pay attention to the problem of slavery. Certain categories of the population accepted the idea that inequality supplemented by cruelty, violence and torture could not exist in any form. Therefore, the first shifts in mass consciousness were achieved due to abolitionists’ activities.
Shift in Values
In Britain, the abolitionist movement began a little earlier than in America. In the 1760s, the first attempts were reported by both white and black activists to draw public attention to slavery as an unacceptable phenomenon (“How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect,” n.d.). Opportunities to influence European colonists expanded due to the constant influx of new members to this movement. In society, alliances of white and black citizens became widespread, and Figure 3 depicts a gathering of people with the representatives of two races (“How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect,” n.d.). Such an outcome was unlikely in the 18th century when colonisation was one of the key directions of trade and highly valued as the most important channel for replenishing the treasury and achieving world domination. However, at the turn of the century, a shift in values under the influence of the abolitionist movement became apparent, and specific measures were taken to combat inequality. The participation of human rights defenders paid off and proved that the idea was perceived positively among a large number of people who sought to change social norms.
Fig. 3. Abolitionist meeting (“How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect,” n.d.).
The influence of abolitionists on masses became significant, and an increasing number of people joined their movement. As a result, in 1807, the British Parliament passed the Act of the Abolition of the Slave Trade that promote social equality (“How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect,” n.d.). According to Woods (2015), planters and slavers did not share the triumph of abolitionists, and the Act was not passed unequivocally. Moreover, among some stakeholders, discontent was expressed strongly since, in addition to financial opportunities they lost, they faced a position that contradicted their views on the existing social order. However, the empathy of abolitionists for slaves made it possible to change the consciousness of the ruling elites, which can be interpreted as a significant advance in the fight against slavery. As Woods (2015) argues, this achievement was valuable not only from the standpoint of strengthening moral values. Former slave traders received no material incentives or other resources as compensations for the loss of their business. This, in turn, became one of the steps towards the establishment of democracy and class justice, what was contrary to the current immoral norms.
Despite the changes, the complete abolition of slavery had not been achieved yet. Numerous conventions that developed over a long period prevented the immediate end of the free labour trade. According to Woods (2015), in 1807, the abolitionist campaign was successful, but initially, the Act aimed to limit the economic interests of France. Subsequently, the British authorities implemented the provisions of the Act within the state, but foreign economic interest was one of the significant drivers. At the same time, the value of the measures taken by the government allowed rooting the idea that slavery was unacceptable from either a social or an ethical perspective. One of the main abolitionists’ achievements was the shift in values and the acceptance of the idea of the need to replace the vector of development from the slave trade to other industries. The beginning of the 19th century was marked by a transition from decades of oppression of immigrants from Africa and other poor regions to more advanced and morally justified principles of a democratic society. The interim success became a significant factor stimulating subsequent developments in this direction and further abolitionists’ achievements.
Differences in Views Before the Total Abolition of Slavery
The analysis of the situation after the Act of 1807 can provide an opportunity to determine the key moods in society and, in particular, the attitude towards slavery as a phenomenon considered ambiguous and controversial. Media examples confirm that most of the resources focus on abolitionist ideas aimed to denigrate slave traders. There is no indication that human trafficking was justified from a financial, ethical, geopolitical or another perspective, which suggests a clear view of the issue at hand. For instance, in Figure 4, a meeting of respected citizens is presented where problems related to slave emancipation are resolved (Rothman, 2016). One should take into account that not only white citizens are present in this image but also several black ones, which confirms a significant shift in mass consciousness regarding the rights of the black population. However, not all the strata of society were unambiguous about the abolition of slavery, which was logical in the face of financial losses for a number of interested parties. Nevertheless, the share of these representatives in power was minimal, which made it possible to promote the ideas of emancipation at the global level successfully.
Fig. 4. Abolitionists’ meeting (Rothman, 2016).
Views on abolitionism in the media prove that the trend towards changing societal ideas about slavery was supported early and continues today. Dolan (2017) argues that the Slave Emancipation Act adopted in 1833 became one of the key documents regulating the formal British refusal of human trafficking. However, some media sources cite controversial opinions of the opponents of abolitionism. Rothman (2016) cites critics who noted that minority rights activists focused on one issue while ignoring others. In particular, the author notes that some citizens disputed the unambiguity of the ideas of abolitionists and stated that they were inclined to fight only against slavery (Rothman, 2016). Other manifestations of the bourgeois-capitalist system, according to this standpoint, were not addressed. Nevertheless, such an opinion could be justified if public figures strove for insignificant or meaningless goals. However, as Dolan (2017) remarks, the end of the colonial era and slave emancipation may be considered the most important achievements of humanity in the 19th century. Therefore, the criticism of the abolitionist movement can be regarded as lacking sufficient grounds.
Before slavery was completely eradicated as a social phenomenon, certain classes and even regions expressed disagreements with the results of the struggle against the current system. Rothman (2016) draws attention to the economic decline that the southern regions of America faced after the free labour supply stopped. In addition, social issues regarding the freedom of Africans who had no personal belongings also remained open. However, despite the disagreement of individual classes, emancipation at the legislative level was inevitable. As Dolan (2017) notes, in the British colonies in the West Indies, measures were taken to ensure a relatively slow transition to the new order. This principle of ensuring the security of all parties involved indicates the interest of the authorities in pursuing the emancipation policy as efficiently as possible since this issue was a key problem in society. Given potential tensions in economic and trade sectors, states needed to promote systems of strategic cooperation. As a result, emancipation is not considered as a negative consequence of abolitionism and can be assessed as a logical and ethically correct total of many years of abolitionists’ activities.
General Principles of Reflecting Slavery in Media Sources
Starting from the analysis of various representations of slavery in the media based on graphic images and opinions, one can note that the key ideas are reduced to abolitionism as an inevitable social phenomenon. The position justifying slavery cannot be acceptable in modern democratic society since ethics in human relationships largely determine the nature of interactions. At the same time, many resources mention the dissatisfaction of certain classes with the abolition of slavery. According to the review, the main complaints against abolitionists are reduced to an emphasis on human trafficking and ignoring other issues that deserve attention. Nevertheless, while taking into account a long mechanism for the abolition of slavery, which implied many years of preparation, the results of legislative practice were positive. Thus, the main trends reflecting slavery in the media are based on the condemnation of such a social order and a positive assessment of abolitionists’ activities.
Conclusion
The comprehensive assessments of media resources highlighting the topic of long-term slavery and visual content reflecting the social moods of that time prove that Africans captured by slave traders were significantly oppressed. The absence of democratic freedoms was characteristic of the 18th-century society, and it was only in the 19th century that real shifts in values began to be observed. However, the activities of abolitionists seeking to stop slavery and fighting for equality started to spread globally before the adoption of the relevant laws. The analysis of media sources shows that the discontent of certain classes of the population had financial grounds. The criticism of the abolitionist movement presupposed the condemnation of too narrow legal work. However, due to the joint efforts of human rights defenders and legislators, the corresponding acts on democratic rights were signed, which marked the beginning of the new era of social relations.
References
Baszile, D. T. (2015). Rhetorical revolution: Critical race counterstorytelling and the abolition of white democracy. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 239-249.
Dolan, E. A. (2017). Lionel Smith in Barbados, 1833–1836: Imperialist and abolitionist rhetoric in emancipation-era Caribbean governance. Slavery & Abolition, 39(2), 333-356.
Antebellum slavery plays an essential role in shaping the history and legacy of American society. The novel tells the story of two different times, the 1970s and 1815s, and shows other conditions of the heroes’ existence due to gender and racial characteristics. A person forms a mentality according to the social situation; therefore, opportunities, position in society, and the surrounding characters are essential factors.
The rights and capabilities of the heroes strive to reach an equal level. In the 1970s, the heroes meet at work, and Dana was a free and educated person despite her skin color. This story speaks of the formed equality between men and women and between blacks and whites, who, to a similar extent, may work, receive education, choose whoever they want to marry, and other freedoms.
The events of the journey into the past show both gender and racial inequality. In the past, heroes could not be husband and wife since it was forbidden for a white man to marry a black woman, so they pretended to be slave and a master. Gender and racial inequality are depicted in daily activities and relationships between people, which is reflected in indulging one’s desires.
The surrounding characters, slave Sarah, Tom Weylin, and his wife Margaret, show various personalities and views. Tom is brutal in beating slaves for reading, Margaret is arrogant and contemptuous for a sense of power, and Sarah is compassionate and has a desire to help. The position and behavior of secondary characters influence actions of major characters; in other words, shape the circumstances.
Social factors such as gender and interracial inequality determine how a person’s life will develop. During the 1970s, social equality prevailed; women could receive education and work. In the 1815s, there was a concept of slavery expressed in inequality of skin color and infringement of women’s rights and freedoms. Supporting characters show various roles, attitudes, such as patience and submission, and harshness and arrogance towards Sarah.
With the advancements in cotton production, growing waves of white migrants went to Southern states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama), seeing an opportunity for profit (Franklin & Higginbotham, 2010). Consequently, the demand for slaves also increased. Slaves were sourced both through domestic trade and interstate trade from Atlantic seaboard states (Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina). The latter became increasingly profitable after the prohibition of importing slaves from Africa. Slave traders were everywhere, actively persuading to sell and buy. Prices varied between the states and increased over time. For instance, in Charleston, in 1800, an unskilled young man’s cost was about $500, but, by 1860, it reached $1,200.
Along with the expansion of slavery, slave codes were introduced. They varied from state to state, but the essence was that slaves were not people but protected property. Slaves had no legal rights and could not leave their master’s plantation without being authorized. To ensure compliance with these codes, slave patrols were introduced. Their purpose was to track and catch runaway slaves and return them to their masters. They also observed assemblances of slaves and searched their quarters for weapons ensuring their obedience.
The work of slaves was primarily agricultural. The working regime on large plantations was incredibly intense, especially during harvest season, with slaves having no time to cultivate their own gardens. They worked in fields under the supervision of masters or overseers. The work did not require skills but a lot of time and effort. Aside from cultivating the crop, slaves were used for breaking soil, carrying water, and mending fences.
However, slaves still found time to communicate, gather during holidays, or other special events. While certain religious freedom was allowed, as the abolitionist movement grew, many masters become suspicious of slaves churches fearing slaves doubting the inequality notions of proslavery preachers. Still, almost all plantations had slave preachers – slaves gathered in woods to worship freely. As for slave families, some had an opportunity to work and live together, but many families were divided by the slave trade. Childbearing was often difficult due to the lack of appropriate medical care.
Contrary to popular notions, many slaves were not obedient or docile. They committed various acts of resistance by stealing food and clothing, faking illnesses, sabotaging plantation work by breaking tools, and employing tricks to manipulate the selling process in their favor. Some slaves committed suicides or acts of self-mutilation; others found opportunities to escape. There were also cases of masters being poisoned or brutally murdered. Many slaves expressed their anger in revolts. More than a hundred uprisings occurred in Louisiana in 1811. The major slave rebellions include Gabriel Prosser’s conspiracy, Denmark Vesey’s conspiracy, and the Black Seminole rebellion.
References
Franklin, J. H., & Higginbotham, E.B. (2010). From slavery to freedom: A history of African Americans (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Parks, G. (1984). Solomon Northup’s odyssey [Film]. PBS.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, an outstanding philosopher and great thinker, deeply analyzed the concept of slavery, supporting the position that ‘everyone is born free, and everywhere he is in chains‘. (Jacobus and Gardner, 58). Slavery promoted in the period of Ancient Greece, appeared to be a central question in Rousseau’s theoretical view. The thinker concentrated on ideas of democracy and stressed that some people are born to be the dominants in the society, while others are born for slavery. The problem is related not only to ancient society, where the slavery was highly promoted, but to the modern one, where the government keeps everyone in chains.
As long as people need to obey, they remain to be under the pressure of rulers; they give their liberty to the government under the regulations of social order. Modern people are slaves as well, though the concept of ‘slavery’ is totally dissolved in the society. Nevertheless, people should dedicate their liberty to the government and state destructing personal freedom. Rousseau managed to underline the idea that the concept of slavery is interacted with human need to live in the world of unlimited opportunities and rights. People cannot alienate themselves from the society, as well as they cannot take away the freedom of their new born children. The limitation of freedom is reached at the age of reason; liberty can be renounced with the manhood renouncing. Rights and slavery are presented by the thinker as two contrary notions; Rousseau strived to provide the analysis of rights in their moral, spiritual sense; the involvement into dependence from the rulers means the involvement into the slavery, and it is being in the state of war.
It is necessary to stress that Rousseau managed to illustrate the concept of slavery as phenomenon of all times and epochs. People should live in harmony with nature and themselves to be not deprived of their rights to freedom in all its expressions. (Jacobus and Gardner, 63)
Rousseau provided political associations between the state and the family, considering the family as the oldest government form. Stressing this position the thinker identified state ruler as the father of the family, and children are all the people. The governmental form is usually identified by the character of its population and physical climate; this position depicts every state as the family, which is not united by blood, but by political associations. Rousseau was convincing in his considerations, though there is some difference between the perception of the family and the state. In the family, the father gates the love of his children for him as a reward, while in state ruling, pleasure is got on the basis of commanding other people. (Jacobus and Gardner, 60)
There is a need to identify contradictions to this theoretical point; thus, his position as to the slavery promoted in modern society contradicts the possibility of family existence, while family cannot be characterized by slavery. One should also underline the fact that the family is depicted as a primitive unit and a part of nature slavery, contradicting the position of family unity in the government and state. People are said to be slaves and cannot perform the role of ‘children in the governmental family’. Rousseau underlined the family concepts identification as the basis of government, though being characterized by slavery pressure promotion.
Work Cited
Jacobus, Lee, and Gardner, Janet. World of Ideas 8th Ed + Literature: A Portable Anthology 2nd Ed. 8th Edition, Bedford/st Martins, 2009.
Mende, Janne. “The concept of modern slavery: definition, critique, and the human rights frame.” Human Rights Review 20.2 (2019): 229-248.
The author provides a detailed analysis of the history of slavery, which authorizes one to comprehend why this issue arose and what its course was. It is especially relevant to future research, as an understanding of the origins of slavery is necessary for a qualitative analysis of its impact on modern society. The author has a scholarly background in history, which guarantees the source’s reliability.
Salamani, Abdel Kaader. “European Laws’ View of the Phenomenon of Slavery and the Reasons for abolishing it.” Miṣriqiyā, vol. 1, no. 1, 2021, pp. 14-28.
The collective memory of slavery haunts those societies where it is a central part of their history. The author turns to the examples of three European countries and, through the analysis, reveals the piece of the effects of the slave trade and the modernization of its forms. The author conducted numerous interviews with both enslaved people and exploiters. It provides firsthand data that can serve as a qualitative reference for studying the origins of slavery and its consequences.
Hall, Catherine. “Doing Reparatory History: Bringing ‘Race and Slavery Home.” Race & Class, vol. 60, no. 1, 2018, pp. 3-21.
The study focuses on the process of the slave trade in the United States, where race is still a dividing category, isolating whites and blacks. The author stresses that this categorization goes back to the time of slavery and leads to disparities in lifestyles and forms of life. The article includes numerous relevant and recent examples and is a credible source of data and statistics for the study. An examination of U.S. history can reveal the impact of slavery on race relations and discrimination as one of the most significant problems of modern times.
Payne, B. Keith, Heidi A. Vuletich, and Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi. “Historical roots of implicit bias in slavery.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol.116, no. 24, 2019, pp. 11693-11698.
Enslaved people have long been relegated to the domestic sphere and denied access and recognition in the public one. The modern separation of the public and private spheres reflects these origins, and these ideas are the core of the study. The source included qualitative and quantitative analysis and was published in an academic journal last year, confirming its reliability. Systematic exclusion and segregation have laid the groundwork for discrepancies in lifestyles. It is essential for current times and is relevant to the study because slavery guided it.
Landman, Todd, and Bernard W. Silverman. “Globalization and modern slavery.” Politics and Governance, vol. 7, no. 4, 2019.
The author of the study insists that the essence of slavery is hidden in society itself, and until the level of consciousness increases, it will flourish. The article’s primary purpose is to analyze modern forms of slavery and analyze the process of their emergence. It is relevant to a future study, which aims to trace the pattern of slavery’s emergence and its consequences. Moreover, the article is recent and has no bias, emphasizing the information’s reliability.
Works Cited
Hall, Catherine. “Doing Reparatory History: Bringing ‘Race and Slavery Home.” Race & Class, vol. 60, no. 1, 2018, pp. 3-21.
Landman, Todd, and Bernard W. Silverman. “Globalization and modern slavery.” Politics and Governance, vol. 7, no. 4, 2019.
Mende, Janne. “The concept of modern slavery: definition, critique, and the human rights frame.” Human Rights Review 20.2 (2019): 229-248.
Payne, B. Keith, Heidi A. Vuletich, and Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi. “Historical roots of implicit bias in slavery.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol.116, no. 24, 2019, pp. 11693-11698.
Salamani, Abdel Kaader. “European Laws’ View of the Phenomenon of Slavery and the Reasons for abolishing it.” Miṣriqiyā, vol. 1, no. 1, 2021, pp. 14-28.
Although slavery institution was at the base of colonial economic life during the seventeen century (especially in the south), such practice sometimes was a subject of moral criticism, thus, requiring a proper justification. In this regard, slavery defenders introduced a number of arguments in favor of their position. Among them, the ones that justified slavery as a general concept included the notion of slavery as universal natural order or the centrality of unfree and forced labor for certain industries, to name a few. However, other assertions intended to support and explain the slavery of non-whites or people of color in particular. On the one hand, such arguments were based on racial prejudices and, on the other hand – on a literal reading of the Bible and other religious manuscripts.
As for the former, the Europeans associated the darker skin color of Africans and Indians with evil. Indeed, the sharp difference in cultural traditions, behavior, and appearance was usually interpreted as a sign of barbarism. For this reason and due to widespread racist sentiments, ‘civilized’ Spanish, French, and English nations viewed Indians and Africans as inherently lazy and stupid. As a result, such perceptions gave rise to the argument that the latter people are inferior to Europeans and, thus, should be in a position of servitude (BBC, n.d.). Additionally, it was even stated that slavery was actually good for the slaves as they were unable to govern themselves effectively; therefore, slave owners should, in some sense, be considered saviors.
The other line of argumentation, as mentioned above, was based on the specific interpretation of the religious texts. For instance, slavery defenders were often referring to the story of Noah and Ham. “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers,” exclaims Noah knowing that Ham seeing him naked told everything to the brothers instead of covering his father (NIV, n.d., Genesis 9:25). Therefore, as Canaan descendants were believed to be Africans, it was maintained that the enslavement of black people was according to God’s will.
References
BBC. (n.d.). Attempts to justify slavery. Web.
New International Version [NIV]. (n.d.). BibleGateway.com. Web.
After reading the preface and first two chapters of the book “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy” by Kevin Bales, the reader perceives the topic of new slavery clearer and from different angles. The author brings up the issue of the ongoing modern enslavement of people all over the world. Bales pushes us to think about the problem as the one affecting every human and discloses how widespread and violent slavery remains to be. The author estimates the current number of slaves to be 27 million people and highlights the major reasons causing the prolongation of human trafficking. The immense increase of the population after World War II and the influence of development and globalization of the world’s economy on traditional families in developing countries have led to the increment in the gap between the elite and poverty. Humans infrequently assess the slavery issue from the largescale, and these factors leading to ongoing human bondage stay major and crucial for its prolongation.
Bales emphasizes the changes in modern slavery relationships and accentuates that current interconnections between slaves and their owners are worse in a variety of factors than in previous times. For instance, today, the slave market has expanded as there is no connection to ethnicity anymore and legal ownership is not obligatory. Therefore, the attitude to slaves was cheap; they were estimated as disposable and easily replaced workers. With the help of the author, we understand how human life is disvalued and underestimated nowadays in such countries as Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and many others. The major reflection Bales brings a reader to is that human enslavement remains an up-to-date issue even though the majority of people rarely face it and think it is over. The current world needs changes in human rights protection and legitimatization of labor rules so various people of different incomes and country origins can be respected and treated equally.
Both chapters under review present the condition of human existence that was long ago abandoned in most of the developed countries. For this reason, the audience that reads about cases of slavery in some of the third-world countries has the feeling of encountering the past – something that, in readers’ understanding, is already a history. Yet, the author’s thorough research and skillful writing regarding modern slavery allows traveling through time and remembering the long-gone events. Indeed, the chapters help the readers from the United States, European countries, and other nations with highly developed slavery institutions in the past to better understand their own history. For instance, the text suggests that probably enslaved laborers in the U.S. South, even though unhappy about their hard work, were generally devoted to their masters similarly to those in Mauritania, thus, unlikely to revolt. Moreover, for some of them, freedom may have been associated with the worse sufferings. Therefore, through the description of how and why modern slavery exists, the readers are not only able to remember the old times but also to reevaluate it.
However, in my opinion, the chapters’ strongest part is the detailed portrayal of enslaved people, which allows readers to imagine the life of this group clearly and empathize with victims. In short, it can be called to live life on the edge, as the name of chapter IV suggests. Hard everyday work, extreme poverty, fear of a master, bad health and, insufficient nutrition are just a few things that old and modern slaves had to experience. For example, the author describes how workers in Brazil have to sleep on the “poles and branches…tied or nailed together to make a crude frame”. These people have neither past nor future as every day is absolutely the same as the other. Thus, the author maintains that all the countries should actively address this problem.
The author’s post constructively analyzed the points regarding how the native Americans treated the colonists from Europe, given that many agreed to live by the new standards. However, one should not forget that in addition to the colonialists from Europe and India, contractual enslaved people were exiled, subjected to severe attacks and violence, and enslaved people for those who owned them. Despite the seemingly short period of contract slavery (approximately three years), people did not have the right to marry without the owner’s permission while the contract term was in effect. They could be beaten; they were deprived of legal assistance in the courts (Robbins, 2017). Thus, could this serve as an additional motivation for creating a movement against the traditional slavery of African Americans of that time? It is difficult to give a correct answer to this question since, to some extent, there is no proper response. In any case, we should not forget that despite the movement of Bacon, the very essence of slavery did not disappear anywhere and even began to worsen.
Second Discussion Board Post
Slavery is indeed a severe problem even to this day. It is estimated that about 20-35 million people worldwide are enslaved and live in harsh living conditions (Fernández et al., 2020, p. 62). However, more facts and cases from the author about indentured servitude are missing, which at that time was responsible for transporting more than 250,000 settlers from Europe as enslaved people. It also begs the question, exactly how many of these contract enslaved people were subjected to forced labor? It is difficult for experts to assess accurately, yet the fact remains. Slavery is still a pressing problem in the modern world.
References
Fernández, E. V., Avila, D. D., Bautista, V. H., García, M. G., & Jacinto, O. A. (2020). Slavery today and its Social Impact. Advances in Applied Sociology, 10(03), 61-73.
Robbins, K. (Ed.). (2017). History of Oxford University Press: Volume IV. Oxford Scholarship Online.
