Five Facts About Slavery

It’s been 150 years since the slavery was abolished in the United States (really doesn’t seem like that long ago!). So here are five facts about the barbaric practice of slavery. Do you know any other titbits about slavery… let us know in the comments section below.

Anyway… back to the facts…

Charles Lynch
Charles Lynch was a farmer and American revolutionary from Virginia. During the American Revolution, he headed an irregular court which tried and punished loyalist supporters of the British. The sentences handed down were usually property seizure, flogging, or conscription into the army. After the revolution, Lynch became a member of the Virginia Senate. He is, of course, now famous for the term “lynching” or a “lynch mob”. Lynching of slaves initially started out as flogging, but within a short period of time this progressed to summary execution.

The Bible
The Bible does not expressly condone or forbid slavery. In the New Testament, Jesus heals a slave but does not take the time to condemn the slave owner for having a slave, nor suggest that slavery is wrong. Saint Paul said this to slave owners: “Do not threaten [your slaves], since you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him” (Ephesians 6:9). The Old Testament reminds people to treat their slaves well. The reason for this moral discrepancy is that the Bible was written when slavery was widespread and considered perfectly normal and moral.

The Word
Slavery can broadly be described as the ownership, buying and selling of human beings for the purpose of forced and unpaid labor. It is an ancient practice, mentioned in both the Bible and the Koran. The word “slave” comes to us from Byzantine Greek “sklabos” which was the name for the Slavic people. The reason for this is that the Vikings used to capture the Slavs and sell them to the Romans as slaves. The term only dates back as far as 580 AD as the Latin word “servus” was more commonly used before that for all kinds of servants – enslaved or not.

Mark of Honor
In Africa, prior to the arrival of European slave traders, slavery was a normal part of life. However, the differences between owning in Africa and in Europe were very different. What made African slavery stand out from European style slavery was the fact that it was a sign of good reputation and honor if a slave owner treated his slaves with respect and kindness. The better treated your slaves, the more honorable and highly regarded you were. Manhandling a slave was considered unethical and you risked your reputation if you did not feed and clothe your slaves adequately.

Slavery Today
According to studies done by anti-slavery groups, there are currently more slaves today than at any time in history! It is believed that there are around 27 million people in slavery right now. Furthermore, this number does not include people who are not technically slaves but are in a form of servitude tantamount to slavery. This is sometimes called “unfree labor”. A study done at Berkeley University estimates that there are around 10,000 slaves in the United States at the moment. Throughout the world three quarters of slaves are female and over half are children.