Slavery

Posted: October 17th, 2013

Slavery

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Slavery

Slavery in essence is subjection to laboring without pay coupled by the presence of inhumane working conditions and treatment. Slavery was a driver of growth and industrialization the 14^th century up to the day it was abolished by Abraham Lincoln in the United States. The cheap labor offered by the slaves enabled economies enabled these economies to thrive as labor is the main factor of production.

Slavery began in the ancient periods in Europe and Asia with specific reference to the Arab merchants who sold slaves in Europe and Asia. Slave trade in the United States began during the colonial period as the African continent provided the basic factors of production: labor, and raw materials. Hence, the slave trade was in essence a driver of the industrialization process. Slavery became a big issue within the society after the trade was outlawed by the Abraham Lincoln regime through the Emancipation Declaration (Guelzo, 2004). The revocation of the trade infuriated the rich slave merchants as well as the rich farmers who depended on the trade for their wealth. The different views on the trade have been set in society since the beginning of the trade coupled by the inhumane treatment of the slaves.

Slavery has been a thorny issue in society because of the different reactions and feelings towards the subject. Some are of the view that slavery instigated growth in the African continent. This is because the interactions between the colonialists accrued benefits such new schools, religion, industrialization and agriculture. On the other hand, those who were direct descendants of the slave trade have different views of the effect of the trade and the moral standing of the trade. The trade was in itself inhumane because of the conditions, which the slaves were subjected to by their masters. In the United States, for instance the trade spurred the cotton growing revolution and other industrialization processes. In Virginia, slaves were subjected to numerous filed hours without pay of food for their families (Tocqueville, & Pitts, 2001).

Inequality based on race made slavery a thorny societal issue. The slave trade was mainly instigated against people of color such Jews, Asians and blacks. In addition, slavery took also a social class perspective in that the rich merchants accrued majority of their wealth from the illicit trade of people. In soothe of the united states majority of the farmers were rich traders who sought the trade in efforts to increase their wealth as to increase the number of laborers for their extensive cotton farms. Society has been edged on prejudices, which were instigated by the slave trade such as racism and inequality within classes (Savage, 1997).

Racism is one of the most dominant effects of the trade, which has left numerous numbers of people devastated. The prejudices are aimed at making others feel inferior or superior to other races because of the mere composition of skin colors. The definition of one race especially lacks or colored against white has defined the historical America as people of color fought for their rights of freedom and access to other basic needs. Racism and inequality are prejudices, which are simultaneous in that one cannot exist without the presence of the other. Racism gave rise to the existent social classes because the colored people were not given chances to own property or other basic rights such as voting, attending social events at specific venues, access to transport among other issues.

Society has transformed over the years in the light of slave trade and the racial prejudices. The initial step towards change was effected by signing of the emancipation which made all slave legally free and outlawing the slave trade. Despite the objections by people in America of the emancipation efforts, the world has been undergoing significant steps towards ridding off the society off this vice.

Different approaches could used to discourage the vice within the society and around the world. With the presence of the internet and digitization of information, the world has become a global village in that people are able to communicate with relative ease. People of different ethnicities an race find the internet as the perfect platform for sharing issue and sorting out their differences. Communication is a major tool in bridging gaps and influencing the choices of people in society to abandon the vice and adopt a multicultural approach. Multiculturalism has the potency of enabling people within the society to live with one another and accept each other despite the racial differences. In addition

Surveys on internet could also be used to evaluate the impact and effects of communication form a multicultural interaction perspective. Interactions between people from the various racial and ethnic groupings could be facilitated via the use of social interaction networks, which are common in this digital era. Information could also be collected in person form people in the neighborhoods composed of different racial groupings to have an indication of the need and wants of the different groups and the approaches favored by the groupings in alleviation of racial prejudices within the society. Interviews are important in that they give a clarified and first hand view of the issues at hand.

In conclusion, racism is still in existence within the society despite claims that the prejudice is not evident in the society. In our daily lives, there is evidence that the vice is still in the midst by how people treat people of other races and the beliefs held against one another. Hence the vice can be gradually eradicated through social education of people to enable them understand the effects of the vice and the demerits it accrues to people of the other race and the whole society in general.

Reference

Guelzo, A. C. (2004). Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation: The end of slavery in America. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Savage, K. (1997). Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

Tocqueville, A. & Pitts, J. (2001). Writings on empire and slavery. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.