Did Slavery Exist Essay

Humans can be owned, bought, and sold to do labor. This is the concept of slavery. It is a misconception that slavery only existed in America during the time before the civil war. Slavery existed long before Africans were brought to the Americas. Ancient Romans, Chinese, and Africans all had their own slaves and slave trade networks. But not only did slavery occur in the past, it still exists today. Among all the places, past and present, America is most well known for its slavery. The European countries and African kingdoms formed a network of slave trade called the Atlantic slave trade. European countries exchanged weapons and technology for slaves from the Africans. These slaves would be imported into European colonies in America to work on cotton and sugar plantations. These slaves were considered property, not humans. Slaves in America were usually whipped or punished for not finishing work on time, or for planning rebellions. As property, slaves were treated just like animals. The only thing that they receive in exchange for their labor is food and shelter. In Rome, slavery was quite common too. Most commonly, prisoners of war were made into slaves. The great Roman general Julius Caesar brought home thousands of prisoners as slaves. Because of this, slaves were abundant and made up about 40 percent of Rome’s population. Unlike American slaves, Roman slaves were not judged by race. Anyone of any race could become a slave. Roman parents in need of money could sell their children into slavery. While treated as property, slaves in rome did have a few legal rights. They could speak up in court if they witnessed a crime. Because of this right, many slave owners believed in this old proverb: “Every slave is an enemy.” As directly translated from Chinese, “selling the body,” means that a person is sold into slavery. It should be known that the Great Wall of China was constructed by slaves. The citizens themselves were …show more content…
Chattel slavery is the kind that the Europeans and Americans used: they treated slaves as a piece of property. In Africa, a slave was not sold into slavery because of being captured. They were not even sold. Slavery was a form of payment. A person in debt of another could pay off his debt by becoming a slave. A person could also become a slave if he committed a crime. Like all slaves, they were forced to do labor. However, a child of a slave was born into slavery. As a slave, people were placed at the very bottom of social standings, but their children were not. A child of a slave could be born into the the master’s family. They could be treated as a part of the master’s family and earn the same rights. Slaves in Africa were treated closer to “family” than “slaves.” Even now slavery still exists. Human trafficking is the more commonly used term. How it works is that a person is abducted and shipped to different parts of the world. Men are used for labor and woman are used for sex. Children also do easier labor, but are still forced to work in terrible conditions. Human trafficking could also be used for selling body parts. Normally, a kidney or a liver would be very hard to obtain for transplants, and would thus be very expensive. Because of the high price, many human traffickers sell the organs on the black market to earn lots of