Modern Day Slavery Research

Everyday millions of people are enslaved, used, and abused in one of the greatest civil rights violations in human history. Modern slavery; better known as human trafficking, is currently spanning the globe and affecting millions of people in hundreds of countries but is widely ignored by society. According to a reporter for National Geographic Magazine, “There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The modern commerce in humans rivals illegal drug trafficking in its global reach and the destruction of lives” (Cockburn). This epidemic is sorely in need of becoming a priority for 1st world governments which will only happen with pressure from ordinary citizens. Similar to the civil rights movement in 1960’s America, people are being abused, hurt, and denied their fundamental rights. What’s true now just as it was then is that it is the responsibility of every person to come together to create change.

Race has played an uncomfortably important role in History. From rich white land owning slave holders, producing mass amounts of

What does it mean to be a slave? Ask any human being, and they will state that they too have been a slave. Being a slave to addiction, to a slave in a relationship, a slave to anxiety, a slave to work, maybe a slave to mental illness, and a slave to one's self-being. Sure, there may be moments in one's life that makes them feel like they have no other choice but to give in. However, there are some things that these people have that is a privilege, the right to say "no," the liberty to decide, and the freedom to act on decisions, to prohibit the temporary entrapment of, obstacles. African American slavery twisted the definition of what it was to be a slave. It meant that one is a product, and a tiny element apart of a more significant something,

How was the life of African American slaves in the south? The life of the African Americans was very hard. Slaves were used and tortured. These events were terrible or horrible. In the south, in 1860 there were about 400,000 slaves kept in households. Almost four million African Americans remained slavery. African Americans were living in bad places. Slaves extended their own culture, fellowship, and community. They joined Americans and Africans as an element to create a new culture (433). Communication and being together is important in their lives.

The working and living conditions of the enslaved Africans in the New World were inhumane. It was brutal, degrading, and stripped the slaves of their humanities. They were met with harsh physical abuse such as whipping, beating, shackling, mutilation, branding, imprisonment, and even sexual abuse. Slaves were usually beat if they were disobedient, but some were beat by their owners to solely assert dominance. The barracks that the slaves were kept in were tightly packed and securely locked down to prevent anyone from escaping, usually with barbed wire at the top. Slaves received hardly any food and water and were malnourished, some even dying from this.

Slavery is fundamental to the economy. It can be said that slavery is as old as civilization. It started in the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the central importance of slavery to the South’s economy. African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. White slave owners did not understand or allow the practice of African traditions and customs. Slaves were forced to find new forms of expression.

“ Over a period of the Atlantic slave trade, from approximately 1526 to 1867, some 12.5 million slaves had been shipped from Africa, and 10.7 million had arrived n the Americas” (1). Now fast forward to before the time of the Civil War and think of how many more African Americans that have gotten kidnapped and brought to the Americas. That is a lot of African American people that were turned into abused slaves that had to work day and night for whites.

Fifty years ago, the abomination of slavery seemed like a thing of the past. But history has a way of repeating itself. Today, we find that human slavery is once again a sickening reality. At this moment, men, women and children are being trafficked and exploited all over the world. The Thirteenth Amendment did not abolish slavery completely, in fact, human trafficking is now the modern day slavery and is a problem in countries all over the world. Sex trafficking, illegal child labor, and illegal immigrant trafficking are all examples of human trafficking. A global underground problem, it is not only happening in the third world countries but civilized countries as well. Very seldom do victims of trafficking ever escape the vicious crime and

Over two hundred thousand of the American youth are reported to be at great risk, especially for sex trading. Cho (2015) argues that the majority of the victims come from the vulnerable populations, the poor, marginalized individuals, and the migrants; approximately eighty percent of them being women and children. The victims are often identified by race. However, it is reported that others fell into the activity by will, while others become lured into the inhuman affair. It has expanded to several parts of the states and there is the need for government intervention. The government need to focus on human trafficking now move than ever. Our country seems to be biased on this because it seems to affect more African Americans than other races. The government focuses on what will benefit other races instead of the

Slavery in America started sometime in 1619, when people from Africa were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Slavery lasted in America for some centuries, and the influence it had on literature is a very vital one. When every citizen in America preached the phrase “Right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”, slaves were being treated like animals. This inhumane practice revolutionized American arts and literature. One of the most popular genres in African American literature was slave narratives that developed in mid 19th century. Slave narratives accounted the harsh lives of slaves, mostly in the Southern states, and their struggle to freedom. A lot of these slave narratives inspired the abolitionist struggle, and also inspired in promoting

Slavery in America has been a consisting problem since 1619. The Europeans bringing servants to America, to the abolish of slavery it showed us that oppression towards Africans is a problem.

Slavery has been around since the beginning of time. It was a terrible time for the slaves and their families. They were forced to work from days on end.

In 1619, African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, to assist in the production of tobacco crop. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to boost the south’s economy to produce more cotton.The North did not agree with slavery being practiced in the South, so a great debate started between the North and the South. The American Civil War, in 1861-1865, a bloody battle began that tore the nation apart.

To be a slave in the New World, or U.S.A would’ve been an extraordinarily painful existence, riddled with diseases, abuse and long working hours with bare minimum quality of life. Slaves of this time were according to Lou Smith, former slave, “were treated like dogs,” seen as a tool and an object used at the hands of slave owners. The process of capture, transport and slave life were all terrible, and induced much suffering.

Human trafficking can take many forms, as well as many victims. One form of trafficking is slavery. Slavery is having a worker who is unpaid and who works by force using coercion, fraud or threat of bodily harm. “According to the United Nations, there are between 27 and 30 million modern-day slaves in the world (Jesionka, “Human Trafficking: The Myths and the Realities”).” “By 1860, the nation’s black population had jumped from 400,000 to 4.4 million, of which 3.9 million were slaves.(Henry Louis Gates).” That means there are nearly ten times more slaves today than there were in the late 1800’s.