Remembering Matilda, the last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade
26 comments
·January 12, 2025poulpy123
I wonder if we will get articles about the last survivor of the slavery in Qatar (abolished in 1952)
rendall
There is no last survivor of slavery in Qatar. Despite its officially being abolished, Qatari slavery endures to this day.
https://dohanews.co/report-qatar-fifth-highest-proportion-sl...
kamikazeturtles
It's really hard to define slavery. I don't see any difference between indentured servitude and modern student loans. If a bank is projecting your future earning potential and how risky you are when deciding whether to give you a loan in student loans, mortgages, credit card ... How is that any different from slavery? They're literally projecting if you can pay off a loan amortized over ~30 years.
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a very brutal form of slavery. Slavery existed in many forms throughout history and I don't think our current iteration of "employment" and lending is very different from many of slavery's historical forms
quesera
By your stated logic, all laws and enforceable contracts are slavery.
I'm sure you've heard this before, but that reduces "slavery" to "obligation" or "commitment", and dilutes atrocity to banal.
snakeyjake
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internet_points
Good thing these days slavery is illegal in the US – unless your company owns a prison
BrandoElFollito
I wonder which were the largest "institunalized" slavery cases over the ages (if one vaguely define slavery as being forced or fooled to do work in harsh conditions supported by the local rulers/govs, without the ability to stop - something like that, common sense).
I think African slavery was large, but there were Romans and Greeks before, or Asian countries. Pretty much everyone I guess.
I am asking this question because when I recently discussed massive homicides, I has the Nazi camps in mind and a friend mentioned Pol Pot's as being much bigger.
The place you are in (France in my case) biaises this a lot.
jmyeet
I was aware that the transatlantic slave trade was banned in 1808. I had no idea there were illegal shipments as late as 1859. I'm glad this article specifically mentions the "convict leasing" exception to the 13th Amendment. As noted, it's still an issue to this day.
For obvious reasons, first hand accounts of the transatlantic slave trade are incredibly rare. A notable exception is Omar Ibn Said [1] who was fluent in spoken and written Arabic. The vast majority of slaves were illiterate.
[1]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/only-surviving-ara...
helboi4
People on hacker news - try not to see every single thing as an oppurtunity to fight their schizophrenic delusion of a woke army that is after them - challenge. Difficulty level: IMPOSSIBLE
tiahura
Enslaved by Africans and sold by a Canadian, and I’m supposed to pay reparations?
aaron695
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InDubioProRubio
Good thing we work on the evil of 3 generations ago instead of handling the evil of the now:
wat10000
It’s important to remember history so we might have a chance of not repeating it.
HKH2
The OP's point is that it is still being repeated right now.
eckesicle
For context, there are around 40 million people living in some form of slavery today, around four times the number of people who were sold in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, so it is by no means a solved problem.
Most people in slavery today live in Asia and the Middle East, but there are pockets in Africa where it is common too.
Modern slaves are sold for as little as $10-$100 and are therefore often considered disposable by their perpetrators. Approx 70% are women and 25% children.
Slavery is illegal everywhere in the world but enforcement is lax or non-existent in some countries, notably Libya and Yemen.
wat10000
Yes, thank you, that was quite obvious.
My point, in case it somehow wasn’t obvious, is that we shouldn’t ignore the past just because problems continue.
strken
What actions have you taken recently to handle the evil that is slavery in Libya?
InDubioProRubio
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gilleain
I don't understand the point of a comment like this - the article is about a historical figure who is relevant to a large-scale event. Why is that a bad thing, and why do we need to solve all other issues in the world first?
eckesicle
Yes, exactly. We can do both. Recognise a historical figure and raise awareness of current issues.
AnimalMuppet
Your point is valid. But the top-level point is also valid, because the article is from Al Jazeera. It's valid to point out that there's slavery in their (Arab) world much more recently than in the US.
rendall
"More recently" meaning, of course, currently.
gilleain
Sure, ok I guess. Let's say it's valid, I can agree with that.
... but _why_ point it out? What's the purpose of doing so?
rendall
Qatar publishes articles like this in order to distract and divert from its own slavery problem.
https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/findings/spotl...
Very good writing and thorough coverage.
> A central element of the Black Codes was “vagrancy” laws. Through a system known as “convict leasing”, many African-American boys and men were arrested for minor offences such as vagrancy, imprisoned, and then leased out to work for private businesses. This created a new system of forced labour which again was little more than slavery. Convict leasing was legally rooted in the so-called “exception clause” of the 13th Amendment which states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
This is I think the primary reason our justice system is so messed up. Convict Leasing was and is a barbaric practice.
I highly recommend this book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_by_Another_Name
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_leasing
> For example, in 1898, 73% of Alabama's annual state revenue came from convict leasing.
To think we are turning a blind eye to this in the world. It makes the US even more of a hypocrite.