Racial prejudice is the belief that one group of people is superior and better than those of a different colour

or race. Many times in history one group of people has dominated and persecuted another group. One example for this is the history of black Americans in the United States. The USA has always suffered from divisions between white and black Americans. Many times white people have stopped black people from being equal citizens. White people thought that Africans were inferior and uncivilised. This idea justified the discrimination and exploitation of black people. But of course these justifications were nonsense: There were important kingdoms and great civilisations in Africa at the same time as people in Britain were living in primitive iron-age huts. Moreover from Egypt came ideas about geometry, arithmetics and astronomy. The proofs of their skills are for example the pyramids which are also one of the seven wonders of the world. Different words have been used to describe black Americans. For a long time they were referred to as negroes and often the word nigger was used to insult them. Many whites called them coloured people. Since the 1960s the term black has become normal, although some people prefer the term Afro-American as a reminder of their original roots in Africa.

THE BEGINNING OF SLAVERY IN THE US

The history of blacks in North America began in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought the first Negro slaves to Virginia. The first imported Africans were brought as indentured servants, not slaves. They were required, as white indentured servants were, to serve seven years. Black people were forcibly taken from their native land. They never saw their families or their native land again. In their new surroundings they had to work for their master and many of them were treated cruelly because they had no rights as slaves. Millions of Africans suffered this treatment under the dreadful system of slavery. But Americans did not invent slavery slavery had existed in Africa for thousands of years. In Europe the great Roman Empire had depended on millions of slaves. As practised in ancient Egypt, slavery was not in accord with the modern view of the term. Persons became "slaves" in ancient Egypt by being captives (or prisoners) of war, committing criminal or other indecent acts, or indebtedness. In many instances, some peasants in ancient Egypt led better livelihoods as slaves than as free persons: Some Egyptian farmers purposely sold themselves into slavery as a means of repaying their debts. Though slaves in ancient Egypt could be sold, inherited or offered as gifts, they were not prohibited from learning, achieving greater social rank, buying property or negotiating other contracts.

The first people to be enslaved by the Spanish and Portuguese in the West Indies and Latin America were the Native Americans, but, because the majority of Native American slaves either revolted or escaped, other forms of forced labour were introduced. The resistance of the Native Americans to slavery only increased the demand for Africans to replace them. Africans proved to be profitable labourers in the Caribbean islands and the lowlands of the South American mainland. Its difficult to understand why such a cruel system could be allowed to flourish. One reason was that British ship-owners and sailors made large sums of money out of slavery and English ports such as Bristol and Liverpool prospered as a result. Slaves were shipped from Africa by the Europeans in what was called The Triangular Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. There were three stages of the operation of slave traders: First stage Ships left a British port loaded with goods made in England, such as tools and weapons, that were wanted in Africa. Crews with guns went ashore and captured any young blacks they met. Some local African rulers captured blacks from other areas and sold them to the slave-traders. They were afraid that if they didnt they might be captured and sold themselves. On the west coast of Africa the goods would be exchanged for Africans kidnapped inland. Second stage: The ships, now packed with Africans chained to one another below decks, sailed two and a half thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean to America. The journey took from eight to ten weeks. Some of the Africans were so desperate that they tried to jump overboard or kill themselves by refusing to eat. Sometimes a crew member would break their teeth and force food in them. Loss of a slaves life was a loss of money for the sailors. Third stage The Africans would be sold in America to be slave labourers. The ships captains would use the money from their sale to buy a third cargo of sugar, spices or tobacco. They sold this for a further large profit in England. At each stage large profits were made and ships captains and crews gained considerable fortunes out of the slave trade. Some captains used a system called loose packing to deliver slaves. Under that system captains took on board fewer slaves than their ships could carry. They hoped to reduce sickness and death among the slaves. Other captains preferred tight packing. They believed that many blacks would die on the voyage anyway and so carried as many slaves as their ships could hold. Captain Collingwood of the Liverpool slave ship The Zong threw 132 slaves overboard. He thought the insurance money would be worth more than sick slaves. He was never accused of murder.
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Views of some slave trader s themselves: The sights I witnessed may I never look on such again This is a dreadful trade They had not so much room as a man in his coffin, either in length or breadth. It was impossible for them to turn or shift with any degree of ease (English captains in the 18th century) But only somebody who had actually been kept in those conditions could really know the horror of such a journey. Gustavus Vassa was kidnapped at the age of eleven from his family and sold into slavery. The complexions of the crew were different from mine and so was their long hair and the language they spoke. I thought I would be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces and long hair. I now saw that I would have no chance of returning to my native country. Under the decks the smell was loathsome. I wished I was dead. When I did not eat they held me fast by the hands and flogged me severely. The crew watched us closely in case we leapt into the water. I was told we were to be carried to these white peoples country to work for them. The white people acted in such a savage manner and I had never seen such brutal cruelty. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying made it a scene of horror. One day when we had a smooth sea and a moderate wind two of my countrymen who were chained together, preferring death to a life o misery, jumped into the sea (The interesting narrative of Gustavus Vassa, 1791) In the 17th century the pace of the slave trade quickened. Large areas of North America were being settled and English colonies were established along the east coast. The Portuguese and Spanish began to take over South America. All these Europeans wanted to use slaves in their new colonies. Between 1698 and 1807 an average of one slave ship left a British port every two weeks. After collecting slaves in Africa they sailed on to America.
30000

25000

20000

0 29 25
15000

slav es transported f rom Af rica to America in 1771

81 36 88 10

10000

5000

95 0

Probably about 20 million Africans were taken against their will to North and South America but we will never know how many millions more died during their capture or on the slave ships.

Finally in 1807 parliament put a stop to British ships taking part in the slave trade. The USA followed in 1808, France in 1815 and the Spanish and Portuguese in 1820. But although no new slaves could be taken from Africa, slavery continued.
(107 ships) ships) ships) ships)

Liv erpool

London (58

Bristol (23 Lancaster (4

The reasons for slavery Settlers in America wanted slaves. They could force slaves to work for long hours in the fields and of course they were cheaper than white labour. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented a machine for separating cotton fuzz from the cotton seeds. Cotton became the great crop
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of the southern part of North America and as cotton became more important so did slavery. People argued that Africans were used to the extreme heat that is normal in the USA. In addition some slaves gave birth to new slaves which was an extra bonus for the slave owners. Sometimes the owner himself might be the father of such a slave child. If he did not need them on his own land then these slave children could be sold. Slave traders claimed that blacks were inferior because they spoke strange languages and were not Christian and that it was all right to keep them as slaves. Without the slave labour of millions of Africans America would not have developed.

LIFE AS A SLAVE
The African natives were of all ages and sexes. Women usually worked in the homes, cooking and cleaning, whereas men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Young girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops. Some slaves fell in the hands of brutal masters. There was no respect for slave marriages and slave families were frequently split up. The slaves standard of living, that is their food and homes, were usually at subsistence level. The slaves diet was monotonous and unvaried, consisting largely of corn meal and salt pork and bacon. Only rarely did slaves drink milk or eat fresh meat and vegetables. This diet provided enough bulk calories to ensure that slaves had sufficient strength and energy to work as productive field hands. It didnt provide adequate nutrition and as a result slaves suffered from vitamin and protein deficiencies. A slaves life expectancy under slavery was short just 28 to 36 years, or as much as 12 years less than that of American whites. The infant mortality rate among slaves was twice as high as among white newborns. Supporters of slavery often argued that slaves were better treated than many English farm or factory workers. But the slaves had no rights at all and they had been forcibly taken from their homeland. A bishop told slaves in a sermon in the 18th century: Your bodies, you know, are not your own; they are at the disposal of those you belong to. Once slaves arrived in America they were sold like animals at an auction. Throughout their entire lives the slaves were bought and sold just like any other piece of property. Throughout the southern part of North America large plantation farms were set up to grow tobacco, cotton or rice, most of it for sale to Europe. Most blacks were slaves on large or small plantations. The purpose of slavery was to supply cheap labour for the plantation-owners. Life for a slave was harsh and unpleasant even if the slave-owner was not especially brutal. The power of the masters over their slaves was almost unlimited. Usually they left it to overseers to run their estates and manage the slaves. Nearly all of them used the whip to control the slaves. Although slave owners were not supposed to actually kill a slave, little would happen to them if they did. A court would not convict a white who had killed a black.
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Cotton was the most important crop grown in the southern states and made many farmers extremely wealthy. The slaves had to work very long hours under the hot sun to bring in the cotton crop. Children as young as six years old were forced to work in the fields. They would be woken at daybreak, sometimes as early as 4 a.m., by bells or horns. Anyone who was late would be whipped. Then they would work all day with perhaps only one fifteenminute break. Anyone who didnt seem to work hard enough would be beaten by the overseers. These men were also armed with guns and knives. They were usually on horseback and were often accompanied by vicious dogs. The end of the working day came when it was too dark to continue. Then they would struggle back to their living-quarters. There they would have to light a fire and prepare a meal. This was their way of life every day except Sundays. Only then they could have a little rest and many found comfort in worshipping God. Despite the harshness and misery of life under slavery, it did not destroy the slaves ability to develop a distinctive life and culture. Even under the weight of slavery, blacks developed a vital religion, music and folklore. Through their families, their religion and their cultural traditions, slaves were able to fashion an autonomous culture and community beyond the direct control of their masters. Religion Black Americans have always gained a great deal of comfort from their worship of God. In Africa, long before the European slave-traders arrived, religion had been an important part of everyday life. Many Africans were Muslims but there were also members of other religions who worshipped various gods. Slave owners tried hard to destroy the religious beliefs their slaves brought from Africa by forcing them into Christianity. Many slaves found it difficult to accept the religion that was practised by their slave owners. But Christianity had also a strong appeal with its promise of heaven after a life of suffering. Later in the 19th century and also during the 20th century, black churches gave support, hope and comradeship in the face of racial discrimination. Some black Christian preachers, such as Martin Luther King, came forward to give leadership in the campaign to get equality and freedom. The importance of music Music has always been a vital part of Afro-American worship. Great hymns (known as spirituals) grew up among the slaves. They sang them in the fields when they worked or outside their huts at night as well as on Sundays. These songs are about the suffering of the slaves and their belief that God would help them, if not in this world then in heaven. They were really freedom songs and helped to give the slaves strength. Slave rebellions Under the slave codes slavery was lifelong and hereditary, and any child born to a slave woman was the property of her master. Slave women were vulnerable to sexual
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exploitation from masters and overseers and deliberate and systematic efforts to breed slaves were not unknown. Slaves were not allowed to own property learn to read and write buy or sell goods hit a white person, even in self-defence assemble in groups of more than five In spite of these strict rules and the terrible punishments for those who broke them, some slaves rebelled against their masters. There were more than 250 slave revolts in the USA from the 16th century to 1860. Many slaves also tried to run away to freedom. Between 1830 and 1860 about 2500 slaves travelled to freedom per year along an escape system to the north known as the underground railroad. This was a secret route along which helpers led runaway slaves. The "Underground Railroad" was a project that helped black slaves escape into Canada, especially Amherstburg. The system involved 3000 white helpers and freed an estimated 75 000 people after the civil war. They travelled 10 to 20 miles by night in wagons with false bottoms. During the day they were hidden in barns, attics and haylofts. Southern slave-owners put their losses at $200 000 a year. Many white people in the North supported the underground railway and large amounts of money were raised to support it. But even in the northern states where no slavery existed they were not safe and could still be sent back south to their masters. Many had to travel on to Canada for safety. A runaway slave would be found by bloodhounds, trained to find black slaves. Then the slave, upon returning, would be executed or severely whipped.

SLAVERY DIVIDES THE NATION

There were some important differences between the northern and southern states. By the middle of the 19 th century the North was far richer than the South. The most important industries were located in the North. There was little industry in the South and they depended on the cotton plantations and the slaves to work for them. In the northern states slavery was abolished but in the South the number of slaves steadily rose because the rising cotton and tobacco growing industries made it a highly profitable business. In the North anti-slavery sentiment rose and in 1820 the Missouri Compromise drew a dividing line between 11 free states and 11 slave states. The abolitionists Many different people joined together as abolitionists to stop slavery. In the Northern United States, humanitarian principles led to the appearance of the abolitionists. They knew little of the actual conditions in the South and were fighting not for economic reform but for idealistic principles. The abolitionists in general tended to

regard slavery as an unmitigated evil. The small Northern farmer also feared slavery as a

system of cheap labour against which it was difficult to compete. Leading figures: Elijah Lovejoy He was a white abolitionist journalist and was attacked many times. Lovejoy became a martyr when a pro-slavery mob killed him in 1837. Sojourner Truth She was a runaway slave who became a favourite speaker at abolitionist rallies. Charles Sumner He was a white US senator and was seriously injured in the Senate when he was attacked after making a strong speech against slavery. John Brown He was a fanatical white abolitionist. In 1859 he led a raid on a government weapons store at Harpers Ferry. He planned to arm the slaves but he was captured and executed. Frederick Douglass He was a former slave and the nation's most powerful anti-slavery speaker.

William Lloyd Garrison (Massachusetts): He used his newspaper The Liberator to fight slavery. In 1833 Garrison helped to organise the American Anti-Slavery Society. Harriet Beecher Stowe She was a white writer and became famous as the author of Uncle Toms cabin, a novel that was published in 1852 and fired further abolitionist feelings in the North. Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811. She was first exposed to slavery and abolitionism witnessing race riots, hearing the stories of runaway slaves and helping escaped slaves from the South. In 1836 she married Calvin Stowe and in 1850 they moved to Maine where her husband accepted a professorial position at Bowdoin College. It was there that she wrote Uncle Toms Cabin. She first published the novel serially in an abolitionist paper. When it was published as a book by a Boston publisher, 10 000 copies were sold the first week and 300 000 within the first year. The book was also translated into 37 languages and has never gone out of print. Uncle Toms Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, a man of humanity, as the first black hero in American fiction. Harriet Beecher Stowe died in 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut. UNCLE TOMS CABIN Plot Overview A Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby has large debts and faces the prospect of losing everything he owns. Although he and his wife, Emily Shelby, have a kind-hearted and affectionate relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise money by selling two of his slaves to Mr. Haley , a coarse slave trader. The slaves in question are Uncle Tom , a middle-aged man with a wife and children on the farm, and Harry, the young son of Mrs. Shelbys maid Eliza. When Shelby tells his wife about his agreement with Haley, she is appalled because she has promised Eliza that Shelby would not sell her son. However, Eliza overhears the conversation between Haley and his wife and after warning Uncle Tom and his wife Aunt Chloe , she takes Harry and flees to the North, hoping to find freedom with her husband George in Canada. Haley pursues her but two other Shelby slaves alert Eliza to the danger. She miraculously evades capture by crossing the halffrozen Ohio River, the frontier separating Kentucky from the North. Haley hires a slave hunter named Loker and his gang to bring Eliza and Harry back to Kentucky. Eliza and Harry make their way to a Quaker settlement, where the Quakers agree to help transport them to safety. They are joined at the settlement by George, who reunites joyously with his family for the trip to Canada. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom sadly leaves his family and Masr George, Shelbys young son and Tom s friend, as Haley takes him to a boat on the Mississippi to be transported to a slave market. On the boat, Tom meets an angelic little white girl named Eva , who quickly befriends him. When Eva falls into the river, Tom dives in to save her and her father,
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Augustine St. Clare , gratefully agrees to buy Tom from Haley. Tom travels with the St. Clares to their home in New Orleans, where he grows increasingly important to the St. Clare household and increasingly close to Eva, with whom he shares a devout Christianity. Up North, George and Eliza remain in flight from Loker and his men. When Loker attempts to capture them, George shoots him in the side, and the other slave hunters retreat. Eliza convinces George and the Quakers to bring Loker to the next settlement, where he can be healed. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, St. Clare discusses slavery with his cousin Ophelia, who opposes slavery as an institution but harbors deep prejudices against blacks. St. Clare, by contrast, feels no hostility against blacks but tolerates slavery because he feels powerless to change it. To help Ophelia overcome her prejudice and intolerance, he buys Topsy , a young black girl who was abused by her past master and arranges for Ophelia to begin educating her. After Tom has lived with the St. Clares for two years, Eva grows very ill. She slowly weakens, then dies, with a vision of heaven before her. Her death has a profound effect on everyone who knew her: Ophelia resolves to love the slaves, Topsy learns to trust and feel attached to others, and St. Clare decides to set Tom free. However, before he can act on his decision, St. Clare is stabbed to death while trying to settle a fight. As he dies, he at last finds God and goes to be reunited with his mother in heaven. St. Clares cruel wife, Marie, sells Tom to a violent plantation owner named Simon Legree. Tom is taken to rural Louisiana with a group of new slaves, including Emmeline, whom the demonic Legree has purchased to use as a sex slave, replacing his previous sex slave Cassy . Legree takes a strong dislike to Tom when Tom refuses to whip a fellow slave as ordered. Tom receives a severe beating, and Legree resolves to crush his faith in God. Tom meets Cassy, and hears her story. Separated from her daughter by slavery, she became pregnant again but killed the child because she could not stand to have another child taken from her. Around this time, with the help of Tom Loker now a changed man after being healed by the Quakers George, Eliza, and Harry at last cross over into Canada from Lake Erie and gain their freedom. In Louisiana, Toms faith is deeply tested by his hardships, and he nearly ceases to believe. He has two visions, however one of Christ and one of Eva which renew his spiritual strength and give him the courage to withstand Legrees torments. He encourages Cassy to escape. She does so, taking Emmeline with her, after she devises a ruse in which she and Emmeline pretend to be ghosts. When Tom refuses to tell Legree where Cassy and Emmeline have gone, Legree orders his overseers to beat him. When Tom is near death, he forgives Legree and the overseers. George Shelby arrives with money in hand to buy Toms freedom, but he is too late. He can only watch as Tom dies a martyrs death. Taking a boat toward freedom, Cassy and Emmeline meet George Harriss sister and travel with her to Canada, where Cassy realizes that Eliza is her long-lost daughter. The newly reunited family travels to France and decides to move to Liberia, the African nation created for former American slaves. George Shelby returns to the Kentucky farm, where, after his fathers death, he sets all the slaves free in honour of Toms memory. He urges
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them to think of Toms sacrifice every time they look at his cabin and to lead a pious Christian life, just as Tom did.

THE CIVIL WAR (1861 1865)

On March 4 in 1861 the Republican Abraham Lincoln who strongly opposed slavery was elected President. Many in the South feared that the real intent of the Republicans was the abolition of slavery in states where it already existed, and that the sudden emancipation of 4 million slaves would be problematic. They also feared that the delicate balance of free states and slave states would be no more and that they would then be under the domination of industrial North with its preference for high tariffs on imported goods. The combination of these factors led the 11 Southern states to secede from the 23 Union states and they formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy also chose their own President, Jefferson Davis. In April open hostilities broke out in South Carolina and the Civil War had started. More than 620 000 American soldiers had died in this war, it was the bloodiest war anywhere in the world during the 19 th century. Certainly the question of slavery was important, but the war was actually fought to stop the USA breaking into two different countries and to keep it as a single, united nation. But even for soldiers in the Civil War racial segregation and discrimination existed. At first black soldiers were paid only $7 a month instead of the $13 a white private received. On 23 December 1862 Confederate President Jefferson Davis proclaimed that any black captured during fighting would immediately be returned to slavery. Any black officer in the US Army uniform was to be executed. At Fort Pillow Confederate soldiers murdered 300 black soldiers and civilians. During the war, in 1863, President Lincoln issued an Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the southern slave-holding states. Of course until the war was over and the South defeated it was not possible to actually free most of the slaves. After the Federal victory at Gettysburg in 1863 the Confederate fought a largely defensive war and in 1865 the Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysees S. Grant. Legally, slaves within the United States remained enslaved until the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Practically, the slaves in many parts of the south were freed by Union armies or when they simply left their former owners. In 1868 the blacks were given full citizenship in the 14th Amendment, and in 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified which gave black people the right to vote. Reconstruction
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The war had left a great deal of bitterness in the defeated South. Southeners directed their resentment against the newly freed slaves. Reconstruction is the name given to the period of American history after the Civil War. Its also known as the Tragic era. Much of the south had to be rebuilt railroad lines had been torn up, towns and cities burnt down, plantations destroyed by the fighting. Northern politicians and government officials were sent into the South to organise elections and set up new state governments. Southerners disliked these men because they represented the victorious North. Unfortunately there was a great deal of corruption. A few businessmen made large profits out of overcharging on contracts to repair war damage. The blacks who had been slaves now had to earn their living. Many of them did not want to work for wages because it kept them under the direction of whites and reminded them of slavery. Quite quickly a new system called sharecropping emerged, both as a result of black desire for autonomy and whites lack of cash. Plantation-owners broke up their estates into small parcels of land and gave blacks and poor whites a plot of land to work in return for a share of the crops. But life as a sharecropper was very hard and many blacks as well as some whites were trapped by poverty. They needed more than land to farm; they also required seeds, fertilizers and provisions to live on until they harvested their crops. The Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan was a white underground terrorist group. They didnt want to accept black people as equal citizens. Moreover they wanted revenge for the defeat of the South. The KKK created a wave of terror among blacks and those whites who tried to help them. Many important politicians, officials and even police officers supported the Klan. Sometimes blacks were stopped from voting by being beaten up, members of the Klan stole and destroyed crops of sharecroppers. The Klans campaign of terror, including violence and murder terrified many black people so that they didnt register to vote. The Ku Klux Klan has been around since the end of the civil war. The clan, who is notorious for its violence, has a relatively innocent beginning. It was formed by some veterans from the confederate army and was first called the Kuklos Clan which, in Greek, meant Circle Clan. One person thought it would be a good idea to call it the "Ku Klux Klan" as a parody of the fraternity names which always had three Greek alphabet letters in it. They created the Clan to be mischievous and to do it without anyone knowing who they were which accounts for their costumes and masks. They, like most whites, were upset that the black people were free because black people were a constant reminder of the bitter defeat of the South. So to have fun they terrorized black people. Eventually the group grew, fluctuating, but grew to become the first white supremacy group in America and with that growth, their hatred grew as well into what was seen in the early and middle 1900's and what is seen today. Jim Crow laws Jim Crow was a character in an old song and was made popular by Daddy Rice, a white Comedian who made fun of black people and the way they spoke. The term Jim Crow became another insulting name for black people.

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But Jim Crow laws were something far more serious. These laws discriminated against blacks and established segregation. The practice of segregation made sure that black Americans continued to be treated as second-class citizens.

SLAVERY IS NOT HISTORY MODERN SLAVERY

In contrast to popular belief slavery didnt end with Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Experts estimate that today there are 27 million people enslaved around the world. Its happening in countries on all six inhabited continents and also includes the United States. The CIA estimates 14 500 to 17 000 victims are trafficked into the Land of the Free every year. Nearly 150 years after the 13 th Amendment, the US is not yet free from slavery.

Victim's Story In 1989, Nigerian native Beatrice was recruited at age 13 to live with an American child welfare worker and her husband to help with housework and attend school. Her parents, hoping for a better standard of living and a better education for their daughter, agreed. Upon arrival in the U.S., however, Beatrice found herself enslaved. She was locked in a suburban home, forced to work up to 20 hours a day, and denied education. Beatrice was regularly beaten while forced to hold her hands above her head and kneel on the floor. One day in 1998, after she was beaten for over an hour, Beatrice's screams caught the neighbours' attention. The police were called, and Beatrice was rescued. Beatrice had been held as a slave in the U.S. for nine years. According to CIA estimates, over 100 000 people are enslaved in the US today. These victims (typically from the third world) are trafficked to locations across the country to work as domestic, sex, factory, or agricultural slaves. Law enforcement authorities have only recently recognized the extent of this modern day slavery and are just now introducing response programs.
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Causes of Slavery Poverty and unemployment in the third world guarantee that offers to "work" in the US are often attractive. Impoverished rural villagers are especially vulnerable to slave recruiters, who often target isolated individuals with limited understanding of the global economy and exploitation. For traffickers and owners, slavery is also highly lucrative - the labour is free and profit margins are high. Recruiters cover their costs easily, and owners typically benefit from the free labour on a daily basis. Moreover, slave masters face limited risk. Detecting cases is difficult, and prosecuting offenders presents an uphill battle - as use of force or legal coercion must be clearly demonstrated. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 provides a strong basis to charge perpetrators, but the law is still new and cases are hard to win. Moreover, the law is only useful in cases that are actually discovered. With an American public largely unaware that slavery did not end in 1865 and law enforcement officials untrained in recognizing cases of involuntary servitude, thousands of cases remain undetected every year. The Process of Enslavement Slaves in the United States are typically trafficked in from foreign countries. (Some American-born slaves do exist, but these cases are not yet fully documented). Recruiters promise the amenities of the US - education, employment, and freedom - to poor families overseas. Upon arrival, the recruiters announce an enormous fee (sometimes as much as $50 000) for travel expenses - and suddenly force duped victims into debt bondage. In other cases, slaves from other countries travel with their masters to the US. Slavery in the US varies from case to case. Slaves have been discovered as farm workers (in South Carolina's peach-picking industry, for instance), domestic maids, street peddlers, sweatshop workers, and prostitutes. Many victims dont speak English and inherently distrust officials in uniform. As a result, few manage to inform to neighbours or the police about their dilemma. There is no "typical" slaveholder. Lawyers, diplomats, landlords, pharmacists, child welfare workers, and teachers have all been prosecuted for involuntary servitude. Age, region, and income level vary greatly as well. This fact makes discovering cases of slavery even more difficult, as there are no specific criteria for identifying slaveholders. The length of time the slaveholders keep their slaves ranges as well. Reports indicate that some individuals have been enslaved for a few months, while others were enslaved for as long as 20 years. Types of Slavery CHATTEL SLAVERY is closest to the slavery that prevailed in early American history. Chattel slaves are considered their masters property exchanged for things like trucks or money and expected to perform labour and sexual favours. Once of age, their children are expected to do the same. Chattel slavery is typically racially-based; in the North African country of Mauritania, for example, black Africans serve the lighter-skinned ArabBerber communities. Though slavery was legally abolished there in 1980, today 90 000 slaves continue to serve the Muslim Berber ruling class. Similarly, in the African country
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of Sudan, Arab northerners are known to raid the villages in the South killing all the men and taking the women and children to be auctioned off and sold into slavery. DEBT BONDAGE, or bonded labour, is the most widely practiced form of slavery around the world. In Southeast Asia, where it is most prevalent, debt bondage claims an estimated 15 to 20 million victims. The staggering poverty there forces many parents to offer themselves or their own children as collateral against a loan. Though they are promised they will work only until their debt is paid off, reality is much grimmer. Thanks to inflated interest rates and fresh debts incurred while being fed and housed, the debt becomes impossible to pay off. As a result, it is often inherited by the bonded labourers children, perpetuating a vicious cycle that can claim several generations. SEX SLAVERY finds women and children forced into prostitution. Many are attracted by false offers of a good job and then beaten and forced to work in brothels. In Southeast Asia, however, it is not uncommon to find women forced by their own husbands, fathers, and brothers to earn money for the men in the family to pay back local money lenders. In other cases, victims pay thousands of dollars to get to another country and are then forced into prostitution to pay off their own debts. In still others, women or girls are plainly kidnapped from their home countries. The sex slavery trade booms in Central and Eastern Europe and in North America. An estimated two million women and children are sold into sex slavery around the world every year. FORCED LABOUR often results when individuals are attracted by the promise of a good job but instead find themselves subjected to slaving conditions working without payment and enduring physical abuse, often in harsh and dangerous conditions. Victims include domestic workers, construction workers and even human mine detectors. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable, as their constant changes of location make the organized crime rings that traffic them difficult to bust.

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