Slavery and the Struggle to End It

by Larry Smith

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

--Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Question is - just who were those robbing pirates, and what impact did they have on the the way we live today?

Turns out, the pirates were most often Africans, under whose authority the Atlantic slave trade was conducted.

According to Syracuse University historian Zayde Antrim, "Not only was slavery an established institution in West Africa before European traders arrived, but Africans were also involved in a trans-Saharan trade in slaves."

Last week's article on the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade drew three interesting comments. And since one of the declared aims of the abolition bicentenary is to generate a discussion on slavery and race relations, we thought that republishing them here would be a good way to get the ball rolling.

To avoid creating pre-conceptions we will not mention the names of the commentators here (but they are identified in the previous post on this subject). The first correspondent listed six points of issue:

"It is easy to dismiss the existence of slavery going back to the origins of mankind. One should note that at one time half of Rome's population were slaves and the word itself is of Eastern European origin.

"The slave trade across the Atlantic was matched by a simultaneous and equally large North African and Middle Eastern trade that was most difficult to end.

"The high volume African slave trade ended around the world because of the power and commitment of the British Government to end it...for which it gets no credit.

"The 200th anniversary is likely to be yet another occasion for the less developed countries of the world to bash the developed countries...no doubt with the encouragement of the UN and its NGO siblings...another occasion to inflame racial hatred. In this way these countries can overlook, for a moment, the causes for their backwardness and the social and political changes needed in the fabric of their own societies.

"The 200th anniversary will no doubt stress the unique character of this "inhuman" experience when a comparable transatlantic disaster followed the potato famine in Ireland in the mid-1840s and tribal genocide on a large scale erupted in post World War II Africa right down to today

"In the case of the United States slavery did not end with the formation of the country because it was the "deal breaker" in the formation of the "national union" itself. This issue was addressed almost 100 years later at a cost of 500,000 men. How do we compensate them for their sacrifice? Do we compensate the descendants of Union casualties only?"

To which the second commentator responded...

"It's interesting that (the first correspondent) sees it as an occasion to inflame hatred. Why is that always the response from some people at every attempt to discuss the rape of Africa and the enslavement of black people in the West?

"This was the worst crime against humanity in history. It was different from every other form of slavery before or since because it was sustained for 300 years, it was based on race and the supposed inferiority of black people, it was brutally intense, and because blacks still suffer from the presumption of inferiority many years after emancipation.

"Why is it that nobody accuses the Jews of stirring up hatred against the Germans by their their endless -- but justified -- commemoration of the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis? Is three centuries of black suffering of less value, and why?

"Furthermore (the first commentator) should know that most of the problems of African countries today stem from the pillaging and depopulation of that continent by the Europeans during the slave period, their continued subjugation up until only a half century ago, and their manipulation and exploitation up until today.

"I don't believe Lincoln's main reason for fighting the civil war was to free the slaves. As a matter of fact, he said himself that if he could have preserved the union without freeing the slaves, he would have done just that. I have more respect for the English abolitionists who acted on the belief that blacks were human being and that slavery was an abomination.

"I cringe when I read expressions like 'in his time' and 'in the world in which he lived' etc. Then I know the bull is coming fast and furious. Even before Lincoln, the founders of the American republic were not ignorant men. They were educated, intelligent men, but they were racists. They made the times in which they lived."

To which the third commentator added...

"My great-great grandmother was black and I am proud to say that. But the truth is that we can blame no-one for our problems but ourselves.

"The thought of the slave trade makes me want to vomit because of what the Africans went through. But even though slavery lasted 300 years, it's been over 200 years since it was abolished by the British and we should not continue to use this as a crutch for all our problems.

"I know many 'people of colour' who want to get past this, who only want to be thought of as human beings, not humans with a particular colour.

"If we are still having problems I lay the blame at the feet of too many black men who think they can behave like teenage boys, doing whatever they feel like and not taking responsibility for their actions, screwing everything in sight and carelessly making children.

"Good, decent black men need to have the courage to get up and say 'you are not my brother' when you behave is such a way. All this talk about a village bringing up a child is true, but in the old country if you did not take responsibility for your children you were cast out.

"Respect is not just for your children but for your women. They are not chattel! You cannot disrespect half the population and think nothing of it and just use brute force to subdue them.

"We need only look to the rapid spread of AIDS and understand that this has, in large part, been caused by loose sexual behaviour and a wife not being able to tell her husband to get lost when he wants to have sex with her after other partners (without him chopping her to death).

"We need to have good black men stand up for themselves and say what they feel. Free themselves from mental slavery. It's not whitey that is doing this to us, it's what we are doing to ourselves every time we make this excuse for bad behaviour and gross irresponsibility."

And now for a little historical background.

Slavery has been practised all over the world for thousands of years, and it took centuries of struggle by people of all races to end it.

France was the first country to abolish slavery, during the revolution, which led directly to the Haitian rebellion. But it was revived by Napoleon in 1802, and maintained for another 40 years. In 1807 the British outlawed slave trading and ended slavery throughout their empire 26 years later. For almost a century, the Royal Navy was used to suppress the slave trade around the world.

It took just over 50 years from its formation by a dozen men in a London print shop in 1787 for the British antislavery movement to overturn "the atrocity that formed the economic backbone of the world’s most powerful empire...a moral victory (that) inaugurated the era of the grassroots human-rights campaign," according to American journalist and author, Adam Hochschild.

American slavery began with the arrival of 20 Africans in 1619 to replace white indentured labourers in Virginia. Later, a bloody civil war led to abolition by constitutional amendment in 1865. But some transatlantic trade continued until 1888, mostly with Brazil. And the Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trades continued long after that.

In fact, Ethiopia did not abolish slavery until 1932. And it persisted in the Arabian peninsula until 1962.

But although slavery has now been officially abolished everywhere, in practice it still exists. According to Anti-Slavery International, at least 12 million people are enslaved around the world through bonded labour, forced marriage, forced labour and human tracking.

Comments

[Bob Knaus]

Want some more history?

My great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Knaus was a slaveholder in Missouri. He went to the California Gold Rush in 1849, which is where he got the money to buy them. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he and his two oldest sons volunteered on the Union side. They were ignominously defeated by the Confederates in the Battle of the Hemp Bales at Lexington MO, and spent the remainder of the war hiding out from Union recruiters.

Jacob's sons remained attached to their father's ex-slaves after emancipation, taking care of them in their old age. Politically, they were staunch Republicans, which meant they favored the interests of blacks and opposed the Democratic-sponsored KKK and its ilk.

All of this is true! Isn't history messy?

[Kimberly DeWitt]

I am only coming across this page as I research for a paper. But, I can't help but take a moment and comment on the statements that have been made on this subject; many of them reflecting the general opinions of the average "educated" adult.
Simple question. If while studying history we become so bogged down with placing blame on the perpetuators of injustice, are we accomplishing the purpose of studying history in the first place? There is not one society, race or religion, through-out all of history, that is without its moral and ethical injustices. This is not to excuse anyone or anything, but the argument surrounding the issue of slavery is so complex that to look at it from only one angle, or "side", is to stubbornly choose to ignore the other significant factors.
Who is worse, the man who buys another man, or the man who sells the man he calls his brother?

[ashley major]

i love bahamian history!!!!!!!!!!!!1