[quote]Growing_Boy wrote:
According to what I was taught, slavery in the examples that you have given were a mix of debt imposed slavery, (you me alot so now you’re my servant) punishment for a crime committed, or a prisoner of war sentenced to slavery. Those are the few that come to the top of my head I’m sure there was other methods of acquiring slavehood. The slaves that built the pyramids in Egypt were well fed and housed. The slaves of the Aztecs also shared the same treatment. They were bound individually to slavery. Which means their children weren’t born into slavery. If mistreatment was brought before a court the slave could be set free. The slave could also buy their freedom. In all these cultures there was a pathway to freedom.
From what I understood from your post is that the American slaves had infinitely more civilized treatment. I’m not attacking you. I might be completely off. If this was in fact your meaning then I can’t help but completely disagree with that position. How is castrating the “bull” negros in order to control their breeding civilized? How is branding a child with your initials civilized? How is skinning an uppity “n*****” alive in front of the rest of the slaves in order to instill fear into their souls and never consider running away civilized? How is raping a woman because she’s your property civilized? How is breaking a grown man by whipping him and calling him a “boy” civilized? NOT ONE aspect of the American slavery was civilized. Sure, I’ll acknowledge the probability of the occasional kind master but to compare this evil to other forms in the ancient world is absurd. [/quote]
I’m sorry, Growing Boy, but I think you’ve been misinformed.
Slavery as practiced in North America on West African blacks, while reprehensible, was not unique or without historical precedent. Everything you described as happening to your people a few centuries ago most certainly happened to all races of people enslaved in every civilization, all throughout history.
Slaves were commonly taken as tribute from conquered provinces, or as prisoners of war. They were also acquired by traders, who bought them from brokers in Africa and elsewhere, just as was the case in Britain and North America.
“Uppity” slaves in Rome, as I mentioned earlier, were flogged to death or crucified in front of the other slaves, to serve as warnings to the others. A slave, regardless of sex or age, was the master’s property, for him to castrate, rape, beat, burn or kill as he saw fit. Fugitive slaves (yes, even children) would often get the letter “F” branded on their foreheads.
The Greeks treated their slaves a bit better than the Romans did (no crucifixion), but they definitely believed, along with Aristotle, that some people were just born to be enslaved.
In fact, this was literally true: children of slaves became slaves themselves, and the most economical way for a slave master to increase his supply of slaves was by selective breeding of the best stock.
Notably, any children resulting from sexual liaisons between a slave and her master were generally treated better than the ordinary slaves, and were in many cases educated and eventually freed (of course, this also happened in North America: Sally Hemings’ light-skinned children didn’t have to pick much cotton at Monticello).
I’m certainly not trying to cheapen the experience of black slaves in North America. It undoubtedly sucked to be a black slave in North America.
But to claim that it sucked demonstrably more to be a black slave in America than it did to be a slave in all other periods of history, and in all other places in the world, is to reveal extreme historical myopia.