Slavery That Survives Abolition!

The vast population in the U.S.  remained oppressed for a long period of time due to the dark clouds of slavery without any sign of silver lining in sight. Thanks to the 13th amendment of the constitution of the country, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, that abolished slavery in the United States, 150 years of abolition of slavery was recently celebrated in a big way by the African American population, including those that presently occupy the White House, whose forefathers suffered severely under the practice of slavery. And thus the motivation to express my thoughts on the subject on this prestigious platform.

Slavery was introduced as cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants (who were mostly poorer Europeans). After 1619, when a Dutch ship brought 20 Africans ashore at the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia, slavery spread throughout the American colonies. Though it is impossible to give accurate figures, some historians have estimated that 6 to 7 million slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century alone, depriving the African continent of some of its healthiest and ablest men and women. In the 17th and 18th centuries, black slaves worked mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast. Slaves in the South constituted about one-third of the southern population. Most slaves lived on large farms or small plantations; many masters owned no less than 50 slaves. Slave owners sought to make their slaves completely dependent on them, and a system of restrictive codes governed life among slaves. They were prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behavior and movement was restricted. Many masters took sexual liberties with slave women, and rewarded obedient slave behavior with favors, while rebellious slaves were brutally punished. A strict hierarchy among slaves (from privileged house slaves and skilled artisans down to lowly field hands) helped keep them divided and less likely to organize against their masters. Slave marriages had no legal basis, but slaves did marry and raise large families; most slave owners encouraged this practice, but nonetheless did not hesitate to divide slave families by sale or removal. The slave population in the U.S. nearly tripled over the next 50 years. By 1860 it had reached nearly 4 million, with more than half living in the cotton-producing states of the South.

Abraham Lincoln’s anti slavery views were well established even before he issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, and on January 1, 1863, he made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Slavery is abolished in USA since over 150 years now, but sadly it has survived in some form or the other, not only in the U.S., where it started, but also spread across many countries worldwide, unfortunately including India:

• Domestic Servitude

• Employees working in private homes are forced or coerced into serving and/or fraudulently convinced that they have no option to leave.

• Sex Trafficking

• Women, men or children that are forced into the commercial sex industry and held against their will by force, fraud or coercion.

• Forced Labor

• Human beings are forced to work under the threat of violence and for no pay. These slaves are treated as property and exploited to create a product for commercial sale.

• Bonded Labor

• Individuals that are compelled to work in order to repay a debt and unable to leave until the debt is repaid. It is the most common form of enslavement in the world.

• Child Labor

• Any enslavement — whether forced labor, domestic servitude, bonded labor or sex trafficking — of a child.

• Forced Marriage

• Women and children who are forced to marry another without their consent or against their will.

To conclude, my appeal to all those who from time to time  have done a lot many deserving causes for the upliftment of our society -  if you consider any of the above forms of slavery a worthy cause to campaign against, kindly take it when the time is convenient for you.