Historically, slavery was spread across the world, taking many forms. These days it is seen as a quintessence of injustice, which brought suffering to many people, and is forbidden by international and national laws. However, there are still reminiscences of slavery present in the modern world, particularly in America. That is the reason why it is always important to discuss the history of this phenomenon.
There were several reasons why historical slavery was formed. First of all, it was connected to the need for an organized workforce for agricultural work (Slavery in history, n.d.). For instance, Ancient Greece’s economy largely depended on slavery, which expanded even further in the Roman Empire (Slavery in history, n.d.). Slaves were also seen as war trophies: for instance, many were enslaved during Viking invasions (Slavery in history, n.d.). Still, the main roots of slavery lay in economic necessity.
There are several crucial differences, however, between ancient slavery and the one in America. In ancient and medieval times, people could be slaves by origin or enslaved for a crime or as war trophies, but their race did not matter (Wiebe, 2019). Moreover, not all slaves, for instance, in Rome, were involved in agriculture: some were trained to work in education or accounting (Cartwright, 2013). In America, however, the roles performed by slaves were more limited. These distinctions matter because they emphasize that slavery in America was rooted in racism, which considered black people inferior and incapable of anything other than work in a field.
Slavery in America changed over the period, but until the 19th century, not for the better. When the first African slaves were transported to American colonies and put to work alongside white servants, the English lacked experience in organizing plantation work, and many blacks were soon able to negotiate their way to freedom (Herschtal, 2019). Later, in the 18th century, more and more slaves were imported, replacing white servants with the number of free black men decreasing, as a result (Berlin, 1980). The land cultivated was also expanded with more work extracted from a single slave, making their lives more difficult (Baptist, 2015). While, in the North, blacks managed to stay united, in the South, they were getting increasingly separated, losing their identity, which could have helped them to preserve the freedom of the mind.
This distinction became especially important later. Urban slaves in the North knew the rules of the white society and employed them for their advantage, even sending some of their children to missionary schools (Berlin, 1980). Plantation slaves’ lives were much worse: brutal punishments and hard work prevented them from seeking ways for improvement. They were provided with “rations”, which were often insufficient, prompting them to cultivate their gardens at night (Schwartz, 2011). I wanted to create families with people they liked, they had to seek their masters’ approval to receive a separate household (Scwartz, 2015). Matchmaking was not particularly widespread, but owners could insist on slaves “mating” promptly after seeing that they spend time with each other (Scwartz, 2015). “Breeding” was essential for slaveholders, so, over time, they started to interfere more by assigning physicians to overlook women’s health problems (Scwartz, 2015). Thus, although slaves had some opportunities for self-determination, they were minimal.
Considering the roots of slavery, certain widespread ideas can have negative implications. For instance, it seems to be common to overemphasize the importance of the particular date when the first slaves were brought to America (Herschtal, 2019). As a result, it becomes easy to forget that people are responsible for the formation of racism, that it was a process rather than an event.
Historically, slavery took many forms: some of the less harsh than others. However, the fact that at times slaves could find their ways to more decent lives does not outweigh the suffering of millions of people. Therefore, it is essential to research this institute, remembering it for what it was – a cruel system of domination created by one group of people to satisfy their needs by exploiting others.
References
Baptist, E. (2015). Picking cotton under the pushing system. The History of American Slavery.
Berlin, I. (1980). Time, space, and the evolution of Afro-American society on British mainland North America. The American Historical Review, 85(1), 44-78.
Cartwright, M. (2013). Slavery in the Roman world. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Web.
Herschtal, E. (2019). What we get wrong about the roots of slavery in America. The Washington Post. Web.
Schwartz, M. J. (2001). Family life in the slave quarters: Survival strategies. OAH Magazine of History, 15(4), 36-41.
Scwartz, M. (2015). Good breeders. The History of American Slavery.
Slavery in history (n.d.). The History Press. 2020, Web.
Wiebe, D. J. (2019). Slavery in Ancient Rome and the United States of America: Natural rights and their role in the brutality of slavery in America and its abolition. Crossings, (3), 197-214.