Slavery has span in many nationalities, cultures, and religions from the past to the present. The use of slaves was almost the same in all the nations that used them, such as the United States, Britain, and Portugal. Slaves were generally required to provide manual labor in the large plantations. In some regions, slaves were needed to amuse their masters while others acted as maidens for offering labor in the houses. Slavery in the present day is different from the ancient time. Currently, slavery is seen in the form of prostitution, human trafficking, forced marriages, forced labor, debt bondage, and others. Despite the abolishment of slavery in the past, it is still largely practiced though there are efforts of doing away with it (Patterson, & Zhuo, 2018). Comparing the present day and past slavery, violence in which the slaves are treated with has been reduced. However, most of the uses of slaves still remain.
The United States is highly recognized because of the large numbers of slaves the country had. The slaves were mostly shipped from Africa, and after the abolishment of the slave trade; these people became black Americans. Female slaves were used for sexual pleasures, and those who could not comply ended up being raped by their masters. Some women were chosen to work in the houses by offering services such as cleaning, washing clothes, and cooking. They also assisted the wives of the masters in taking care of the children. There were large plantations such as sugar and cotton farms where the male slaves were required to provide manual labor. The slaves used to work for about 18 hours a day (Wacquant, 2015). Other manual works such as the construction of the building were done by the slaves.
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Some white masters had selected female slaves, and they were named “fancy maids.” These women were sold at auctions where they would become concubines or join prostitution. These slaves used sold at a higher price than any other slaves. In the modern day, slavery acts related to prostitution can still be seen. The large difference is that women are no longer sold into slavery, but they join the acts freely. Some women consider prostitution as a business where they make money to take care of their families. However, some young girls who have been kidnapped are sold into prostitution, and since they have no option, they end up being slaves. There are different methods used to prevent people conceiving, unlike in the past, where female slaves ended up having their masters children, which explain the ancestry of mulatto, the generation which came as a result of black and white people having children.
Britain was initially interested in the products they would get from Africa. However, the introduction of sugarcane growing created demand for labor. There were other crops such as tobacco and cotton, which were grown on a small scale. These farming activities needed people who would till the land, plant, harvest, and move the product to factories. The Dutch started supplying slaves to Britain. British even started transporting slaves to other places such as America and with Portugal; British became most successful in the slave trade, being responsible for about seventy percent of slaves moved from Africa. Britons were able to move an estimate of 3.1 million slaves to their colonies such as Caribbean, North, and South America and other places (Dumas, 2016). These slaves were mostly used in the plantations where they would pick and harvest coffee, cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco.
Workhouse, slavery was widely spread in Britain. Workhouses were places which took in individuals who were experiencing extreme poverty, and they had no alternative. It took place from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. These individuals had to work under forced labor conditions. Children who were abandoned were also taken by the workhouses, and when they were old enough, they started offering child labor. Women in Britain took some slaves and made them personal assistance. Such slaves were trained on how such a person preferred everything to be done. The personal assistant slave would help the master with choosing the outfit and dressing them, combing their hair, serving them food and carrying their things around if need be. The personal slaves would accompany their masters where ever they went as that was their duty. At times, these slaves would even help to bath their masters.
Portugal gained slaves from the fifteenth century through the transatlantic slave trade. Portugal started by kidnapping people from the west coast of Africa, and they would then be shipped to their nation and enslaved. Slaves in Portugal were from Africa, China, Japan, Indians, and some Europeans. They were mainly used for sugar plantations. However, the Portuguese noted that other slaves, except the Africans, were getting weak and could not provide adequate services (Birmingham, 2018). That is where the Chinese, Indians, and other slaves were stopped from working in the plantations, and they became reserved specifically for the African slaves. Portugal was invested in improving their economy, and that is why the slaves were used mainly for hard labor in the plantations.
Ancient slavery was abolished with the efforts of slaves in America, Britain, and Portugal rebelling against their masters. The slaves would go on strikes and refuse to work, despite the harsh treatment and the beating they received. There were other people who started to consider slavery inhumane, for instance, the North Americans who supported the abolishment of slavery. The abolishment of slavery stopped the forced labor and violence alone since the former slaves still had to offer labor but received very low wages and were still exposed to harsh working conditions. These were laws made to protect former slaves and children from forced labor. However, the former slaves were considered minority and since then have faced discrimination in education, employment, and salary payment. It explains the reasons why there is slavery in the modern era (Craig, Balch, Lewis, & Waite, 2019). The black Americans, for instance, have issues securing high paying office jobs as the white Americans consider them suited for manual labor. It has left most African Americans with no choice but applies for hard labor with less payment, which is a form of slavery.
Slavery in the past and present has caused suffering to the victims. Effects of slavery in the past are still felt by some people, especially the African Americans who suffer from being considered an inferior race, thus denied equal opportunities in society. Slavery in the present requires efforts for the abolished. Some cases, such as human trafficking require law enforcement to be more vigilant in protecting people. People caught practicing slavery should be punished heavily to act as a lesson. Slavery is a vice in society and should be done with for the welfare of human beings.
References
Birmingham, D. (2018). A concise history of Portugal. Cambridge University Press.
Craig, G., Balch, A., Lewis, H., & Waite, L. (2019). Editorial introduction: the modern slavery agenda: policy, politics, and practice. The Modern Slavery Agenda: Politics, Policy, and Practice in the UK, 1.
Dumas, P. E. (2016). Proslavery Britain: fighting for slavery in an era of abolition. Springer.
Patterson, O., & Zhuo, X. (2018). Modern trafficking, slavery, and other forms of servitude. Annual review of sociology, 44, 407-439.
Wacquant, L. (2015). From slavery to mass incarceration: Rethinking the “race question” in the United States. In Globalization of Racism (pp. 100-116). Routledge.
