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> [the former slave] died there in 1921, at the age of 67. From a linked article. Especially as a Britisher, where 100-odd years seems pretty recent, it’s incr
by psergeant 8y ago
> [the former slave] died there in 1921, at the age of 67.
From a linked article. Especially as a Britisher, where 100-odd years seems pretty recent, it’s incredible to me that there were slaves so recently in the US.
Somehow that makes it all much more shocking.
- lloydde 8y agoSlavery still exists in the USA today with mass incarceration. The 13th Amendment, as enacted, reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
- psergeant 8y agoAh, this seems like comparatively a huge reach to me, and I think it does a massive disservice to compare the enslavement of Black Americans to penal servitude, even given the outsized representation of African Americans in the US penal system.
- mcfunk 8y agoI would recommend reading The New Jim Crow or watching 13th to better understand the argument and comparison being made.
- travmatt 8y agoI think your argument pretty much ignores a major portion of American history post civil war through at least the 1960’s.
- papaf 8y agoIt's the system as it was designed to be. I am surprised that you haven't heard about the prison loophole before. It even gets a powerful scene in the film 'Gone with the Wind'.
- phjesusthatguy3 8y agoApartheid was the official law of the land up until 60 years or so ago. My father lived under it. America never had a truth and reconciliation period. I got to see Nelson Mandela speak at Tiger Stadium before I have seen America do anything at all. That sounds a lot more harsh than I mean it to, it's just reality.
- wjp3 8y agoHarsh or not - the truth it is. And I predict the current administration will help to bring the truth and reconciliation period to fruition. Not that they want it.
- psergeant 8y agoI feel like slavery was orders of magnitude worse than Apartheid. Neither is in the least excusable, but still, apartheid was theoretically about separation and discrimination, rather than classing people as property.
- phjesusthatguy3 8y agoI also believe slavery was worse than Apartheid. What do you think about Jim Crow? EDIT That's a trick question because Jim Crow was Apartheid.
- gt_ 8y agoIn the absence of land to call home, one is only free when at sea. And in the absence of a boat to float, one will sink. Yes, master. I will make due with life on the brink.
- megaman22 8y agoPropaganda aside, a black person in the USA is living in the best possible place.
- sctb 8y agoIt seems clear that what we've asked you to change about your commenting isn't forthcoming, so we've banned the account. If you'd like to use the site as intended you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll unban the account. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- wjp3 8y agoAnd we now have a..... ahem President.... who wants to MAGA. Please let me out.
- dang 8y agoPlease keep partisan boilerplate off HN. Edit: you've broken the site guidelines a lot. Can you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules when posting here?
- runako 8y agoA book was recently published about a person some consider to be the last enslaved person brought to the US from Africa: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barracoon-cudjo-lewis-zora-neale-hurston-last-slave-ship-survivor-book-life-story-published-a8335776.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barracoon-... (He died in 1935.) > 100-odd years seems pretty recent, it’s incredible to me that there were slaves so recently in the US. That's a taboo line of inquiry in the US. In general, the line is to agree that slavery happened in the very distant past, so the institution cannot possibly affect the present. Edited to indicate this person was the last enslaved person brought to the US from Africa, not the last enslaved person in the US.
- gt_ 8y agoI just recently said something like this aloud in a casual conversation with a friend (Ad sales guy in NYC) and, through the awkward exchange that followed realized he thought emancipation was 300+ years ago. Given slavery is the most critical part of our nation’s history, I opted to not disctract with the dates of the revolutionary war. This from someone from a wealthy family who attended private schools and has an MBA.
- rfinney 8y agofact check: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2xy51z/when_did_the_last_former_american_slave_whod_been/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2xy51z/when_... The "War Between the States" ended in 1865, so likely the last former slave died in the 1970s.
- runako 8y agoOf course you're correct! I edited my comment to note that Barracoon is believed to be the last enslaved person brought to the US from Africa. Wikipedia counts Sylvester Magee as the last living slave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Magee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Magee He died in 1971, as you intuited.
- extralego 8y ago
- adamnemecek 8y agoSlavery isn't a thing of the past. There are more slaves in the world now than at any point in the past.
- psergeant 8y agoSlavery as a state-sponsored endeavour pretty much is, though.
- adamnemecek 8y agoDoes state-sponsorship matter? Also idk if this is true.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- gt_ 8y agoIn the absence of land to call home, one is only free when at sea. And in the absence of a boat to float, one will sink. Yes, master. I will make due with life on the brink.
- fecundita 8y agoYou DO know that the very word "Slavery" has a very specific meaning here in the United States, yes. When the word "Slavery" is thrown around in conversation, here in America, in English, it specifically means only one thing, and it only ever means that specific thing. Not unlike "Holocaust" only ever having one meaning. You can choose to qualify "Nuclear Holocaust" and that will technically mean something else, although even that catches heat, and "Nuclear Armageddon" is preferred, especially by survivors. So, go ahead and qualify "Cybernetic Slavery" or "Sex Slavery" or some such subgroup thereof, but even then, dilution of the term with qualifiers may still catch some flak. Probably "bondage" or "indentured servitude" or "traffiking" or "imprisonment" combined with "forced labor" will more accurately describe what you're trying to communicate to American audiences. When the word "Slavery" is used in America, it only means institutionalized laws endorsed by The U.S. Government, to specifically target Black People and only Black People, and deny them a normal existence among peers.
- smacktoward 8y agoFrom 1936 to 1938, there was a New Deal project that paid underemployed writers to interview still-living former slaves and write down their stories for posterity. Those stories are all available online via the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/ https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-fe... Additionally, around six hours’ worth of audio recordings of these interviews survive as well, which means you can hear some of these ex-slaves tell their stories in their own voices. Those recordings are available here: https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/ https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/ (Note that there are some important caveats to keep in mind when reading these stories, mostly to do with the fallibility of memory when recalling events 70 years in the past and the distorting effects of presenting black peoples’ stories through the mediation of mostly white writers. It’s still a fascinating resource, but it’s worth keeping these issues in mind as you read it. The LOC has a good rundown of the issues here: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/articles-and-essays/introduction-to-the-wpa-slave-narratives/limitations-of-the-slave-narrative-collection/ https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-fe...)