Black People : History of Slavery in Africa

uplift19

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Mar 6, 2006
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It was suggested in another thread about Black folks embracing their African heritage that there was no slavery in Africa before white people conquered with their brutal, commercialize, capitalist, chattel slavery system.

While I do not think this is something to focus on for the purpose of incriminating ourselves, we also cannot lie and say this did not exist. In fact, if it were not disputed I would spend no time on it at all, but truth is truth regardless of how one feels. Many historians have noted the vast differences between the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the forms of slavery practiced prior to that time. If there was no previous record of slavery, then there would be no way to compare and contrast the two.

A more basic way of understanding this is that if something does not exist in a culture, there probably would not be a word for it. For example, there are many words from other languages that cannot be easily translated into English because of the limitations of the languages. Concepts common to non-Indo-Europeans never crossed the minds of white folks so their language does not allow for it.

Language, they say, defines those that use it. The fact that slavery in Africa does not have all the negative connotations and brutalities associated with the chattel slavery, could be seen from the Yorubas who have the same word 'ERU' for both slaves and prisoners of war. To them both are unfortunate victims of wars. They are kept to serve terms and there are strict rules on how they should be treated. They are never engaged in plantations (there were none) with their mouths padlocked, they are not chained like cattle in pens.

Slavery in Africa was punishment; as even a barbarian like Conneau recognized, ". . .it was meted out to violators of serious tabus, to criminals, and especially to enemies captured in war. Muslims in particular used slavery in lieu of death sentence. Bondage instead of death was the punishment for truly heinous offenses, as well as a solution to the problem of getting rid of one's captured enemies. . ." Conneau, op. cit. p.viii.

This is an entirely different matter that has nothing to do with the complicity or lack thereof of African kings in the slave trade, or the accusations that they "sold us out" to the Europeans into slavery. This is about the pre-European African culture that seems to have a lawful, humane way of handling wars and the losers of that conflict. After all, long before white folks were on the planet there were Black people.

In modern times and from our Western homes, we do not face the notion of local wars, even though most consider some inner city neighorhoods worse than war zones. We are in a more or less "established" country with clearly defined borders.

References:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/013.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
 
I-khan said:
HTP sis uplift,I have posted on this topic in another forum:



The impact of the slave trade on Africa :By Elikia M’bokolo

http://destee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40310

Thanks for this info. After reading through, it did occur to me that the hesitance to bring up the permissable forms of servitude in traditonal African societies is a touchy subject because the assumption is that is what DID lead to the role of Africans in the slave trade. (i.e. if tribes did not have slaves in the first place, they wouldn't have "sold" any of our people into slavery) Thanks for helping me make this connection. I still do believe, however, we can think about the two things separately to address how Africans handled warfare and confict amongst ourselves. There has to be a 'lawful' (for lack of a better term) way to deal with these issues amongst a civilized people.

peace
 
uplift19 said:
It was suggested in another thread about Black folks embracing their African heritage that there was no slavery in Africa before white people conquered with their brutal, commercialize, capitalist, chattel slavery system.

While I do not think this is something to focus on for the purpose of incriminating ourselves, we also cannot lie and say this did not exist. In fact, if it were not disputed I would spend no time on it at all, but truth is truth regardless of how one feels. Many historians have noted the vast differences between the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the forms of slavery practiced prior to that time. If there was no previous record of slavery, then there would be no way to compare and contrast the two.

A more basic way of understanding this is that if something does not exist in a culture, there probably would not be a word for it. For example, there are many words from other languages that cannot be easily translated into English because of the limitations of the languages. Concepts common to non-Indo-Europeans never crossed the minds of white folks so their language does not allow for it.

Language, they say, defines those that use it. The fact that slavery in Africa does not have all the negative connotations and brutalities associated with the chattel slavery, could be seen from the Yorubas who have the same word 'ERU' for both slaves and prisoners of war. To them both are unfortunate victims of wars. They are kept to serve terms and there are strict rules on how they should be treated. They are never engaged in plantations (there were none) with their mouths padlocked, they are not chained like cattle in pens.

Slavery in Africa was punishment; as even a barbarian like Conneau recognized, ". . .it was meted out to violators of serious tabus, to criminals, and especially to enemies captured in war. Muslims in particular used slavery in lieu of death sentence. Bondage instead of death was the punishment for truly heinous offenses, as well as a solution to the problem of getting rid of one's captured enemies. . ." Conneau, op. cit. p.viii.

This is an entirely different matter that has nothing to do with the complicity or lack thereof of African kings in the slave trade, or the accusations that they "sold us out" to the Europeans into slavery. This is about the pre-European African culture that seems to have a lawful, humane way of handling wars and the losers of that conflict. After all, long before white folks were on the planet there were Black people.

In modern times and from our Western homes, we do not face the notion of local wars, even though most consider some inner city neighorhoods worse than war zones. We are in a more or less "established" country with clearly defined borders.

A few links:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/013.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery

before europeans Arabs were the brutal slave traders. til this day black muslims still trade their own people. The afrikan form of bondage wa more of law and order you say? i can see that. however the problem is evil and greed no different then the greed and dog eat dog mentality that occurs on the continent today. ubtil we stop cutting each others throat, we will stay where we are.

again europeans learned their brutal ways from the psychopathic arabs who some say were worse (and still are) than the whites.
 
Therious said:
before europeans Arabs were the brutal slave traders. til this day black muslims still trade their own people. The afrikan form of bondage wa more of law and order you say? i can see that.

First, as a muslim who happens to be Black (don't much like the term black muslims), I do not trade anyone. :) http://www.finalcall.com/perspectives/sudan05-07-2001.htm

Is it possible for us to think without considering white folks or Arabs? Yes, other people imposed slavery on Africans, but I am trying to look before all of that to see how African civilizations dealt with prisoners of war and similar issues.

If we agree that Africans were civilized while white folks were still crawling in the caves and hillsides of Europe, then we must be able to envision how conflict was handled in these situations.
 

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