Politicians seek to control classroom discussions about slavery in U.S.

jeancolmarToday  10:22 am JST

The American horror of Black slavery, Native American genocide, among other crimes against humanity directed at largely non-white people, needs to be taught to American children--just as the Holocaust is taught in German schools.

Every nation, every land, every continent has a history of these abuses sometime in the past. And the citizens need to face these facts and suck it up and not repeat these errors again.

Bob FosseToday  08:52 am JST

an advisory panel made up of nine educators recommended that slavery be referred to as “involuntary relocation.”

Shameful. Then they have the nerve to complain about PC language and cancel culture.

Yes. When I was in college, 'ethnic cleansing' broke out in the former Yugoslavia. Why couldn't anyone just call it what it is, GENOCIDE? And what about the trump administrations' kidnappings of ethnic children and placing them in 'detention centers' which were overcrowded, filthy, diseased, and the kids were beaten, starved, raped and in some cases sterilized? And while on vacation after returning to the US - at a souvenir shop at Old Orchard Beach, ME there was an overhead TV on the Faux channel. Two talking heads were debating whether those facilities were concentration camps (?). Of course, they were! Der Fuehrer Donald initiated this EVIL policy, it's fascism. Nazi Germany, Francoist Spain, NRG Argentina, Pinochet's Chile.

We need to expose the ugly truth about these gross crimes and not water them down with fancy flowery language. What is, IS. Period. And this brainwash education has got to stop.

The US thankfully ended slavery less than 100 years from its birth as a nation.

But it is incredible to think Britain engaged in the slave trade for over 300 years!! I wonder if even the Brits are aware of this piece of shameful history

This article is about The US. If you must indulge in whattaboutery why not Ancient Rome? Go all in.

The American horror of Black slavery, Native American genocide, among other crimes against humanity directed at largely non-white people, needs to be taught to American children--just as the Holocaust is taught in German schools.

an advisory panel made up of nine educators recommended that slavery be referred to as “involuntary relocation.”

Shameful. Then they have the nerve to complain about PC language and cancel culture.

One of the more peculiar byproducts of this legislation came out of Texas, where, in June 2022, an advisory panel made up of nine educators recommended that slavery be referred to as “involuntary relocation.”

A whitewash in every sense.

From the arrival of those first 20 so enslaved Africans in 1619 until slavery was abolished in 1865, approximately 10 million slaves lived in the United States and contributed 410 billion hours of labor. This is why slavery is a “crucial building block” to understanding the U.S. economy from the nation’s founding up until the Civil War.

When did the first slave arrive in the British colony? 1619. When were black people given the vote? For most not until 1965.

https://archive.epic.org/privacy/voting/register/intro_a.html

Today in the world there are still millions of slaves, sexual slaves, and bonded slaves, some of which are in the US.

40 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery worldwide: 1 in 4 of them are children. Almost three-quarters (71%) are women and girls. Over 10,000 were identified as potential victims by the authorities in the UK in 2019.

https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/

Railway Children reboot: film explores black GI segregation in 40s Britain

The Brits saw the black troops as heroes and welcomed them in their bars and homes.

The Battle of Bamber Bridge, an uprising in June 1943 of black US servicemen and locals from the village who fought against US military police attempting to violently implement Jim Crow segregation there, caught Rodgers’ attention. She discovered that locals retaliating against the US military police had put up signs in their windows saying: ‘Only black troops allowed and locals.’

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jul/09/the-railway-children-return-film-explores-black-gi-segregation-in-40s-britain

When slavery was abolished on Sept 22 1862 there were about 4 million slaves. It was more than 100 years before all black Americans were able to vote because of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimates that on any given day in 2016 there were 403,000 people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States, a prevalence of 1.3 victims of modern slavery for every thousand in the country.

The practices of slavery and human trafficking are still prevalent in modern Americawith estimated 17,500 foreign nationals and 400,000 Americans being trafficked into and within the United States every year with 80% of those being women and children.

Black men were given voting rights in 1870, while black women were effectively banned until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When the United States Constitution was ratified (1789), a small number of free blacks were among the voting citizens (male property owners) in some states.

"By the end of the 18th century Britain was the leading trader in human lives across the Atlantic. There were over a million enslaved Africans in the British West Indies. Working a minimum of 3,000 unpaid hours yearly, they generated much of the wealth from which the new manufacturing economy would be created. Inevitably, black people had been arriving in all parts of the British Isles, unwillingly and willingly, for over two centuries. Current estimates are that at least 10,000 lived in London, with a further 5,000 throughout the country."

BLACK PEOPLE IN LATE 18TH-CENTURY BRITAIN

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/portchester-castle/history-and-stories/black-people-in-late-18th-century-britain/

Lots of slave deniers! Didn't realize that was not a part of British history taught there.

No. Nobody is denying slavery was a part of British history.

Point me to the part of this article about The USA which mentions British slavery and you’d have a point.

But you can’t, so you don’t.

A usual complaint by a particular group who commonly criticize the media is that it doesn’t tell the whole story. But that’s a disingenuous and frankly foolish claim often made to divert attention away from the topic at hand.

If you want the full story read a book. This is a newspaper article discussing racism and slavery in The USA.

I wonder if even the Brits are aware of this piece of shameful history

Most are. I don't recall whether I learned at school or from TV or books, but I learned about it - notably the triangular trade movement from Britain to Africa to the Caribbean to Britain. And here in Scotland, it's hard not to be aware when we see black people from the US and Caribbean countries with names such as Campbell or Fraser.

The development of slavery in America is very much an element of European (mainly British) colonization just as the general development of America. However, that it carried on so long after the USA's independence is very much American history.

From Robert Burns' The Slaves Lament (1792):

It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthral,

For the lands of Virginia,-ginia, O: 

Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more; 

And alas! I am weary, weary O: 

Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more; 

And alas! I am weary, weary O. 

The US thankfully ended slavery less than 100 years from its birth as a nation.

But it is incredible to think Britain engaged in the slave trade for over 300 years!! I wonder if even the Brits are aware of this piece of shameful history

This is whataboutery designed to sidetrack the conversation. Slavery existed in the North American continent from 1619.

Slave trade was abolished across the British Empire in 1807, nearly 60 years before the USA. Any remaining slaves were freed in 1833. Slavery was illegal in Britain itself from 1215. However, all of these dates are too late.

But you twist history and the generations who suffered enslavement to defend the fact that the USA didn't abolish slavery until 60 years after Britain, and needed a bloody civil war to be forced into doing so.

Instrumental in ending the trade after 300 years; the US ended slavery in less than 100 years.

It was nearly 300 years in North America. Had the US not been established at all, no new slaves would have been brought to America after 1807 and all slaves would have been freed in 1833. Instead millions more suffered slavery.

And throughout, the pastors could point to the rules in the Old Testament governing slavery just in case any Christian was getting cold feet about owning another human being for profit.

And its not just slavery - the far-right and their spineless Repubs pols want to whitewash all aspects of US history...

The 2020 election? Trump won - massive fraud...

Jan 6th? Nothing but peaceful tourists...

Japanese-Americans confined in camps during WWII? Hardly, they were resorts...

Slavery? They were all unpaid volunteers...

They want a far-right, white nationalist Potemkin Village just like that exists now in Russia...

There were 11 million slaves in America while for the same period in Britain, 300 years there were only 15,000 slaves.

America abolished slavery on January 31, 1865.

It was replaced by segregation which was abolished in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended the segregation that had been institutionalized by Jim Crow laws. 100 years later.

painkiller

But it is incredible to think Britain engaged in the slave trade for over 300 years!!

And it is necessary to think that the country that spearheaded the global abolishment of slavery was -- Britain. The US took half a century longer and a horrible war to come around. African and Middle East took well over a century longer, and begrudgingly so.

Teaching "the truth about slavery" involves explaining it as a global phenomenon that lasted since the dawn of civilization - until Britain later joined by other Western nations stamped out legal/sanctioned slavery relatively recently. Britain, for example, needed to exert diplomatic pressure to get Saudi Arabia to make slavery illegal -- in 1962.

200 years ago, slavery was rife throughout the world. US enslavement of Africans is one chapter of a very, very long book. The inescapable facts need to be taught.

Topic

Politicians seek to control classroom discussions about slavery in the U.S.

“You know what I’d rather do? If I thought, had any idea, that I’d ever be a slave again, I’d take a gun and just end it all right away, because you’re nothing but a dog. You’re not a thing but a dog. A night never come that you had nothing to do. Time to cut tobacco? If they want you to cut all night long out in the field, you cut. And if they want you to hang all night long, you hang tobacco. It didn’t matter about you’re tired, being tired. You’re afraid to say you’re tired.”

The US, in fact, got rid of slavery in less than 100 years

Are you saying the USA's history only started in 1776? By that reasoning, the UK's history only started in 1707.

Instead of making of lies about genocide and forced labor in other countries, America should look at its own backyard. Forced labor is still happening there, whether it's illegal immigrants or prisoners. US prisons are themselves run like businesses but that's another story. Has Amnesty International or the UN been informed?

Do you think that American pupils should be taught about American slavery?

The latest teaching being pushed in Florida schools is to downplay slavery at every point and to twist facts so as to minimize its impact.

The hysteria over CRT was the breeding ground for this. 250 years of American slavery, the legal legacy of which lasted until the 1960s but which apparently has no bearing on modern society.

If you're poor, it's your own fault. Thomas Sowell, the Presbyterian work ethic and the "prosperity gospel" all claim this.

It’s interesting that so few people know of the politicalization of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. It only applied to confederate states and Lincoln had no authority since the confederate states were no longer part of the United States.

The union slave-holding states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware were exempt for political expediency by Lincoln. Lincoln is heralded as the person who freed the slaves, but he campaigned in his home state of Illinois on the theme that no freed slaves would ever be allowed to settle in Illinois. He campaigned nationally that all blacks should be returned to Africa.

Slavery was becoming economically unfeasible, so it would have died out eventually, but that doesn’t excuse the vial nature of it or the delay by the US as one of the last countries to abolish slavery.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade should definitely be taught in schools. It is up there with the greatest crimes in human history.

If that sounds a weird thing to say, please read up on slavery and understand the scale of what happened.

I'm British, and I learnt more in school about Henry VIII's wives and Walter Raleigh putting his coat over a puddle than I did about slavery.

Slavery was becoming economically unfeasible, so it would have died out eventually, but that doesn’t excuse the vial nature of it or the delay by the US as one of the last countries to abolish slavery.

Many countries in Latin America still had (black) slavery after the US Civil War and many ex-Confederates fled there after they lost. Unfortunately, some people in America still haven't evolved or grown up since - attitude wise.

Slavery was eventually abolished thruout the Western Hemisphere. It was abolished in Brazil by Emperor Pedro II in 1888.

Painkiller, slavery still exist in America,the Department of Justice have prosecuted a few case of force slavery in the US Google DOJ Slavery Prosecution

Which country had a longer history of slavery?

Nearly all the countries of the Middle East and many African countries. The Arabs began enslaving black Africans systemically and large-scale since around 500 AD and it didn't end until around the middle of the 20th century.

 the delay by the US as one of the last countries to abolish slavery.

That isn't true. Mauritania, 1981, Saudi Arabia, 1962, Qatar, 1953, Niger 1960, Morocco 1961, South Yemen 1967, Oman, 1970, and so on. But let's not tell children about that.

The Klu Klux Klan act of 1871,was the final post slavery act too remedy the legacy of slavery,if lots of White people know about this law,they think twice about transgressions against minorities,it was especially written for them

ANYTHING that takes a bit of the chrome plated shine off of the American Myth or seems to diminish the GREATNESS of American White People is actively discouraged from almost any curriculum in the United States. American history as reported by credible historians and American history taught in schools have almost NOTHING in common except for names, dates, and places, but actual circumstances and behaviors given very short shrift to the point of open hostility if they are even hinted at. From wars to slavery to government sponsored Genocide to murderers as national Heroes, actively studying American history is one jaw drop after another of horror and disgust and political and personal corruption. I am an American and have studied as much of my country's actual history as I can stand. This discrepancy may be true for any polity of Humans but, when it's your own and studying its history contradicts almost everything you were taught to believe as a child, it becomes very disappointing and, as you may have noticed, generates a bit of hostiliy.

Seems like lots of defenders of the British Empire over here.

At least the US has taken great efforts to address their unsavoury past, which is why every American school kid knows about the importation of slaves and extermination of native Americans.

What exactly are the British school kids taught about what their ancestors did all over their empire? 

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/05/britain-colonial-history-curriculum-racism-migration

Bob FosseToday  02:51 pm JST

This article is about The US. If you must indulge in whattaboutery why not Ancient Rome? Go all in.

Lots of slave deniers! Didn't realize that was not a part of British history taught there.

But glad you learned something.

And this article is about the history of slavery (and racism) in the US, and it explicitly refers to the time period when there was no United States; and points out a period concerned with Britain.

Here you go, you can learn some more:

Slavery in what is now known as the United States is often traced back to the year 1619.

wallaceToday  02:50 pm JST

When slavery was abolished on Sept 22 1862 there were about 4 million slaves. It was more than 100 years before all black Americans were able to vote because of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Although there were blacks with the right to vote even in the 1700s.

The practices of slavery and human trafficking are still prevalent in modern America

And modern slavery exists in the UK:

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/modern-slavery-united-kingdom

Slavery in what is now known as the United States is often traced back to the year 1619. That is when – as documented by Colonist John Rolfe – a ship named the White Lion delivered 20 or so enslaved Africans to Virginia.

Incredible to think that Britain engaged in slavery--200 years before they brought it to America.

That is an important part of the history of slavery that should be acknowledged.

RedstormToday  07:24 pm JST

The first person to even mention Britain is painkiller at 01:24 pm. But no mention of the contents of the article.

So you didn't read the comments? Or you didn't understand? Which was it?

YrralToday  03:29 pm JST

Painkiller, slavery still exist in America,the Department of Justice have prosecuted a few case of force slavery in the US Google DOJ Slavery Prosecution

Is that right?

https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-uk/

There is a deep intrinsic link between slavery and guns.

Those who don’t have guns end up becoming slaves. This was as true centuries ago as it is today.

Bob FosseToday  05:03 pm JST

No. Nobody is denying slavery was a part of British history. 

Point me to the part of this article about The USA which mentions British slavery and you’d have a point.

Slavery in what is now known as the United States is often traced back to the year 1619.

As Americans and Brits know, "what is now known as the United States" was a British colony in 1619.

There's one point.

RiskyMosaicToday  04:44 pm JST

And? 

Playing down the long history of slavery in Britain?

Do you think that American pupils should be taught about American slavery?

Yes, and it has been, and is.

albaleoToday  05:51 pm JST

However, that it carried on so long after the USA's independence is very much American history.

Again, trying to play down the role Britain had in slavery in the Americas.

The US, in fact, got rid of slavery in less than 100 years, while slavery thrived in Britain for over 300 years.

Which country had a longer history of slavery?

Peter Neil Today  09:19 pm JST

Slavery was becoming economically unfeasible, so it would have died out eventually, but that doesn’t excuse the vial nature of it or the delay by the US as one of the last countries to abolish slavery.

The US was one of the last countries to adopt slavery. And the fastest country in the world to abolish slavery in terms of its history.

Redstorm Today  09:12 pm JST

Do you think American black slavery should be taught in schools?

Do you understand how Britain is mentioned?

The US thankfully ended slavery less than 100 years from its birth as a nation.

But it is incredible to think Britain engaged in the slave trade for over 300 years!! I wonder if even the Brits are aware of this piece of shameful history

*The privateer Sir John Hawkins of Plymouth, a notable Elizabethan seafarer, is widely acknowledged to be "the Pioneer of the English Slave Trade". In 1554, Hawkins formed a slave-trading syndicate, a group of merchants.*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Britain

And modern slavery exists in the UK:

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/modern-slavery-united-kingdom

RedstormToday  08:49 pm JST

I read the posted article without a single mention of Britain.

I'll give you some latitude as it might be a little difficult to read into, and also because this part of history is not taught in Japan, and apparently not in the UK:

Slavery in what is now known as the United States is often traced back to the year 1619.

Let's break it down. "In what is now known as the United States." It means it was known as something else back then (guess what?). And the year 1619--that is another historical giveaway. Because there was no country called the USA in 1619.

And why?

Well "in what is now known as the United States" was a British colony in 1619.

So there's the mention.

A free lesson for the day.

RiskyMosaicToday  08:05 am JST

It took some mental gymnastics on your part, but there's a passing reference there. Worth noting, however, that there were slaves in America long before 1619, and there were also Dutch, Russian, Swedish, French, and Spanish colonies in what is 'now known as the United States.' 

And the slaves on the White Lion were originally taken from Africa on a Spanish (or Portuguese) slave trading ship.

Mental gymnastics? A basic understanding of the history of slavery in America is all that was needed--but that proves my point.

And there was slavery in America long before 1619--as I noted earlier, Britain had been engaged in the slave trade since the 1500's.

As far as the White Lion ship--where did those slaves end up?

Unfortunately, Thomas Sowell is not a national treasure, but he should be. His intellect, insight, wisdom and integrity is second to none.

In this short video he talks about slavery in ways you never knew. In other words, exactly what they won't teach you about slavery in schools.

(2) Facts about slavery never mentioned in school | Thomas Sowell - YouTube

RiskyMosaicToday  04:27 pm JST

Well Britain was instrumental in ending the trade according to your source, although the domestic trade in America continued.

Instrumental in ending the trade after 300 years; the US ended slavery in less than 100 years.

But when the Brits oppose American schools teaching about slavery in America, British slavery will be a relevant argument.

Brits don't even advocate teaching about slavery in their own schools.

And the relevancy here is, without the British slave trade, there is is no slavery in America.

Anyone oppose that fact?

RiskyMosaicToday  03:57 pm JST

Leading to the Civil War in which half the country fought to keep it, and when they lost they just swapped it for apartheid.

Yeah--most Americans recognized it was wrong, and even fought against it. Meanwhile in Britain,

slavery thrived for over 300 years!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Britain