The 1800s were a different time, when humans were not afforded the rights of citizens or human rights in the US and around the world. Fortunately, the abolitionist movement which began in Europe, spread to the northern states, ultimately became the law of the land with the 13th Amendment.
But slavery was a widespread practice and continues to this day in some more remote areas of Africa. Rather than treat slavery as something that "happened", it is time to focus on slavery as something that is "happening". History suggests that slavery began in African over 6000 years ago and has continued there ever since. Recently, it was revealed that some of the Jews taken on October 7th are being held as slaves. Some may even be Americans.
There are more slaves globally today, then at any point in history. Too often it seems people are focused with America's relatively short experience of state sanctioned slavery, when the real focus should be ending the institution that stubbornly persists to this day.
Why don't Americans express more passion towards ending slavery in all its forms today, why focus on the past and ignore the present?
Every year my daughter raises money to help support efforts to end human trafficking, but those different organizations need far more support than they are presently getting. How can we focus so much on the past and ignore the present?
Meanwhile, with respect to America, we are not a perfect nation. But nothing captures how far we have come as a nation, then the fact, that the first African American President was the descendent of a slaveowner through his "white" mother. Let that sink in.
Obama's link to slavery was not through his black father, but through his white mother. The marriage of his white mother, the descendent of white slaveowners to a black African man signify how far our nation has come. Things have truly changed, but not nearly as much in other parts of the world.
As Americans we should unite to condemn slavery where it exists and use our resources as a nation to end it. Talking about what happened more than a hundred years ago, seems a bit hypocritical if we fail to act on the same abuse today.
If anything, our history of slavery should make us sensitive to the suffering of those in the world still shackled by the chains of slavery. Back in the 1800s, whites were slaveowners and abolitionists. Hopefully, today, we are all abolitionists, and let's work to end the global slave trade. The first step is to learn about it.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/13/1122714064/modern-slavery-global-estimate-increase
