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The Psychological Legacy of Slavery: Essays on Trauma, Healing, and the Living Past

Benjamin P. Bowser and Aimé Charles-Nicolas

This collection of essays surveys the practices, behaviors, and beliefs that developed during slavery in the Western Hemisphere, and the lingering psychological consequences that continue to impact the descendants of enslaved Africans today. The psychological legacies of slavery highlighted in this volume were found independently in Brazil, the U.S., Belize, Jamaica, Colombia, Haiti, and Martinique. They are color prejudice, self and community disdain, denial of trauma, black-on-black violence, survival crime, child beating, underlying African spirituality, and use of music and dance as community psychotherapy. The effects on descendants of slave owners include a belief in white supremacy, dehumanization of self and others, gun violence, and more. Essays also offer solutions for dealing with this vast psychological legacy.

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Ending child slavery

What’s the issue?

An estimated 12 million children are living in slavery – a quarter of all people who endure modern slavery. Child slavery and the worst forms of child labour include trafficking, debt bondage, forced labour, forced marriage, and sexual exploitation.

The problem of child slavery is persistent, with 3.3 million children in forced labour and 8.9 million children in forced marriages. Unfortunately, world events such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are increasing the risk of child slavery. This is a serious injustice against children who need love, support and opportunities to live and thrive. Urgent action is needed.

Some key definitions:

Child slavery.

Child slavery is when a child is handed over to be exploited for someone else’s gain. Child slavery can take many forms, including forced labour.

Child labour

Child labour is not slavery, but nevertheless hinders children’s education and development. Child labour tends to be undertaken when children are in the care of their parents.

Child trafficking

Trafficking involves transporting, recruiting or harbouring people for the purpose of exploitation, using violence, threats or coercion. Child trafficking may – but does not have to – involve violence, deception or coercion. Child trafficking is broadly: the act of transporting or harbouring children for exploitation.

Worst forms of child labour

As well as slavery and forced labour, The worst forms of child labour include hazardous work, which seriously damages children’s health and development through, for example, exposure to dangerous machinery or toxic substances, and may even endanger their lives.

Some types of work make useful, positive contributions to a child’s development, helping them learn useful skills. Often, work is also a vital source of income for their families.

Read about some of the ways children are exploited today

Labour and migration are seriously affected by climate change and environmental degradation. As this gets worse children are becoming more vulnerable to modern slavery.

Child slavery deprives young people of their childhood, and denies them dignity, education and physical and emotional development.

Here at Anti-Slavery International, we’re determined to make sure that all children can enjoy their freedom .

Three examples of child slavery:

• Child domestic work. The International Labour Organization estimates  17.2 million children are engaged in domestic work, mostly girls. While child domestic work can be empowering for children – enabling them to support themselves and send money to their families while gaining an education – some child domestic workers operate in slavery-like conditions. Children in domestic work need clear and fair contracts, support within the local community, and legal protection
• Forced child begging. Around the world, the practice of children being forced to beg to profit others, sees children collecting money on the streets, often facing violence if they fail to meet begging quotas, abuse and missing out on their right to an education. Children may also be trafficked into forced begging. We investigated this practice in Northern Nigeria and elsewhere, and found many examples of young boys’ being subjected to religiously motivated forms of child begging
• Children born into slavery (descent-based slavery). Across the Sahel belt of Africa many children are born into slavery in a system that has persisted for centuries. This can occur as their ancestors were captured into slavery, and this ‘ownership’ has been passed down the generations. Children born into this form of slavery often face severe forms of exploitation throughout their life, working without pay and often missing out on education, they are gifted like commodities

Child slavery is incredibly complex and closely linked to our other strategic priorities – climate change , trafficking and migration , and slavery in supply chains .

What do we want to see?

We strive for a world where no child experiences slavery, but there is a long way to go.

We are pushing for laws to be introduced and enforced that protect children from slavery. We need children who have been involved in slavery, or who are at risk of it, to be listened to, and be able to inform and influence the solutions.

Through our work with the media and partners around the world, we aim to make child slavery a matter of urgent global action.

What are we doing about it?

Child slavery happens when children are not properly protected by laws, by their communities, and by the people around them who have a duty to protect them. The reasons for this are many and varied, including poverty, weak rule of law, and discrimination.

For a world free from child slavery, we know that we need cooperation of governments, communities, businesses and other stakeholders on a global scale. With this in mind, we are focusing on four ways of tackling child slavery:

• Legal protection. Children have been let down by national and international law. We will work hard with policy-makers and other partners to promote legal frameworks that properly prevent, prohibits and protect children from slavery
• Changing norms. We address the social, cultural and religious norms that allow child slavery to prosper. We work closely with communities and survivors to make sure our work is culturally appropriate and sustainable
• Leave no-one behind. We focus on gender, disability, caste and forms of discrimination that leave children especially vulnerable to exploitation
• Voice and participation. We’re working to make sure that children’s voices are not only heard, but that they are afforded an opportunity to share their insights and help shape policy

Our track record

At Anti-Slavery International, we have a strong track record of fighting child slavery. We have many notable successes in our work in making sure children can enjoy their childhoods in freedom.

In recent years we:

• Led a successful campaign that led to the end of the practice of trafficking children (as young as five) from South Asia and Africa into the camel racing industry in the Gulf
• Successfully campaigned for an international agreement on domestic work to include specific protections for child domestic workers, meaning child domestic workers around the world could gain access to greater protections in the workplace.
• Mounted internationally important studies and projects looking at issues like child sexual exploitation in Nepal , forced child begging in Senegal and Nigeria, and bonded child labour in India . Crucially, our advocacy around identifying when child marriage is child slavery combined with our advocacy led ultimately to the inclusion of forced marriage into global slavery statistics
• Supported children subjected to trafficking into forced criminality in EU states – including (at the time) the UK, heightening their level of support and raising awareness of the scale of trafficked children

Support our work. You can get involved in our work to protect children from exploitation. Join us today .

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Lesson plans

Learning About Slavery With Primary Sources

In this lesson, students will use primary sources from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to better understand the history of slavery in the United States.

By Nicole Daniels

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “ A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn’t Learn in School ”

In August 2019, The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project , an ongoing initiative that aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

In this lesson, you will read an essay that uses primary sources as a point of entry to making sense of the history of slavery in the United States. The primary sources were selected by Mary Elliott, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The featured article was written by both Ms. Elliott and Jazmine Hughes, a New York Times writer and editor.

Note : If you are looking for more teaching resources related to The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine partnered with the Pulitzer Center to create a free curriculum that includes a reading guide, extension activities and other curricular resources.

The article uses primary sources to tell the story of slavery from 1619 to 1865. To begin thinking critically about primary sources, look at the cover image for the article, which uses this broadside from the museum’s collection . As you look closely at the image, make some observations about what you notice, wonder and feel. You can share in small groups or in a larger class discussion, “I notice…,” “I wonder …” and “I feel …” Or, you can create a chart with three columns to record your observations and reactions.

Then, if you would like to further investigate the broadside from a historical lens, you can use a document analysis worksheet from the National Archives. There are two worksheet options for written documents: one for secondary students and one for younger students and English-language learners .

If you would like more background, take some time to read the two-paragraph introduction to the article, either to yourself or aloud as a class.

Why do you think Ms. Elliott and Ms. Hughes chose to start their exploration of primary sources with these words? What drew you into the text? How did their use of language and imagery affect your reading experience?

According to the authors, why was the moment in August 1619 significant? How was the arrival of “20 and odd Negroes” different from the earlier presence of people of African descent in North America?

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Note to Teachers: Given the length and structure of the featured article , we have created questions for each of its three sections. Depending on how much time you are able to dedicate to this lesson, it may be most effective to have students work in small groups, with each group focusing on one section and then sharing their findings with the class.

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Lies My Bookshelf Told Me: Slavery in Children’s Literature

In 2015, people looking for historical children’s literature might have found the New York Times review of the newly released title A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat —a review that praised the book’s “abundant charms.” A few months later, by the time the book appeared on the Times ’ list of the “Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015,” more measured appraisals of the book had already begun to make news.

Central to criticism of the text was its portrayal of an enslaved woman and little girl on a South Carolina plantation. The book includes an illustration of enslaved people smiling as they pick blackberries and hiding in a closet to “lick the bowl clean” after serving dessert to their enslavers. One illustration incorporates words into a drawing of the little girl whisking cream: “Beat beat. Beat beat. Beat beat.”

Children’s books have the power to inspire and uplift. They can transform young readers. And because of this, they can be an ideal way for students to connect with and learn about history. But what do we do when authors misrepresent that history? What do we do when the stories get it wrong?

When and How Stories Fail Us

Authors of children’s books about slavery face a fundamental challenge: How do they depict characters who are enslaved—a condition defined by violence, deprivation, family separation and lifelong servitude—within a literary genre known for happy endings? 

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, an associate professor in University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, has compiled a database of children’s books about slavery. Surveying more than 170 texts, Thomas and her researchers found that these books often misrepresent or even rewrite history—even if the author is well intentioned. And they do so in largely predictable ways. 

One common choice, Thomas says, is to temper the lived experiences of enslaved characters. Often, the departure from history is dramatic. A Fine Dessert isn’t alone in its representation of #SlaveryWithASmile . Some books go so far as to erase enslaved characters entirely, focusing instead on celebrating white abolitionists or other accomplices.

During a 2018 talk at the Lapidus Center , Thomas discussed the wordless, illustrated children’s book Unspoken, A Story From the Underground Railroad . It’s about a white girl who assists a fugitive from slavery. This story about the Underground Railroad, Thomas points out, includes no representation of people who were actually enslaved. 

But perhaps even more problematic is the question on the book’s back cover: “What would you do if you had the chance to help a person find freedom?” Asking readers to identify with white abolitionists rather than black or Native people escaping enslavement, the question is based on the assumption that most of the text’s readers will be white. Thomas says these ideas about the audience for children’s literature are pervasive throughout publishing.

Perhaps it’s this assumption that prevents publishers from recognizing the damage of popular, common stereotypes, like illustrations of smiling enslaved people, working cheerfully. Even when intended to humanize enslaved characters, Thomas says, these images could inadvertently send a troubling message: “that slavery wasn’t all that bad.”

When enslaved characters do make it into the spotlight, she explains, they’re often represented as “heroic or transcendent,” triumphing over slavery. Protagonists are fictional characters or real-life figures who escaped bondage, people like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, rather than one of the millions of people who were born and died enslaved. 

John H. Bickford, a children’s literature scholar at Eastern Illinois University, agrees. He describes this as what some scholars call a pattern of exceptionalism. In his survey of more than 40 children’s books, he says, characters escaped or gained freedom “in every book save two.” 

“This distortion ... cannot be overstated,” he wrote in a 2014 article, noting that escaping from enslavement was extremely dangerous and highly uncommon. “There’s a huge gap between what historians understand and trade book authors’ narratives.” 

Thomas explains that this focus on freedom can send a dangerous message: “that no matter how traumatic and violent our collective national past might have been, the United States has always been a land of freedom, opportunity and equality under the law for everyone, if they just work hard enough.” 

Many children’s books about slavery, she argues, are less about teaching children our nation’s history and more about “absolving the nation for what actually happened.” All too often, stories about slavery are framed within a false narrative of continuous racial progress and the enduring American Dream. Reaching for a happy ending, they leave the truth of slavery behind.

These stories have a reparative function—they must humanize and liberate. These stories must uplift, hope and heal while presenting the truth of slavery’s echoes in the present.

Learning From Misrepresentations 

But even books that make these mistakes can be learning opportunities for secondary students, Bickford has found. He works with students to analyze the misrepresentations in children’s books, and this plays a role in helping students develop a more complete understanding of the history of American slavery. 

The students read trade books, biographies and historical fiction written for younger readers. Bickford supplements these texts with maps, photographs, letters and other primary source materials—evidence that allows students to unmask the misrepresentations for themselves. 

In one exercise, for example, he shares an excerpt from National Geographic’s Thomas Jefferson : “Whatever and whoever else he was, Thomas Jefferson helped light the torch [to liberty].” 

“That’s how they’re contextualizing slavery,” Bickford says. “This was a book published in 2004.”

The book stresses Jefferson’s intellectual distaste for slavery and explains to readers that he never physically abused the people he enslaved. Bickford pairs the excerpt with two primary sources.

One is an ad placed by Jefferson, seeking the capture and return of someone who has escaped enslavement. The ad includes a description of the fugitive: He has scars and missing fingers, and he has been branded. The other is a letter in which Jefferson debates firing his overseer. He notes that the man is very good at his job. He also alludes to a bloodstain he saw below the whipping post at Monticello. 

Once students have reviewed these primary sources, Bickford asks them to revise the original excerpts about Jefferson. Students are quick to see that “even if his hands weren’t bloody, he employed and kept the people who had the bloodiest hands.” In rewriting the passages, Bickford encourages students: “Keep what’s legit, but add some details, using footnotes or endnotes, or merely add into the narrative.” 

By adjusting the scaffolding, the excerpts and the primary sources to the age group, younger students can use this technique, too, Bickford says. While it may take a little work to encourage elementary students to approach a picture book as a critical text, educators can walk them through close readings and comparative readings to help them better understand the arguments the text is making—and the information it’s leaving out.

Age is not the only identity consideration that should come into play for such classroom activities, however. In a 2016 article examining A Fine Dessert , Thomas and fellow experts Debbie Reese and Kathleen T. Horning pose questions for choosing and evaluating historical children’s texts that are also relevant here: 

[W]ho will be reading the book? Is the imagined young reader of these historical stories a White, middle class, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied student who was born in the United States, or are child readers from all backgrounds being kept in mind? What kind of story is being told in the book? What makes the story difficult? Who is it difficult for? Does the nature of that difficulty differ depending on the demographic makeup of a classroom, school, or community?

These are questions educators should consider when thinking through related classroom exercises, as well.

Finding the Right Story

A critical analysis of a misleading text can give students the opportunity to recognize persistent myths around the history of American slavery—and the agency to correct those myths. But one thing it doesn’t offer is the opportunity for connection and immersion that well-crafted, historical children’s literature can provide.

Thomas maintains that there are children’s books that do offer a fair accounting of the history of American slavery. Educators just need to know how to find them. When choosing a book, she suggests, educators should carefully review the text and illustrations to consider the type of story that a book is telling—about enslaved characters, about the system of slavery and about the United States itself.

The first step is searching out texts that center the lives of enslaved people and resist stereotypes. While it may be tempting to choose a book that downplays the hardships of enslavement, Thomas argues against sugarcoating the lives of enslaved people. Adults, she says, should “present as much of the truth as the child can handle.” 

Instead of sharing only stories in which protagonists escape, she says, educators can look for books with fully developed enslaved characters, characters who have desires and agency, who act for change, even if they don’t always achieve it.

And while the impulse toward a happy ending may lead authors toward a narrative of continuous racial progress, so that some stories about slavery end with the triumphs of the civil rights movement, Thomas encourages educators to be wary of books that contextualize slavery in this way.

Especially during this time of highly publicized police shootings, Black Lives Matter and an increase in racist rhetoric and violence, stories that misrepresent the truth can alienate students rather than connect them with the material. The narrative of “liberty and justice for all” can create “dissonance and disconnect,” Thomas says, especially among students of color, who may not recognize in the world around them the progress these stories imply. 

One unavoidable challenge in selecting trade books is that the unvarnished facts of American slavery—the violence, brutality, family separations and multigenerational lifelong servitude that made the system itself possible—are traumatic for all children, but for black children in particular. Thomas explains that educators interested in using literature to teach children about slavery must be ready to consider “the psychological dimensions of enslavement as well as the collective trauma of black readers.” 

Instead of contextualizing stories about slavery within a larger story of American racial progress, then, Thomas cites the work of anti-racist educators Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards. She recommends exposing students to a rich variety of books about black children and their families and a range of stories about black history, culture and life, from the past and the present. 

When chosen carefully, children’s literature about slavery can do more than inform children about the past. “These stories have a reparative function—they must humanize and liberate ,” Thomas says. “These stories must uplift, hope and heal while presenting the truth of slavery’s echoes in the present.”

Recommended Books That Address Slavery

Elementary Readers

•  Love Twelve Miles Long by Glenda Armand, illustrated by Colin Bootman

•  Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

•  Brick by Brick by Charles R. Smith, Jr., illustrated by Floyd Cooper

•  Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story From the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Middle-level Readers

•  Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man , by Tonya Bolden

•  Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd

•  The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers 

•  Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve

High School Readers

•  Beloved by Toni Morrison

•  47 by Walter Mosley

•  The Resurrection of Nat Turner (Parts 1 and 2) by Sharon Ewell Foster

Frank is a Hartford-based writer and co-author of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited From Slavery .

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Child Labour — Child Labour: a Modern Form of Slavery

Child Labour: a Modern Form of Slavery

• Categories: Child Labour Slavery in The World

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Published: Sep 1, 2020

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Slavery Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on slavery.

Slavery is a term that signifies the injustice that is being carried out against humans since the 1600s. Whenever this word comes up, usually people picture rich white people ruling over black people. However, that is not the only case to exist. After a profound study, historians found evidence that suggested the presence of slavery in almost every culture. It was not essentially in the form of people working in the fields, but other forms. Slavery generally happens due to the division of levels amongst humans in a society. It still exists in various parts of the world. It may not necessarily be that hard-core, nonetheless, it happens.

Impact of Slavery

Slavery is one of the main causes behind racism in most of the cultures. It did severe damage to the race relations of America where a rift was formed between the whites and blacks.

The impact of Slavery has caused irreparable damage which can be seen to date. Even after the abolishment of slavery in the 1800s in America, racial tensions remained amongst the citizens.

In other words, this made them drift apart from each other instead of coming close. Slavery also gave birth to White supremacy which made people think they are inherently superior just because of their skin color and descendant.

Talking about the other forms of slavery, human trafficking did tremendous damage. It is a social evil which operates even today, ruining hundreds and thousands of innocent lives. Slavery is the sole cause which gave birth to all this.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

The Aftermath

Even though slavery was abolished over 150 years ago, the scars still remain. The enslaved still haven’t forgotten the struggles of their ancestors. It lives on in their hearts which has made them defensive more than usual. They resent the people whose ancestors brought it down on their lineage.

Even today many people of color are a victim of racism in the 21st century. For instance, black people face far more severe punishments than a white man. They are ridiculed for their skin color even today. There is a desperate need to overcome slavery and all its manifestations for the condition and security of all citizens irrespective of race, religion , social, and economic position .

In short, slavery never did any good to any human being, of the majority nor minority. It further divided us as humans and put tags on one another. Times are changing and so are people’s mindsets.

One needs to be socially aware of these evils lurking in our society in different forms. We must come together as one to fight it off. Every citizen has the duty to make the world a safer place for every human being to live in.

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271 Slavery Topics and Essay Examples

✨ tips for an essay, research paper or speech about slavery, 🏆 best slavery titles for essay, 🥇 most interesting slave trade essay topics, ⭐ good titles for slavery essays, 💡 slavery writing prompts, 🔎 simple & easy slavery titles, ✍️ slavery essay topics for college, ❓ research questions about slavery.

Writing an essay on slavery may be challenging as the topic brings up negative emotions to many people.

This issue is related to differences between social positions and their negative effects. In addition, slavery reveals racial disparities in society and damages race relations in many cultures.

Good slavery essays discuss the aspects and problems that are important and relevant today. Choose slavery essay topics that raise significant problems that remain acute in modern society. Slavery essay titles and topics may include:

• The problem of human trafficking in today’s world
• Why is it hard to stop child trafficking in today’s world?
• The aspects of plantation life for slaves
• The development of American slavery
• Was slavery inevitable?
• Differences and similarities between slavery in the US and serfdom in Russia
• The ineffectiveness of peaceful means against slavery
• Destructive aspects of slavery
• The link between slavery and racism
• The differences between the impact of slavery on women and men of color

Once you select the issue you want to discuss, you can start working on your paper. Here are some tips and secrets for creating a powerful essay:

• Remember that appropriate essay titles are important to get the readers’ interest. Do not make the title too long but state the main point of your essay.
• Start with developing a structure for your essay. Remember that your paper should be organized clearly. You may want to make separate paragraphs or sections for the most important topics.
• Include an introductory paragraph, in which you can briefly discuss the problem and outline what information the paper will present.
• Remember to include a concluding paragraph too, in which you will state the main points of your work. Add recommendations, if necessary.
• Do preliminary research even if you feel that you know much about the topic already. You can find useful information in historical books, peer-reviewed journals, and trusted online sources. Note: Ask your professor about the types of sources you are allowed to use.
• Do not rely on outside sources solely. Your essay should incorporate your knowledge and reflections on slavery and existing evidence. Try to add comments to the citations you use.
• Remember that a truly powerful essay should be engaging and easy-to-understand. You can tell your readers about different examples of slavery to make sure that they understand what the issue is about. Keep the readers interested by asking them questions and allowing them to reflect on the problem.
• Your slavery essay prompts should be clearly stated in the paper. Do not make the audience guess what the main point of the essay is.
• Although the content is important, you should also make sure that you use correct grammar and sentence structures. Grammatical mistakes may make your paper look unprofessional or unreliable.
• If you are writing an argumentative essay, do not forget to include refutation and discuss opposing views on the issue.
• Check out slavery essay examples online to see how you can structure your paper and organize the information. In addition, this step can help you to avoid possible mistakes and analyze the relevance of the issue you want to discuss.

Do not forget to check our free samples and get the best ideas for your essay!

• Slavery in To Kill a Mockingbird Novel The introduction of Tom by the author is a plot device to represent the plight of the slaves in the state.
• Slavery in the Roman Empire The elite were the rich people, and majority of the population that comprised of the common farmers, artisans, and merchants known as the plebeians occupied the low status.
• Economic Impact of Slavery Growth in Southern Colonies 1 The need to occupy southern colonies came as a result of the successes that were recorded in the north, especially after the establishment of cash crop farming. The setting up of the plantations in […]
• Sex Slavery in India According to authorities and international organizations such as the UN, human trafficking for sexual exploitation in India is mainly internal with the country low income and lower cast communities providing the major source of victims. […]
• Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox Jefferson believed that the landless laborers posed a threat to the nation because they were not independent. He believed that if Englishmen ruled over the world, they would be able to extend the effects of […]
• Chapters 4-6 of ”From Slavery to Freedom” by Franklin & Higginbotham At the same time, the portion of American-born slaves was on the increase and contributed to the multiracial nature of the population.
• Analysis of Themes of Slavery in Literature The paper will be concentrated on the analysis of the works ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ by Olaudah Equiano, ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass’ by Frederick Douglass, and ‘Incidents […]
• Slavery in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” The character traits of the slaveholders are brought out by the use of the word nigger and the emphasis on ignorance as a weapon against the empowerment of the blacks.
• The Industrial Revolution, Slavery, and Free Labor The purpose of this paper is to describe the Industrial Revolution and the new forms of economic activity it created, including mass production and mass consumption, as well as discuss its connection to slavery.
• Protest Against Slavery in ”Pudd’nhead Wilson” by Mark Twain Pudd’nhead Wilson is the ironic tale of a man who is born a slave but brought up as the heir to wealthy estate, thanks to a switch made while the babies were still in the […]
• Analysis of Documents on Greek Slavery The passages will be examined and evaluated better understand the social and cultural history of the period and learn more about the social order in Ancient Greece. It can be asserted that the issue of […]
• Analysis of Slavery in United States The main points highlighted in the lecture are focused on the socio-economic differences between the two systems, the actual life of slaves, and methods of blacks’ rebellion.
• “Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades” by Patrick Manning 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.
• Expansion of Freedom and Slavery in British America The settlement in the city of New Plymouth was founded by the second, and it laid the foundation for the colonies of New England.
• How “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Addresses Slavery The insensitivity in this mistreatment and dehumanization of Black people is pervasive to the extent that Jim considers himself “property” and was proud to be worth a fortune if anyone was to sell him. To […]
• Freedom in Antebellum America: Civil War and Abolishment of Slavery The American Civil War, which led to the abolishment of slavery, was one of the most important events in the history of the United States.
• Paternalistic Ethos During American Slavery Era The slave owner gains directly from the welfare of the slaves and the slaves gained directly from offering their services to the slave owner.
• The Slavery in America The slaves were to serve their masters who were the whites. This paper discusses the challenges that the slaves encountered as well as their resistance and the relativity of slavery to gender.
• The “Slavery by Another Name” Documentary The documentary highlights how the laws and policies of that time enabled the exploitation of Black people and how the legacy of slavery continued to shape the racial dynamics of the country.
• Human Trafficking: Slavery Issues These are the words to describe the experiences of victims of human trafficking. One of the best places to intercept human trafficking into the US is at the border.
• The Slavery Experience: Erra Adams Erra Adams indicates that he was the oldest of the children and his task was to plow the land. The formerly enslaved person noted that the death of the master was a real grief for […]
• Abraham Lincoln: The End of Slavery Lincoln actively challenged the expansion of slavery because he believed the United States would stay true to the Declaration of Independence. It is worth considering the fact that Lincoln was not the only advocate for […]
• Recreation of Slavery in “Sweat” Book by Hurston Perhaps the best-portrayed theme and the most controversial one is the recreation of slavery on the part of Afro-Americans who have just been freed of it.
• California’s Issues With Slavery However, the report and the book indicate this point and emphasize that the concept of free land was made in favor of white people but not in the interests of African Americans.
• Sexual Slavery and Human Smuggling They were the only people in the house, and it appeared that her parents were not home. The social worker’s job in Tiffani’s life is to look into her past, from her childhood through her […]
• Were the Black Codes Another Form of Slavery? Slavery in the United States has been a part of the nation’s history for hundreds of years, and yet it did not end abruptly.
• How Slavery Makes Sense From Various Perspectives Given that there is a historical precedent for the “peculiar institution,” it would be erroneous to dismiss slavery as something that is new. Thus, the institution of slavery is found even in the Bible, and […]
• Slavery in The Fires of Jubilee by Stephen Oates Apart from the story being arranged in chapters, the layout and approach suggest that the author has described the area of events narrated and then given the narration.
• Modern Slavery in Global Value Chains: Case Study The main reason for accusations of forced labor is that most of the factories Nike owns are in Vietnam, and they provide the lowest possible wages.
• Differences of Slavery: Oklahoma Writers’ Project vs. The Textbook Today, many sources discuss the characteristics of slavery, its causes, and the outcomes and describe the conditions under which the Civil War began. In the accounts and the textbook, different opportunities for slaves are given […]
• Autobiography & Slavery Life of Frederick Douglass This essay discusses the slavery life of Frederick Douglass as written in his autobiography, and it highlights how he resisted slavery, the nature of his rebellion, and the view he together with Brinkley had about […]
• The American Civil War: Pro- & Anti-Slavery Forces The pro-slavery forces argued that slavery was the right thing to do, promoting abolitionists and the anti-slavery forces as terrible villains because they wanted to abolish slavery.
• Slavery: Historical Background and Modern Perspective Despite the seemingly short period of contract slavery, people did not have the right to marry without the owner’s permission while the contract term was in effect.
• Irish Immigrants and Abolition of Slavery in the US The selected historical events are Irish immigration to the United States in the 1840s and 1850s and the movement for slavery abolition, which existed in the country at the same time.
• Irish Immigration to America and the Slavery Despite the fact that the Irish encountered a great number of obstacles, the immigration of Irish people to the United States was advantageous not only to the immigrants but also to the United States.
• Irish Immigrants and the Abolition of Slavery Irish people, though not as deprived of rights as the enslaved Africans, also endured much suffering and fought slavery to the best of their ability.
• North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States: 1790 – 1860 The book North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States: 1790 1860 by Leon Litwack is an illustration of how African Americans were treated in the northern states just before the start of The […]
• Modern Slavery and Its Emergence 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.
• Moral Aspect of Slavery from a Northern and Southern Perspective Pro-slavery, non-expansionist, and abolitionist perspectives on the moral foundations of slavery identify both differences between the North and south of the US and the gradual evolution of the nation’s view of African people.
• Thomas Jefferson on Slavery and Declaration of Independence Additionally, with the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson set the foundation for the abolition of slavery in the future. Thus, the claim that Jefferson’s participation in slavery invalidates his writing of the Declaration of Independence is […]
• Slavery and Indentured Servitude Slavery practices were perceived to extend in Boston, which is believed to be the first place where someone tried to force enslaved people to have children to earn money. To summarize, the practice of slavery […]
• Indentured Servitude and Slavery The slave population in the North progressively fell throughout the 1760s and 1770s with slaves in Philadelphia reducing to approximately 700 in 1775.
• Critical Response: The Origin of Negro Slavery Considering that individuals of all races were involved in slavery in the New World, racism emerged as a consequence of forced labor and was not originally connected to the targeted discrimination of African Americans.
• Review of Slavery Topic in “Never Caught” Thus, the former’s relationship to this institution was guided by humanity towards the slaves and the development of legal methods of improving their lives that did not exist in the latter case.
• Prohibiting Slavery in the United States In other words, the original ideas incorporated the considerations of sexual immorality due to the abuse of the affected persons and the practice of breeding people for sale. The contributions to the discussion were also […]
• Slavery Experience by Abdul Rahman ibn Ibrahim Sori Abdul Rahman continued talking about his family and status, but his royal priorities were not enough to confirm his identity and return to his family.
• Discussion of Slavery in Focus 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.
• New Slavery in “Disposable People” by Kevin Bales 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 […]
• Discussion of Justification of Slavery 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.
• Should the U.S. Government Pay Reparations for Slavery Coates tries to get the attention of his audience by explaining to them the importance of understanding the benefits of the impact the slaves faced during the regime of white supremacy.
• Metaphoric Theme of Slavery in “Indiana” by George Sand In her novel about love and marriage, Sand raises a variety of central themes of that time society, including the line of slavery both from the protagonist’s perspective and the French colonial slavery.
• Antebellum Slavery’s 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.
• Alexander Stephens on Slavery and Confederate Constitution The speaker remarks that the persistent lack of consensus over the subordination and slavery of the “Negro” between the South and North was the immediate reason why the Confederates decided to secede and establish their […]
• Origins of Modern Racism and Ancient Slavery The diversity of African kingdoms and the empires were engaged in the slave trade for hundreds of years prior to the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade. The working and living condition of slaves were […]
• Isaac Burt: Modern-Day Slavery in the US Therefore, the author begins with the critical review of data on the notion of human trafficking, including sex and labor trafficking forms, which often use immigrants and women as vulnerable populations.
• How Violent Was the Slavery? Ask African American Women The book significantly impacted American literature due to the writer’s roots and the problems of slavery addressed in a detailed manner.
• The Role of Slavery for the American Society: Lesson Plan Understand how the development of slavery could influence the social and economic life of the Southern states and the role of the plantation system in the process.
• Colonialism and the End of Internal Slavery The Atlantic slave trade was considered among the main pillars of the economy in the western region between the 16th and 19th centuries.
• The History of American Revolution and Slavery At the same time, the elites became wary of indentured servants’ claim to the land. The American colonies were dissatisfied with the Royal Proclamation of 1763 it limited their ability to invade new territories and […]
• The Expansion of Slavery: Review Their purpose was to track and catch runaway slaves and return them to their masters. The work of slaves was primarily agricultural.
• Abolitionist Movement: Attitudes to Slavery Reflected in the Media 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.
• Slavery and Social Death by Orlando Patterson As a result, relatively same practices of social death were applied to indigenous American people, which proves Patterson’s point of view that this attitude was characteristic not only for the African slave trade.
• Antebellum Culture and Slavery: A Period of History in the South of the United States The antebellum era, also known as the antebellum south, is a period of history in the south of the United States before the American Civil War in the late 18th century.
• Slavery and Society Destruction Seduced by the possibility of quick enrichment, the users of slave labor of both the past and the present, betrayed their humanity due to power and money.
• Trans-Atlantic Chattel Slavery and the Rise of the Modern Capitalist World System The reading provides an extensive background of the historical rise and fall of the African nations. The reading gives a detailed account of the Civil War and the color line within its context.
• Modern Slavery: Definition and Types Modern slavery is a predatory practice that is being utilized by businesses and organizations, some seemingly legitimate, worldwide through the exploitative and forced labour of victims and needs to be addressed at the policy and […]
• Slavery in “Disposable People” Book by Kevin Bales The key point of his book is that the phenomenon of slavery is impossible to be eradicated. He has studied the current economic and political situations of the countries presented in his book that help […]
• Late Slavery and Emancipation in the Greater Caribbean The epoch of slavery defined the darkest history in the evolution of the civilization of humanity; the results of slavery continue permeating the psychology of very “far” descendants of the slaves themselves.
• Transatlantic Slave Trade and Colonial Chesapeake Slavery Most of the West African slaves worked across the Chesapeake plantation. This paper will explore the various conditions and adaptations that the African slaves acquired while working in the Chesapeake plantation.
• Slavery and Secession in Georgia The representatives of the State of Georgia were worried because of the constant assaults concerning the institution of slavery, which have created the risk of danger to the State.
• Slavery of African in America: Reasons and Purposes Since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the African slaves were shipped to Europe and Eastern Atlantics, but later the colonies started demanding workers and the trade shifted to the Americas.
• Slavery in Charleston, South Carolina Prior to the Year 1865 Charleston is a city in South Carolina and one of the largest cities in the United States. It speaks about the life and origin of the slaves and also highlights some of their experiences; their […]
• Verisimilitude of Equiano’s Narrative and Understanding of Slavery The main argument in the answer to Lovejoy was that the records could clarify the author’s true age, which is the key to the dismissal of the idea that Equiano is a native African.
• The Case for Reparations: Slavery and Segregation Consequences in the US Ta-Nehisi Coates, in his essay The Case for Reparations, examines the consequences of slavery and segregation in the United States and argues the importance of reparations for black Americans, both in a financial and moral […]
• Critique of Colin Thies’ “Commercial Slavery” The goal of the article was to evaluate the economic and political situation of the African slave trade and avoid other aspects according to which people were considered as oppressed and enslaved.
• Fredrick Douglas Characters. Impact of Slavery The institution of slavery drove and shaped the enslaved people to respond and behave in different ways in that Fredrick Bailey was forced to flee away from slavery and later changed his name to Fredrick […]
• John Brown and His Beliefs About Slavery John Brown was a martyr, his last effort to end slavery when he raided Harper’s Ferry helped to shape the nation and change the history of slavery in America.
• Litwack’s Arguments on the Aftermath of Slavery This paper seeks to delve into a technical theme addressed by Leon on what kind of freedom was adopted by the ex-slaves prior to the passage of the 13th U.S.constitutional amendment of 1865 that saw […]
• Slavery, Civil War, and Abolitionist Movement in 1850-1865 They knew they were free only they had to show the colonists that they were aware of that.[1] The slaves were determined and in the unfreed state they still were in rebellion and protested all […]
• Concept of Slavery Rousseau’s Analysis 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 […]
• The Literature From Slavery to Freedom Its main theme is slavery but it also exhibits other themes like the fight by Afro-Americans for freedom, the search for the identity of black Americans and the appreciation of the uniqueness of African American […]
• Du Bois’ “The Soul of Black Folk” and T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery” Du Bois in the work “The Soul of Black Folk” asks the question, why black people are considered to be different, why they are treated differently as they are the same members of the society, […]
• African Slavery and European Plantation Systems: 1525-1700 However, with the discovery of sugar production at the end of the 15th Century to the Atlantic Islands and the opening up of the New World in the European conquests, the Portuguese discovered new ways […]
• The Theme of Slavery in Aristotle’s “Politics” He notes that the fundamental part of an association is the household that is comprised of three different kinds of relationships: master to slave, husband to wife, and parents to their children.
• Abraham Lincoln`s Role in the Abolishment of Slavery in America In this speech, Lincoln emphasized the need for the law governing slavery to prevail and pointed out the importance of the independence of individual states in administering laws that governed slavery without the interference of […]
• Slavery in Latin America and North America In the French and British Caribbean colonies, slaves were also imported in great numbers and majority of the inhabitants were slaves.
• Betty Wood: The Origins of American Slavery Economic analyses and participation of the slave labor force in economic development are used to analyze the impact and role of slave labor in the development of the American economy.
• “American Slavery an American Freedom” by Edmund S. Morgan The book witnesses the close alliance between the establishment of freedom rights in Virginia and the rise of slavery movement which is considered to be the greatest contradiction in American history.
• Western Expansion and Its Influence on Social Reforms and Slavery The western expansion refers to the process whereby the Americans moved away from their original 13 colonies in the 1800s, towards the west which was encouraged by explorers like Lewis and Clarke.
• “Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington Each morning it was the duty of the overseer to assign the daily work for the slaves and, when the task was completed, to inspect the fields to see that the work had been done […]
• U.S. in the Fight Against a Modern Form of Slavery Since the United States of America is the most powerful nation in the world it must spearhead the drive to eradicate this new form of slavery within the U.S.and even outside its borders.
• “American Slavery, 1619-1817” by Peter Kolchin The concluding chapter details of the demise of slavery on the onset of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The period of American Revolution was a “watershed “in transforming the vision that portrayed slavery was justifiable […]
• Slavery in the United States There was a sharp increase in the number of slaves during the 18th century, and by the mid of the century, 200,000 of them were working in the American colonies.
• Sociology, Race & Law. Cuban Form of Slavery Today Castro was benefiting alone from the sweat of many Cubans who worked abroad and in Cuba thinking that they could better their livelihood.
• Abraham Lincoln and Free Slavery Moreover, he made reference to the fact that the union was older than the constitution and referred to the spirit of the Articles of the Constitution 1774 and Articles of Confederation of 1788.
• “Slavery Isn’t the Issue” by Juan Williams Review The author claims that the reparation argument is flawed as affirmative action has ensured that a record number of black Americans move up the economic and social ladder.
• Gender Politics: Military Sexual Slavery In this essay, it will be shown that military power and sexual slavery are interconnected, how the human rights of women are violated by the military, and how gender is related to a war crime.
• African Americans Struggle Against Slavery The following paragraphs will explain in detail the two articles on slavery and the African American’s struggle to break away from the heavy and long bonds of slavery. The website tells me that Dredd Scott […]
• Slavery in the World The first independent state in the western hemisphere, the United States of America, was formed as a result of the revolutionary war of North American colonies of England for Independence in 1775-1783.
• Slaves and Slavery in Ancient Rome The revolt of slaves under the direction of Spartacus 73-71 BC is considered the most significant event of the period of crisis of the Roman republican regime in the first century DC and is estimated […]
• Olaudah Equiano as a Fighter Against Slavery Equiano’s Narrative demonstrates a conscious effort to ascribe spiritual enlightenment to the political arena and hence ascertain the importance of the relationship between spiritual intervention, the amysterious ways of Providence’ and parliamentary decisions concerning the […]
• Slavery: Central Paradox of American History Since the rise of United States as a nation, historians have long thought of the emergence of slavery and freedom in our society as a great contradiction. As the central paradox, slavery needed to emerge […]
• Virginia After the Boom: Slavery and “The Losers” New labor force that came to Virginia “threatened the independence of the small freeman and worsened the lot of the servant”.
• Antebellum Slavery in Mark Twain’s World Twain’s depiction of Jim and his relationship with Huck was somewhat flawed in order to obey the needs of the story, and also by Twains’ interest in slave autobiographies and also in blackface minstrelsy.
• Slavery in New York City: Impact and Significance Blacks’ significance in the development of the city’s most critical systems, such as labor, race, and class divisions, makes it possible to conclude that the influence of slavery in New York was substantial. The effect […]
• Slavery Still Exists in American Prisons An examination of the history of the penal system as it existed in the State of Texas proves to be the best illustration of the comparisons between the penal system and the system of slavery.
• Ghana: The Consequences of Colonial Rule and Slavery One of the reasons for this dependency is that the country had been the foothold for the slave trade for about four centuries.
• “Slavery and the Making of America” Documentary According to the film Slavery and the Making of America, slavery had a profound effect on the historical development of American colonies into one country.
• Harriet Jacobs’s Account of Slavery Atrocities She wrote that she wanted the women living in the North to understand the conditions in which slaves lived in the Souths, and the sufferings that enslaved women had to undergo.
• Sethe’s Slavery in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison In spite of the fact that the events depicted in Beloved take place after the end of the American Civil War, Sethe, as the main character of the novel and a former slave, continues to […]
• Anti Slavery and Abolitionism Both gradual emancipation and conditional emancipation were not allowed, but free blacks from the North and evangelicals revealed their opposition in the form of the movement that required the development of social reform.
• Sexual Slavery in “The Apology” Film by Hsiung The documentary being discussed focuses on the experiences of three women, the survivors of military sexual slavery in China, South Korea, and the Republic of the Philippines.
• Slavery Resistance from Historical Perspective The lack of rights and power to struggle resulted in the emergence of particular forms of resistance that preconditioned the radical shifts in peoples mentalities and the creation of the tolerant society we can observe […]
• Slavery Abolition and Newfound Freedom in the US One of the biggest achievements of Reconstruction was the acquisition of the right to vote by Black People. Still, Black Americans were no longer forced to tolerate inhumane living conditions, the lack of self-autonomy, and […]
• Slavery Elements in Mississippi Black Code These are the limitation of the freedom of marriage, the limitation of the freedom of work, and the limitation of the freedom of weapon.
• Slavery in “Abolition Speech” by William Wilberforce The following article is devoted to the description of the problem of slavery and the slave trade in Africa. The author also underlines the incompetency of the committee, which is in charge of the question […]
• Slavery History: Letters Analysis The letters analyzed in this paper give a piece of the picture that was observed during the 1600s and the 1700s when slaves from different parts of the world had to serve their masters under […]
• Social Psychology of Modern Slavery The social psychology of modern slavery holds the opinion that slavery still exists today, contrary to the belief of many people that slavery does not exist in the modern world.
• Slavery: History and Influence The slaves were meant to provide labor for the masters and generate wealth. During the day, they would sneak to breastfeed the newborns.
• Reformer and Slavery: William Lloyd Garrison The newspaper was published until the end of the civil war and the abolition of slavery by the enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment.
• Slavery Role in the American Literature Stowe has claimed that the anti slavery groups questioned the morality of the white Christians who were at the fore front in the oppression of the Black people.
• Thomas Jefferson on Civil Rights, Slavery, Racism When I authored the declaration of independence of the United States of America, I was having a democratic perspective of the American people on my mind.
• Slavery and Identity: “The Known World” by Edward Jones Moses is used to this kind of life and described by one of the other characters as “world-stupid,” meaning he does not know how to live in the outside world. He has a strong connection […]
• Slavery in the USA and Its Impact on Americans The following paper will present a discussion of slavery in the USA and an explanation of the tremendous impact it made on the lives of all Americans.
• “Slavery by Another Name” Documentary To assure the existence of the social and historical support, the movie is presented in the form of the documentary and can be viewed by an extended audience to spread awareness about the drawbacks of […]
• Cultural Consequences of the US Slavery: 1620-1870 3 In the same way that the African had adopted the new language and devised their own language, the Whites began to be influenced by their style of talking and their speech began to be […]
• Frederick Douglass as an Anti-Slavery Activist In “What to the slave is the fourth of July?” the orator drives the attention of his audience to a serious contradiction: Americans consider the Declaration of independence a document that proclaimed freedom, but this […]
• George Whitfield’s Views on Slavery in the US Whitfield’s article attempted to open the eyes of the Christians to the sins that were committed against the Negro slaves. Thomas Kidd’s article, on the other hand, criticized Whitfield’s ownership of slaves.
• Internal Colonization and Slavery in British Empire The act of alienating Ireland in the development process brought the distinction in the collaboration. Slave trade contributed to the growth of the economy of the British Empire via the production of the raw materials […]
• Globalization and Slavery: Multidisciplinary View Globalization is an exciting concept and maybe one of the greatest achievements of the modern world. A case of the multidisciplinary nature of slavery is also evident in Pakistan, where slavery thrives on religious grounds.
• Slavery in “A Brief History of the Caribbean” That is why, the history of America is always connected with this issue and the works, which study it, have a great number of pages devoted to the analysis of slavery, its roots and its […]
• Slavery in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass In the fifth chapter, for instance, the author notes that he was moved to Baltimore, Maryland, something that played a critical role in transforming his life since he faced the realities of slavery.
• Slavery Phenomenon and Its Causes in the USA The dominance of agricultural production in these areas was one of the reasons why slavery persisted in the South. In turn, the experiences of the owners could be very diverse.
• Women Trafficking and Slavery: Trends and Solutions However, inherent in human trafficking is the upholding of slavery in different forms because a definitive element of the constitution of human trafficking includes the use of force or coercion in the abrogation of an […]
• Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery One of the biggest challenges in addressing modern slavery and human trafficking is the fact that the vice is treated as a black market affair where facts about the perpetrators and the victims are difficult […]
• Ethical Problems With Non-Human Slavery and Abuse The last part of this paper discusses the role of religion and spirituality in changing the situation of non-humans caught in human webs of self-interest.
• Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery The provided laws emphasize the differences between the English, the Indigenous people, and the African slaves juxtaposing the former to the others as superior.
• Sojourner Truth: Slavery Abolitionist and Women’s Suffrage The main aim of this step was to show that black people should also be given the right to participate in elections and chose the future of their own state.
• Slavery in Islamic Civilisation The Quran, which is the Holy book of the Islamic religion, played a key role in the grounding of the slave trade in the Muslim community.
• Religious Studies of the Slavery Problem The key point of the discussion was the prohibition or, on the contrary, the permission of the slavery on the new territories.
• Slavery and the Abolition of Slave Trade To a great extent, this outcome can be attributed to such factors to the influence of racist attitudes, the fear of violence or rebellion, and economic interests of many people who perceived the abolition of […]
• Abraham Lincoln Against Slavery Due to this hindrance to abolish slavery in the union, Lincoln decided to do it from the southern states of America using his powers as the commander in chief of the United States.
• Blacks Role in Abolishing Slavery The abolitionist movement and the Black slaves of Britain both played a role in the ultimate abolishment of slavery in Britain.
• The Poetry on the Topic of Slavery There was the belief that some people were born to be free while the rest of the world should serve them, being just slaves, deprived of any rights and is doomed to spend the rest […]
• John Brown and Thomas Cobb Role in Ending Slavery Thomas Cobb invested in his political career with the help of his brother and agitated for the end of slavery in the South.
• Impacts of Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa Slavery existed in the African continent in form of indentured servitude in the previous years, but Atlantic slave trade changed the system, as people were captured by force through raids before being sold to other […]
• Slavery in the Southern Colonies Apart from the favorable climate, the close proximity of the colonies to broad rivers allowed the colonialists to ship in slaves and their produce with ease.
• Christianity, Slavery and Colonialism Paradox He is prominent in opposing the Atlanta Compromise Treaty that advocated for the subjection of the southern blacks to the whites’ political rule. In conclusion, the paradox of Christianity, slavery, and colonialism has been a […]
• Impact of Revolution on Slavery and Women Freed slaves and other opponents of the slave trade in the north agitated for release and freedom of slaves in the south.
• Slavery and the Civil War Thus, the main impact of the Civil War was the abolition of slavery which changed the economic and social structures of the South and contributed to shifting the focus on the role of federal government.
• Literary Works’ Views on Slavery in the United States Perhaps, one of the best narratives describing the plight of the captured African people and their journey through slavery is Equiano’s ‘The interesting narrative of Olaudah Equiano.’ Olaudah Equiano provides an in-depth analysis of his […]
• Analysis of Slavery in American History in “Beloved“ by Tony Morrison In such a manner, the novel widens the concept of freedom and provides a new meaning of such words as arememory’ and wouldisremember.’ In particular, although Seth’s new life is deprived of slavery, her memories […]
• History of Abolishing Slavery The abolishment of slavery in Britain empires and the involvement of the British in preaching against slavery contributed immensely towards the end of slavery in the United States and France.
• The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery By digging deep into Lincoln’s history, times, speeches and writings, Foner has attempted to examine the President’s stance on slavery in the United States and his reaction to the issue that greatly affected the American […]
• The Period of Slavery in the “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs The book shows that there was a lot of ignorance in the course of the period of slavery. The masters were well aware of the situation that the slaves were in and they took full […]
• Slavery in America: “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” The Author is also the persona in entire narration as he recounts his real experience in slavery right from childhood. In the narration, there are major and minor characters that the author has used to […]
• Abolition of Slavery in Brazil In most parts of America, the legislation to abolition slave trade was greatly opposed by big plantation owners who needed the services of slaves and knew that the legislation to end slavery was a major […]
• Slavery Effects on Enslaved People and Slave Owners Reflecting on the life of Douglass Frederick and written in prose form, the narrative defines the thoughts of the author on various aspects of slavery from the social, economic, security, and the need for appreciation […]
• The Problem of Slavery in Africa The capture of Constantinople by Ottoman in 1453 led to a stop of the movement of slaves from the Balkans and the Black Sea region.
• Racial Slavery in America The study of the history of the development of America reveals the issue of race as being central in the economic, social and political development of the nation.
• “Not For Sale: End Human Trafficking and Slavery”: Campaign Critique
• Colonial Portuguese Brazil: Sugar and Slavery
• Aristotle on Human Nature, State, and Slavery
• Reform-Women’s Rights and Slavery
• Human Trafficking in the United States: A Modern Day Slavery
• Oronooko by Aphra Behn and the Why there is no Justification for Slavery
• Rise and Fall of Slavery
• History of Slavery Constitution in US
• Propaganda in Pro-slavery Arguments and Douglass’s Narrative
• Testament Against Slavery: ”Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”
• Comparing and Contrasting three Versions of Slavery
• How Did the French Revolution Impacted the Issue of Slavery and the History of Santo Domingo?
• Why slavery is wrong
• The Evolution of American Slavery
• Slavery and Racism: Black Brazilians v. Black Americans
• History of the African-Americans Religion During the Time of Slavery
• “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Slavery
• The Emergence of a Law of Slavery in Mississippi
• The Effects of Slavery on the American Society
• The Ideas of Freedom and Slavery in Relation to the American Revolution
• Up from Slavery, Down to the Ground: Sailing Amistad. A
• Slavery in the British Colonies: Chesapeake and New England
• Slavery and the Old South
• African American Culture: A History of Slavery
• Slavery and the Underground Railroad
• Slavery Illuminates Societal Moral Decay
• The Southern Argument for Slavery
• Did Morality or Economics Dominate the Debates Over Slavery in the 1850s?
• Masters and Slaves: ”Up From Slavery” by Washington Booker
• No Reparations for Blacks for the Injustice of Slavery
• Slavery: The Stronghold of the Brazil Economy
• Slavery, Racism, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• Slavery, the Civil War & Reconstruction
• Slavery in American History
• Beloved by Toni Morrison: History of Slavery and Racial Segregation in America
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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "271 Slavery Topics and Essay Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/slavery-essay-examples/.

Heather Andrea Williams
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
National Humanities Center Fellow
©National Humanities Center

In some ways enslaved African American families very much resembled other families who lived in other times and places and under vastly different circumstances. Some husbands and wives loved each other; some did not get along. Children sometimes abided by parent’s rules; other times they followed their own minds. Most parents loved their children and wanted to protect them. In some critical ways, though, the slavery that marked everything about their lives made these families very different.

Slavery not only inhibited family formation but made stable, secure family life difficult if not impossible. Enslaved people could not legally marry in any American colony or state. Colonial and state laws considered them property and commodities, not legal persons who could enter into contracts, and marriage was, and is, very much a legal contract. This means that until 1865 when slavery ended in this country, the vast majority of African Americans could not legally marry. In northern states such as New York, Pennsylvania, or Massachusetts, where slavery had ended by 1830, free African Americans could marry, but in the slave states of the South, many enslaved people entered into relationships that they treated like marriage; they considered themselves husbands and wives even though they knew that their unions were not protected by state laws.

A father might have one owner, his "wife" and children another.Some enslaved people lived in nuclear families with a mother, father, and children. In these cases each family member belonged to the same owner. Others lived in near-nuclear families in which the father had a different owner than the mother and children. Both slaves and slaveowners referred to these relationships between men and women as “abroad marriages.” A father might live several miles away on a distant plantation and walk, usually on Wednesday nights and Saturday evenings to see his family as his obligation to provide

This use of unpaid labor to produce wealth lay at the heart of slavery in America. . Women often returned to work shortly after giving birth, sometimes running from the fields during the day to feed their infants. On large plantations or farms, it was common for children to come under the care of one enslaved woman who was designated to feed and watch over them during the day while their parents worked. By the time most enslaved children reached the age of seven or eight they were also assigned tasks including taking care of owner’s young children, fanning flies from the owner’s table, running errands, taking lunch to owners’ children at school, and eventually, working in the tobacco, cotton, corn, or rice fields along with adults.

Family separation through sale was a constant threat. Enslaved people lived with the perpetual possibility of separation through the sale of one or more family members. Slaveowners’ wealth lay largely in the people they owned, therefore, they frequently sold and or purchased people as finances warranted. A multitude of scenarios brought about sale. An enslaved person could be sold as part of an estate when his owner died, or because the owner needed to liquidate assets to pay off debts, or because the owner thought the enslaved person was a troublemaker. A father might be sold away by his owner while the mother and children remained behind, or the mother and children might be sold. Enslaved families were also divided for inheritance when an owner died, or because the owners’ adult children moved away to create new lives, taking some of the enslaved people with them. These decisions were, of course, beyond the control of the people whose lives they affected most. Sometimes an enslaved man or woman pleaded with an owner to purchase his or her spouse to avoid separation. The intervention was not always successful. Historian Michael Tadman has estimated that approximately one third of enslaved children in the upper South states of Maryland and Virginia experienced family separation in one of three possible scenarios: sale away from parents; sale with mother away from father; or sale of mother or father away from child. The fear of separation haunted adults who knew how likely it was to happen. Young children, innocently unaware of the possibilities, learned quickly of the pain that such separations could cost.

Many owners encouraged marriage to protect their investment in their slaves. Paradoxically, despite the likelihood of breaking up families, family formation actually helped owners to keep slavery in place. Owners debated among themselves the benefits of enslaved people forming families. Many of them reasoned that having families made it much less likely that a man or woman would run away, thus depriving the owner of valuable property. Many owners encouraged marriage, devised the practice of “jumping the broom” as a ritual that enslaved people could engage in, and sometimes gave small gifts for the wedding. Some owners honored the choices enslaved people made about whom their partners would be; other owners assigned partners, forcing people into relationships they would not have chosen for themselves.

Following the Civil War, when slavery finally ended in America after nearly two hundred and fifty years, former slaves took measures to formalize their family relations , to find family members, and to put their families back together. During slavery, many people formed new families after separation, but many of them also held on to memories of the loved ones they had lost through sale. Starting in 1866, hundreds of people placed advertisements in newspapers searching for family members. They also sent letters to the Freedmen’s Bureau to enlist the government’s assistance in finding relatives. Parents returned to the places from which they had been sold to take their children from former owners who wanted to hold on to them to put them to work. And, thousands of African American men and women formalized marriages now that it was possible to do so. Some married the person with whom they had lived during slavery, while others legalized new relationships.

Guiding Student Discussion

I find that the most exhilarating and meaningful discussions occur when students have an opportunity to engage with primary sources. Working with documents helps students to develop analytical and investigative skills and can give them a sense of how historians come to their understandings of the past. Interacting directly with documents can also help students to retain information and ideas. I offer a few primary sources here that should stimulate discussion and help students to imagine what life may have been like in the past.

Legislation

As English colonists began the process of putting slavery into place, they paid careful attention to family arrangements among enslaved people. Legislators in Virginia and Massachusetts passed laws in the 1600s making clear that the rules would be different for slaves and that family would not offer protection from slavery. The following is a Virginia statute that changed the English common law provision that a father’s status determined his children’s status.

Virginia Statutes: ACT XII (1662) (Hening 2:170) Negro womens children to serve according to the condition of the mother Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a negro woman should be slave or free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother, and that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, he or she so offending shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act.

Students will likely find the language of this statute a bit confusing, but will also enjoy deciphering it. Depending on the age and maturity of your students and the strictures of your school district, you may want to cut the last section regarding fornication. You can have an interesting discussion here about the role of the state (or colony in this case) in determining who would be a slave and who would be free. A child’s status was set at birth and followed that of its mother, not the father as might have been expected. Ask students why they think slaveowners, many of whom were represented in colonial legislatures, would have wanted this provision. How did it help them? What concerns were they attempting to satisfy here? What would be the status of a child born to an enslaved mother and white, slaveowning father? What impact might this have had on black men who were being denied the right to determine the status of their children even though they lived in a patriarchal society in which men were generally dominant?

Note for students that because whites were not enslaved in America, the children of a white mother and enslaved father was automatically free, but in some colonies and later states, legislation punished white women and their mixed-race children by apprenticing the children until adulthood and extending the period of service for the white woman if she was an indentured servant. What were the implications of such punishment? What message did legislatures send about the ideal racial makeup of families?

Conflicts over whether parents or owners had control over enslaved children.

The following paragraph is from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , written by Harriet Jacobs, a former slave, in 1861.

My father, by his nature, as well as by the habit of transacting business as a skilful mechanic, had more of the feelings of a freeman than is common among slaves. My brother was a spirited boy; and being brought up under such influences, he early detested the name of master and mistress. One day, when his father and his mistress had happened to call him at the same time, he hesitated between the two; being perplexed to know which had the strongest claim upon his obedience. He finally concluded to go to his mistress. When my father reproved him for it, he said, “You both called me, and I didn’t know which I ought to go to first.” “You are my child,” replied our father, “and when I call you, you should come immediately, if you have to pass through fire and water.” Poor Willie! He was now to learn his first lesson of obedience to a master. 1

In this brief passage, Jacobs takes us into the world of one enslaved family. You might begin the discussion by encouraging students to describe the scene in their own words. This exercise will require them to focus closely on the details of the episode. As a child Jacobs lived in Edenton, North Carolina, in the eastern, highly agricultural part of the state. This incident likely took place in the yard between the owner’s home and where the slaves lived, a space that would have been occupied by both owner and owned. Ask students to think about what the setting might have been.

Jacobs describes William as “perplexed,” what calculations do students think he made in the moments before he went to his owner’s wife? Why did he have to think about it? What lessons had he already learned about power as it related to him, an enslaved child? Why did he make decision that he ultimately did?

This incident illuminates tensions in the roles that enslaved people had to play in their lives. William’s father understood that someone else owned both him and his son, but he seems to have wanted to resist being completely powerless. He appealed to his son to recognize that their relationship made the father as important, and possibly as powerful, as their owner. This father’s reaction raises interesting questions about manhood as well as the prerogatives of enslaved parents. Ask student to explore these tensions. How do they imagine that William’s father felt? What do his words tell us about his feelings? What claims was he making despite his status as a slave. Did he put his son at risk by demanding obedience?

Note for the students that although many enslaved children grew up apart from their fathers, some had fathers in their homes. This is one example. How do students imagine that other enslaved parents might have handled similar dilemmas regarding obedience and loyalty?

Running away to find family members. This ad is from the New Orleans Picayune , April 11, 1846.

This advertisement for a teenaged boy who ran away is compelling on many levels. In this context, however, the last lines of the ad are most relevant: “Captains of vessels and steamboats are cautioned against receiving him on board, as he may attempt to escape to Memphis, Tenn., where he has a sister belonging to me, hired to Z. Randolp.” As with so many enslaved people who ran away, Jacob went in search of family. Encourage students to do a close reading and analysis of the ad. How do they suppose Isaac Pipkin knew what clothing Jacob had on when he left? Is it likely that an enslaved boy owned a black bearskin coat? What about the pistols? Who did those likely belong to? Jacob was quite a distance away from his sister—how do students imagine Jacob knew where she was?

Information Wanted Ads. This advertisement was placed in the Colored Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee on October 7, 1865.

INFORMATION is wanted of my mother, whom I left in Fauquier county, Va., in 1844, and I was sold in Richmond, Va., to Saml. Copeland. I formerly belonged to Robert Rogers. I am very anxious to hear from my mother, and any information in relation to her whereabouts will be very thankfully received. My mother’s name was Betty, and was sold by Col. Briggs to James French.—Any information by letter, addressed to the Colored Tennessean, Box 1150, will be thankfully received. THORNTON COPELAND.

Encourage students to brainstorm about every detail that Thornton Copeland squeezed into this ad of six lines. Some topics you might explore include the following. His mother’s name—he gave a first name only and even that might have changed over time. What about Thornton Copeland’s own last name? Why did he identify his former owner? How long had mother and son been apart? What do students make of the fact that he was searching for his mother after all those years?

We do not know if Thornton Copeland or the other thousands of people who searched for family members ever found them. It may be interesting to have students think about what would happen if people did find each other. What sorts of adjustments might they have had to make? What if a husband or wife had remarried? What if children no longer recognized their parents?

Scholars Debate

In response to the Moynihan Report, historian Herbert Gutman undertook an extensive study of African American families. His book titled The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 was published in 1976. He reasoned that if Moynihan was right, then there should have been a prevalence of woman-headed households during slavery and in the years immediately following emancipation. Instead, Gutman found that at the end of the Civil War, in Virginia, for example, most families of former slaves had two parents, and most older couples had lived together for a long time. He attributed these findings to resiliency among African Americans who created new families after owners sold their original families apart. Moynihan and Frazier, Gutman concluded, had “underestimated the adaptive capacities of the enslaved and those born to them and their children.”

Sources for Further Reading

• E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro Family in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939).
• Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925.
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,” 1965.
• “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action” (The Moynihan Report), 1965.

1 Harriet A. Jacobs , Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself (Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press, 1987), 9.

Heather Andrea Williams is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2007-08 she was a Fellow of the National Humanities Center. Professor Williams teaches and writes about African Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with emphasis in the American South. Her book, Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom , published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2005, received several book awards, including the Lillian Smith Book Prize. She is currently writing a book on separation of African American families during the antebellum period and efforts to reunify families following emancipation.

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To cite this essay: Williams, Heather Andrea. “How Slavery Affected African American Families.” Freedom’s Story, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. DATE YOU ACCESSED ESSAY. <https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609-1865/essays/aafamilies.htm>

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• Children in Slavery through the Ages

In this Book

• Gwyn Campell
• Published by: Ohio University Press
• View Citation

Table of Contents

• Title Page, Copyright
• Editors’ Introduction
• Section I. The Trades In Slave Children
• 1. Child Slaves in the Early North Atlantic Trade in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
• 2. Children and European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean During the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
• 3. Small Change: Children in the Nineteenth-Century East African Slave Trade
• 4. The Brief Life of ‘Ali,the Orphan of Kordofan: The Egyptian Slave Trade in the Sudan, 1820–35
• 5. Traded Babies: Enslaved Children in America’s Domestic Migration, 1820–60
• Section II. The Treatment and Uses of Slave Children Through the Ages: Part A Children Acquired for Social, Political, and Domestic Roles
• pp. 103-104
• 6. Singing Slave Girls (Giyan) of the ‘Abbasid Court in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
• pp. 105-118
• 7. Becoming a Devsirme: The Training of Conscripted Children in the Ottoman Empire
• pp. 119-134
• 8. The Third Gender: Palace Eunuchs
• pp. 135-151
• 9. The Well-Being of Purchased Female Domestic Servants ( Mui Tsai ) in Hong Kong in the Early Twentieth Century
• pp. 152-166
• Part B: Children in Commercial Slaveries
• pp. 167-168
• 10. Slave and Other Nonwhite Children in Late-Eighteenth-Century France
• pp. 169-186
• 11. The Struggle For Survival: Slave Infant Mortality in the British Caribbean in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
• pp. 187-203
• 12. Left Behind But Getting Aahead: Antebellum Slavery’s Orphans in the Chesapeake, 1820–60
• pp. 204-224
• Contributors
• pp. 225-228
• pp. 229-234

Additional Information

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The is Child Slavery

How it works

The authors of these readings justify slavery as a good thing. Something that is good for the negroes. George Fitzhugh states in his article ‘The master occupies toward him the place of a parent or guardian.” He also states that by the negros being salves it keeps them out of trouble and keeps them busy. ‘Secondly. The negro is Improvident; will not lay up in summer for the wants of winter; will not accumulate in youth for the exigencies of age.

’ In the article ‘The Universal Law of Slavery, Fitzhugh states ‘He would become an insufferable burden to society.” The Negros do not have a very good place in society. They are looked down upon by the white man and are treated bad.

By them becoming slaves it allows them to have more in life. To be able to be rewarded by their masters. It helps them provide a place to sleep for his family. According to Fitzhugh ‘The negro slaves of the south are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world.” In my opinion I think what he means by this is if they are working for a master they had food and a place to live and raise their family. Yes, they have long hard days, but they are never in cruel conditions. Their wife’s do-little work and they are protected by the masters. ‘The women do little hard work and are protected from the despotism of their husband by their masters. The negro men and stout boys work, on the average, in good weather, not more than nine hours a day.”

Slaves are supposed to be ‘the submissive knee-benders’ of society. According to James Henry Hammond in all social systems there must be a class that has to do the unskilled duties, and that class is the slaves. They are the ‘class of manual laborers and ‘operatives,’ as you call them, are essentially slaves.’ Even though they are haired to do the ‘menial duties’ they still expect you to treat them with respect, but if they raise their heads to a level to their master or think they are equal with their master they must be punished.

Slaves are treated like children and has to be looked after as if they are a child. ‘He the Negro is but a grown-up child, and must be governed as a child, not as a lunatic or criminal.” They also made up diseases such as ‘Drapetomania’. Drapetomania is known as the disease causing negros to run away. They tease them with this disease saying if they tried to run away that they had a mental disease and made the slaves think that there is something wrong with them.

Frederick Douglass states in his article ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’ that ‘…. slavery the great sin and shame of America!’ Abolitionist think that slavery should be abolished because most times only blacks are slaves and according to the Declaration all men are created equal. So therefore, a black man should not be treated any different than a white man. In the article ‘The American Anti-Slavery Society: Declaration of Sentiments’ ‘…. No man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother ….’ .

The Declaration of Sentiments believes that every man has a right to his own body and that it is just as much a sin to enslave an American as an African . The abolitionist believes ‘That every American citizen, who detains a human being involuntary bondage as his property, is, according to Scripture, a man-stealer. The proslavery authors viewed African American as less than the white man just because the color of his skin. They looked upon them as they were only smart enough and skilled enough to do the unskilled tasks. But the abolitionist does not care about the color of people skin. They see African Americans just as equal as a white man in society.

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Child slavery in West Africa: understanding cocoa farming is key to ending the practice

Research associate, UCL

Disclosure statement

Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University College London provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.

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In 2000 and 2001, the use of child slaves on cocoa farms in West Africa was exposed in a series of documentaries and pieces of investigative journalism , sparking an international outcry .

This series of events was far from unprecedented.

As discussed in my paper , since the 19th century, when cocoa was first introduced to Africa (and despite the formal abolition of domestic slavery in the region), cocoa farming in West Africa has been linked to narratives of slavery and ensuing protests from chocolate consumers in Europe and America.

As recently as the early 20th century, the Portuguese were importing slaves into São Tomé and Príncipe to work on cocoa farms. This process was described by the British journalist Henry Woodd Nevinson , who had been funded by Harper’s Magazine to investigate rumours of slave labour in cocoa plantations. On reaching São Tomé or Príncipe, each slave was asked whether they were willing to work there. Nevinson reported:

In most cases no answer was given. If any answer was made, no attention was paid to it. A contract was then drawn out for five years’ labour.

This allowed both the Portuguese and chocolate producers in Europe to argue that the workers were contracted labourers rather than slaves. However, the “contracts” produced were meaningless, as the slaves were not permitted to leave the plantations for five years.

Some things have changed since then. Modern slavery primarily involves the trafficking of children, who are treated as a “disposable” source of labour. However, some things remain the same. Cocoa buyers and chocolate manufacturers still use various strategies to deny, deflect and divert when the issue of child slavery is raised.

Modern Slavery and chocolate manufacturers

After the practice was exposed in the 2000 documentary Slavery: A Global Investigation , the chocolate industry initially denied that trafficked children were involved in cocoa farming. In response, civil society groups in chocolate-consuming countries launched a campaign calling for the elimination of child slavery in the cocoa industry.

The campaign was particularly successful in the US due to its unique history of slavery. It led a US representative, Elliot Engel, to introduce legislation requiring chocolate firms in the US to label their products “slave free” to prove that no child slaves were involved in their supply chains.

Chocolate companies first responded by hiring professional lobbyists to prevent the passage of the “slave free” legislation in the US Senate due to the legal implication of such a label.

Subsequently, conceding that child slavery might actually exist in their supply chains, the companies took a different approach. They teamed up with various stakeholders to create the Harkin–Engel Protocol , which effectively quelled the 2000–2001 campaign. But this was a tactics.

The Harkin–Engel Protocol set out six date-specific actions that were supposed to lead to the establishment of an industry-wide standard for product certification on July 1, 2005. However, the deadline was extended to 2008 and then to 2010. After 2010, the protocol was basically abandoned.

Following the missed deadline in 2005, some US campaigners turned to the courts, sponsoring former slaves to sue multinational chocolate companies directly. However, all hope of winning these cases was lost in June 2021, when the US Supreme Court determined that companies such as Nestlé and Cargill could not be sued for child slavery in their supply chains .

The campaigners were at a clear disadvantage compared with the chocolate makers, not least because they did not fully understand the root causes of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa.

The issue of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa has been only superficially addressed in the literature. Survey and survey-type studies have sought to determine the extent of child slavery (and child labour) in West African cocoa farming, but they have failed to consider its causes.

An example is a series of field surveys conducted by Tulane University to ascertain the prevalence of the worst forms of child labour in cocoa farming in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, investigative reports and televised documentaries have painted merely a qualitative picture of the phenomenon. An example is the 2010 documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate . This sought to provide visual evidence of child slavery in cocoa production in West Africa. Representatives of the chocolate industry declined both requests for interviews and invitations to watch the film.

The filmmaker, Miki Mistrati, broadcast the documentary on a large screen next to Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland , making it difficult for employees to avoid catching glimpses of child slavery in the company’s supply chain.

Scholars, journalists and filmmakers addressing the topic of child slavery in West African cocoa farming have thus far failed to engage with the history of cocoa farming and the evolution of the process of cocoa cultivation.

Properly engaging with this history would help anti-child slavery campaigners understand what exactly they are fighting against. The conditions that created a demand for cheaper sources of labour in the past are still in place today, and nobody understands them better than chocolate multinationals.

This has been the subject of my research .

These conditions arise from changes in the ratio of labour to land needed to continue cultivating cocoa. The availability of forestland is the decisive factor.

Cocoa farming once involved the consecutive phases of boom and bust, followed by a shift to a new forest area (production shift), a different product in the same area (diversification) or a different system of cocoa cultivation requiring extra production factors. Studies of cocoa cultivation in West Africa have provided evidence of planters’ migrating to new forest after exhausting existing forestland, resulting in shifts in production centres within and between countries.

However, accessing new forestland is becoming ever more difficult, and far more labour is needed to replant cocoa than to plant on pioneer forest soil.

This labour problem is particularly pronounced in cocoa cultivation areas that depended on migrant labour in the past (such as Ivory Coast). Here, a reduction in migration over time, coupled with deforestation, has resulted in a labour crisis: although post-forest cultivation requires more labour than pioneer planting, less labour is now available. To continue cultivating cocoa, planters in these areas have turned to cheaper sources of labour, such as family members and children.

This change in labour relations seems to have led to an increase in child slave labour.

Investing time

Chocolate producers such as Mars and Nestlé are well aware of the labour problem in cocoa cultivation. Historically, this problem has led to diversification: when cocoa has become difficult to cultivate, planters have turned to other products. Although such diversification may be good for farming communities, it spells bad news for buyers of the raw material. This has led to multinationals intervening under the banner of sustainability to prevent diversification away from cocoa. Their “sustainability” programmes are ostensibly designed to combat child labour, slavery or trafficking or labour. They are, however, in fact productivity-boosting programmes with token anti-slavery components.

It is no longer sufficient merely to show that child slavery exists in cocoa farming in West Africa. To have any chance of combating these practices, campaigners must invest time and effort to truly understand the processes and conditions that create them.

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The Rise of Slavery

Plantation owners in Virginia and other Southern states originally used indentured servants to work in the fields. After Bacon’s Uprising, plantation owners realized that freed indentured servants posed a risk. They began importing slaves from Africa to work on their plantations.

The idea of slavery wasn’t new. Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all kept slaves. In fact, slavery has been practiced all over the world for thousands of years. Slavery was a common part of life in Africa, where slaves were treated relatively well. They could marry, gain an education, and interact in everyday society.

Ironically, slavery in America allowed the young country to prosper economically and achieve freedom from Great Britain. Many of the Founding Fathers kept slaves. Of course, the benefits of freedom weren’t extended to the slaves themselves, who often suffered terribly.

In the 1600s, Europeans brought slaves to the New World. Many of these slaves were kidnapped by African slave traders. The terrified men, women, and children walked hundreds of miles across Africa to the Gold Coast in north-western Africa.

They were then chained and loaded so tightly onto boats that they could barely move. As many as 25 percent – approximately 2 million Africans – died during the voyage. Many became sick and died from disease. Others jumped overboard.

The ships sailed from Africa’s coast to the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. Here, the slaves were inspected to make sure they were healthy. They were trained and sold in auctions. They were then loaded on boats bound for America.

Europeans traded salted fish, guns, rum, and iron bars used as money for the slaves.

Most of the slaves brought to America lived in the South, many of them on plantations. Field hands worked long hours under grueling conditions on the plantations. Household slaves had it better. They cooked, cleaned, sewed, and kept the gardens. Some slaves learned trades, such as carpentry or tanning. Some slave owners were kind, but many were very cruel.

Slaves in New England were usually treated better, although they weren’t free.

As the numbers of slaves in America grew, slave owners worried about uprisings. They made laws stating that slaves were to be treated as property. Slaves weren’t allowed to marry, although many did. Their children and spouses could be ripped away from them. It was against the law for a large group of slaves to gather in one place.

Slaves tried to keep their own culture alive. They created gospel music by mixing traditional African rhythms with Christian themes. They told stories and made art.

1. Prosper: to thrive, flourish, do well

2. Benefit: an advantage or gain

3. Grueling: exhausting

Questions and Answers

Question: Why didn’t the Founding Fathers and early colonists understand that slavery was wrong?

Answer: That’s a good question with a complicated answer. First, some colonists did believe slavery was wrong but felt powerless to stop it. Unfortunately, slavery and other forms of oppression were common in many cultures. For hundreds of years in Great Britain, people lived under a feudal system, in which a few people owned most of the country’s land and wealth while the rest of the people lived in poverty. Children and women had few rights and were often poorly treated. Human life, in general, wasn’t highly valued. Slave traders and plantation owners were blinded by their own greed.

Visit Scholastic to learn more about what it was like to be a slave.

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APA Style Citation

Tobin, Declan. (2024). American Slavery Facts for Kids - . American History for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.americanhistoryforkids.com/the-rise-of-slavery/

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Johnny Gaudreau’s wife reveals in eulogy she’s pregnant, expecting 3rd child

Meredith Gaudreau, wife of NHL player Johnny Gaudreau who, along with his brother Matthew Gaudreau, was killed by an alleged drunk driver last month, revealed in a eulogy to her late husband that she is expecting their third child. 

On Sept. 9, Meredith Gaudreau delivered a heartbreaking speech for the Columbus Blue Jackets player during the joint funeral for him and his brother. Through tears, Meredith Gaudreau recalled their love story and spoke about welcoming their first child together, a baby girl named Noa. Just 17 months after Noa arrived, Meredith Gaudreau gave birth to their son, John. 

Speaking directly to her late husband, she said, “John, I had the best six months as a family of four. Those will forever be the best six months of my life. There’s specifically one week that I will cherish forever and will be my favorite week of my life.”

Meredith Gaudreau then announced that she is currently pregnant with their third child. 

“I’m in my ninth week of pregnancy with our third baby,” she said. “A total surprise, but again, John was beaming and so excited. I was so nervous, again, total surprise. But his reaction was just immediately kissing me and hugging me even though I was driving the car.”

Meredith Gaudreau sweetly remembered her husband frequently telling her after she shared the news, “‘You’re nuts, you know that? Three kids.’”

She added that their oldest child, Noa, has not celebrated her second birthday yet. 

“In less than three years of marriage, we’ve created a family of five,” she continued. “It doesn’t even sound possible, but I look at it as the ultimate blessing. How lucky am I to be the mother of John’s three babies? My last one being a blessing is so special, despite these difficult circumstances.”

She told her children that their father loves them and gushed that he is the best dad in the world. She said she planned to encourage their son to follow in his father’s footsteps and would teach him to ice skate as soon as possible. 

Her pregnancy news came after her sister-in-law Madeline Gaudreau read her eulogy to husband Matthew and also mentioned being pregnant. Madeline Gaudreau is currently expecting her first child, a son. 

She previously announced on Instagram that her due date is in December.

“For anyone that knows Matty knows he was born to be a dad,” she said at the funeral. “The moment we found out about our son Tripp, it consumed his every day. He was downloading apps, ordering books, finding the best diaper brand, making sure I had the best vitamins and asking for tips from John.”

She said Matthew Gaudreau accompanied her to all her doctor appointments and had already started to build a nursery for their baby boy. 

“Matthew worked so hard on that room, and I can feel him in there every time I go in it. Matthew was so excited to welcome Tripp into this world, and although the plan now looks a little different, I know Matt will surround his son for the rest of his life,” Madeline Gaudreau said. “I’m so thankful God gave us a child, a little Matty to run around for life, to carry on his legacy. Tripp will know how much his father loved him, and I promise to do all the things with him we talked about.”

She said she is looking forward to Tripp growing up with his cousin John and creating the same unbreakable bond that the two hockey brothers shared. 

On Aug. 29, New Jersey State Police confirmed Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and his brother, Matthew, 29, were pronounced dead at the scene after they were hit by an alleged drunken driver while riding their bikes in their New Jersey hometown,  NBC Philadelphia reported. 

According to NJ Advance Media , the brothers were supposed to attend their sister’s wedding the following day. 

Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau previously played together at Boston College before their professional careers. Former coach Jerry York said the two were “inseparable.” 

Ariana Brockington is a trending news reporter at TODAY digital. She is based in Los Angeles.

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