A Short History of Slavery | 5 Minute Video

Slavery didn’t start in 1492 when Columbus came to the New World. And it didn’t start in 1619 when the first slaves landed in Jamestown. It’s not a white phenomenon. The real story of slavery is long and complex. Candace Owens explains.

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Script:

And now for a brief history of slavery. 

Here’s the first thing you need to know. 

Slavery was not “invented” by white people. 

It did not start in 1619 when the first slaves came to Jamestown. 

It existed before then. 

It did not start in 1492 when Columbus discovered the New World.

In fact, when the intrepid explorer landed in the Bahamas, the native Taino
tribe hoped he could help them defeat their aggressive neighbors, the Caribs. The Caribs enslaved the Taino and, on occasion, served them for dinner.

Slavery existed in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. 
The word “slave” actually comes from the Slavs of Eastern Europe. Millions of them — all white by the way — were captured and enslaved by Muslims in the ninth century and later by the Ottoman Turks.
Slavery existed when the Roman Empire controlled the Mediterranean and most of Europe from the 1st through the 5th centuries.

Slavery existed when Alexander the Great conquered Persia in the 4th century BC. It was so common that Aristotle simply considered it “natural.” The slave/master model was just how the world operated in the great philosopher’s day.  

Slavery existed during the time of the ancient Egyptians five thousand years ago.

As far back we can go in human history, we find slavery. 

As renowned historian John Steele Gordon notes, from time immemorial, “slaves were a major item of commerce...As much as a third of the population of the ancient world was enslaved.” 

Here’s the second thing you need to know. 

White people were the first to formally put an end to slavery. 

In 1833, Britain was the first country in the history of the world to pass a Slavery Abolition Act. They were quickly followed by France, who in 1848 abolished slavery in her many colonies. Then, of course, came the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. After centuries of human slavery, white men led the world in putting an end to the abhorrent practice.

That includes the 300,000 Union soldiers, overwhelmingly white, who died during the Civil War.

Am I saying that this makes white people better than anyone else?

Of course not.  

My purpose here is to simply tell the truth, and the truth is that human history is complicated; no one, regardless of skin color, stands guiltless. 
Yet today we are never told to consider the murderous Persian Empire or the cannibalism of indigenous tribes of North and South America, or the heinous actions under the imperialistic Muslim, Chinese, Mongol, or Japanese Empires, to name just a few.

Instead, we’re told that slavery is a white phenomenon.  
Like all persistent lies, this lie spawns a bunch of other lies.  
On social media I come across extraordinary depictions about how Africans lived liked pharaohs before Europeans came and laid waste to their paradise. 

I wish any of this were true. But it’s not. It’s a fantasy. 

The truth is that Africans were sold into slavery by other black Africans.

And in many cases, sold for items as trivial as gin and mirrors. 

Whites didn’t go into the interior and round up the natives. They waited on the coast for their black partners to bring them black bodies. 

The stark reality is that our lives had very little value to our ancestors.

Here’s the third thing you need to know. 

If you think slavery is a relic of the past, you’re wrong. 

There are some 700,000 slaves in Africa today. Right now. That’s the lowest estimate I could find. Other sources say there are many more. 

For context, that’s almost twice as many slaves as were ever brought to the United States. Child soldiers, human trafficking, forced labor—these are the conditions that currently exist within the same sub-Saharan region where the transatlantic slave trade originated. 

African bodies are being sold today like they were sold then—and no, they are not being purchased by any country of white men. In fact, slavery, by any traditional definition, is exclusively practiced today within nonwhite countries...

[walterbyrd]

Most importantly: you are only responsible for what *you* have done. If you never owned a slave, then you are entirely innocent of slave owning - regardless of what your ancestors may have done.
When Candice claims "no one is innocent" I think she means no race is innocent. Anybody who has not owned a slave is innocent.

[didiergeorges]

Haiti was the first country yo abolish slavery in 1804 when it declared independence from France. The first and still only successful slave revolt in the world. A fact that is often forgotten

[samiatbk]

In the UK we learn about slavery (to an extent.) so for us it’s well-known that slavery existed in different forms across the globe at various times. However, the African slave trade stood out because of the sheer number of people who were enslaved, the significant cruelty and long standing after effects.

[dapyofficial]

Look at my teacher dawggg I’m failing my exam 😭😭

[Dave-tebs]

But didn’t the Persian empire outlaw slavery before the British?

[IIIUMlNATI]

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"You can lose a fight, but you can't win a surrender." - Andrew Klavan

[jacobhougham]

4:32 "Slavery is exclusively practiced today within non-white countries." This isn't entirely true, the human sex trade exist in almost every country, even the United States. It isn't legal, but it does sadly still exist.

[JH-nosy]

Glad to see that Uncle Ruckus’s transition was completed successfully. Now if only he understood actual history.

[Andrew-epkw]

I saw a documentary 10 years ago about the slave trade. Part of it featured an interview with a woman who ran a museum in western Africa that preserved a slave port. In the interview, she mentioned that a lot of Africans grew quite wealthy selling their slaves to the Americans, grew close business relationships with them and even sent their children to American schools. The woman expressed her puzzlement that African Americans visiting the site would frequently grow quite upset on hearing this news.

[AutomationKing]

I can only disagree with the statement that “no one stands guiltless”. We are not responsible for the actions of the people that came before us that we neither performed or condoned, our only responsibility is to learn from those actions and not repeat those actions that we find abhorrent.

[emperorpalpatine]

I am a conservative myself however, let us give credits to Haiti to be the first country to abolish slavery which was written in it's constitution. May God bless the countries who followed to be a role model for other nations to put an end to the evil institution of slavery.

[PP-bwig]

As a white British person I can confirm that we are all kind, fluffy and never do anything bad.

[libertas]

In 1416, the Republic of Ragusa (today Dubrovnik, Croatia) officially banned slavery; 75 people voted for the ban and just three were against it. The decision stated that “none of our nationals or foreigners, and everyone who considers [themselves] from Dubrovnik, can in any way or under any pretext to buy or sell slaves…or be a mediator in such trade.” Anyone who didn’t follow this law was fined and sentenced to half a year in the lower dungeons. It took a while for other countries to catch up – Britain didn’t ban slavery until 1833.

[faulltw]

Slavery has been around since the dawn of time. Who used it the most, abolished it first, fought wars over it, based it on race, practiced by… is not as important as realizing it was, is and forever shall be wrong. Lets learn that simple truth and press on brothers and sisters.

[Deakon]

The slavery exists since human history(or beyond), you can find it in every races and lands. I thought this is a well-known thing but I guess i was wrong.

[renex_g]

The fact that the UK was the first country to abolish slavery is totally false, for example, Chile abolished slavery in 1823...

[unionflag]

There are tens of millions of modern day slaves in the world, but nobody seems to care.
Protestors of slave's only seem to care about those of hundred's of years ago.
They should be more concerned of the slaves who are alive today.

[yarielvargas]

I’m pretty sure that Haiti was actually the first to permanently abolish slavery.

[SandfordSmythe]

Batting a lot of strawmen. Stuff no one said.

[Jesus_is_Lord]

A lot of slavery in the past came about through one nation, conquering another and enslaving their people. Their was also a system where if a person was in massive debt to another, they could enter a contract with the person they were in debt with and become their slave for a time