400 Years of African Slavery in America

[Bootstrap]

Well, Dan Z asked what we should be doing today and what we might be missing. The obvious answer would be "Slavery is still a pretty big problem", and America has deep trade links with China and India which promote and exploit slavery in those places.

I started a thread for discussing these topics here:

http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php ... 271#p64337

[barnhart]

And slavery existed in Europe and also existed in various meso-American societies, so it seems rather silly to try to pinpoint a date when it was “introduced” to America.

There was also an active African slave system when the Europeans showed up and decided to start buying some for themselves. However I think it is meaningful to look at American slavery specifically since this is the one place we can work to repair the past. This is on us, not all the other slave systems that predated it. I think there is a sort of Neo-Confederate history that likes to think of slavery as a random condition that falls on to humans from time to time and is nobodies fault, like the common cold, thus acknowledging the damage or working to repair it is meaningless.

[Josh]

And slavery existed in Europe and also existed in various meso-American societies, so it seems rather silly to try to pinpoint a date when it was “introduced” to America.

There was also an active African slave system when the Europeans showed up and decided to start buying some for themselves. However I think it is meaningful to look at American slavery specifically since this is the one place we can work to repair the past. This is on us, not all the other slave systems that predated it. I think there is a sort of Neo-Confederate history that likes to think of slavery as a random condition that falls on to humans from time to time and is nobodies fault, like the common cold, thus acknowledging the damage or working to repair it is meaningless.

The history of slavery is mostly people being sold into debt bondage or as war spoils (including the trans-Atlantic slave grade).

American slavery was unique in being chattels slavery, but was a mere blip in the context of human history.

We would do well more to focus on present day debt bondage and problems with spoils of war and other forced labour than spend too much time ruminating on the past, particularly when much of our country is descended from people who migrated here in the 20th century. American slavey truly is a footnote, and was also eradicated - unlike much of the rest of the world.

[joshuabgood]

And slavery existed in Europe and also existed in various meso-American societies, so it seems rather silly to try to pinpoint a date when it was “introduced” to America.

There was also an active African slave system when the Europeans showed up and decided to start buying some for themselves. However I think it is meaningful to look at American slavery specifically since this is the one place we can work to repair the past. This is on us, not all the other slave systems that predated it. I think there is a sort of Neo-Confederate history that likes to think of slavery as a random condition that falls on to humans from time to time and is nobodies fault, like the common cold, thus acknowledging the damage or working to repair it is meaningless.

The history of slavery is mostly people being sold into debt bondage or as war spoils (including the trans-Atlantic slave grade).

American slavery was unique in being chattels slavery, but was a mere blip in the context of human history.

We would do well more to focus on present day debt bondage and problems with spoils of war and other forced labour than spend too much time ruminating on the past, particularly when much of our country is descended from people who migrated here in the 20th century. American slavey truly is a footnote, and was also eradicated - unlike much of the rest of the world.

Slavery is a mere "footnote" only if you are white. That is part of your white privilege that enables to you to write that. And if you get upset by me pointing that out, that is your white fragility =).

[Mountain Merle]

Most of us grew up with a carefully sanitized American history that mostly leaves black people out of everything before Frederick Douglass.

I would hope history is being taught in a more balanced way these days. I certainly grew up being taught the "carefully sanitized" version when I went to public school in the mid 60's.
I especially remember the Virginia History book we had in the 4th grade. It must have been written by some Confederate sympathizers. It championed "states rights" as being a perfectly good reason to fight a civil war. (the war really wasn't about slavery, so the book said) Northern soldiers were portrayed as doltish and not very bright. While the boys in grey were smart and dashing and with a high sense of honor about defending their native land. In all the early battles (which were mostly fought in VA) the Rebs had the best strategy and usually won the battles with less men and less casualties.
It was crazy; while I knew and felt that slavery was was evil and wrong, I found myself rooting for the Rebels.
That was VA history, the "sanitized version" in 1966.

[Josh]

Slavery is a mere "footnote" only if you are white. That is part of your white privilege that enables to you to write that. And if you get upset by me pointing that out, that is your white fragility =).

Doesn’t have anything to do with past chattels slavery.

1. According to the “wokest” voices, racism and racial disparities and bigotry and so forth are just as much of a problem in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand which had much less slavery or never allowed it at all.

2. It’s been 158 years since slavery was legal in America. Whatever problems persist today are of other causes.

3. Many other ethnic groups have slavery in their past yet it’s a mere footnote of history. For example, Hutterites were enslaved in large numbers (over half of them) by the Ottoman Empire, which was the last place widespread slavery was legal - into the 20th century. Yet Hutterites in America seem to have zero problems because of this, nor do their descendants in modern day Turkey or Cyprus. Most are not even aware of it.

Racism, bigotry, widespread racial disparities, and so on are definitely present day problems. Slavery, however, is a footnote. “White privilege” has nothing to do with that opinion. My ancestors mostly came to America penniless after slavery was eradicated. Whatever differences in privilege might exist aren’t due to events 200 years ago.

[Szdfan]

A modest proposal? If you don’t want to have this discussion, rather than deflecting and minimizing it, perhaps focus on those threads with the discussions that you want to be a part of?

[Mountain Merle]

Doesn’t have anything to do with past chattels slavery.

I happen to think it does. Just because slavery in America ended that long ago doesn't mean that the effects of it have disappeared. There is a difference between the slavery that some Anabaptist people suffered and the African situation. I suppose in a generation the white Anabaptists could blend back into society and leave slavery behind. In the case of the people of African descent, slavery was race based; so while slavery itself was outlawed in America after the Civil War, the effects of it are with us to this day.

[Szdfan]

Doesn’t have anything to do with past chattels slavery.

I happen to think it does. Just because slavery in America ended that long ago doesn't mean that the effects of it have disappeared. There is a difference between the slavery that some Anabaptist people suffered and the African situation. I suppose in a generation the white Anabaptists could blend back into society and leave slavery behind. In the case of the people of African descent, slavery was race based; so while slavery itself was outlawed in America after the Civil War, the effects of it are with us to this day.

A lot has been written recently about the failures of Reconstruction after the Civil War and the ways that control and power dynamics of slavery continued, even though it was legally outlawed, such as sharecropping and the use of prison labor.

[Josh]

Doesn’t have anything to do with past chattels slavery.

I happen to think it does. Just because slavery in America ended that long ago doesn't mean that the effects of it have disappeared. There is a difference between the slavery that some Anabaptist people suffered and the African situation. I suppose in a generation the white Anabaptists could blend back into society and leave slavery behind. In the case of the people of African descent, slavery was race based; so while slavery itself was outlawed in America after the Civil War, the effects of it are with us to this day.

Do you have an explanation for Canada, then?