Black Chattel Slavery
It's not history...
Articles : Eyewitness Reports : Photos and Stories : Books
Over 130 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of black men, women, and children remain in literal bondage. In Mauritania (located in West Africa, above Senegal), slavery was officially outlawed in 1980. Yet as many as 100,000 blacks serve white Arab Berbers, according to U.S. State Department estimates. These slaves are the inheritable property of their masters; any children born to slaves belong to the master. Punishments given to "uppity" slaves include tortures of medieval proportions, all too graphic to describe here.
In the Sudan, a civil war has been raging for over twelve years between the Islamic
government in the north and the African Christians and animinists in the south. As part of that conflict, government-armed militias raid African villages, shoot the men, and abduct women and children. These helpless captives are then brought to the north, where they are bought and sold, branded and bred, and stripped of their religious and cultural identities. Women selected as concubines are genitally mutilated. Children have their Achilles tendons removed so they will not run away.
America tore itself apart over slavery. We cannot sit idly by while blacks exist as "owned" property. Please study the documentation of chattel slavery assembled here, and then learn what you can do for those silenced in human bondage.
Read African American abolitionst Samuel Cotton's Call to Action
ARTICLES: top
"Bought and Sold" - This 1994 New York Times op-ed broke the story of moder
n day black slavery. Written by two founders of the American Anti-Slavery Group, it provides a vivid overview of the problem.
"Humanity for Sale" - This Calgary Sun series on Sudanse slavery by columnist Linda Slobodian provides a detailed account of the situation on the ground. It also describes the efforts of abolitionists to emancipate slaves, and answers many questions people have about the details of black slavery in the Sudan. The last segment asks some soul-searching questions.
Part 1: Humanity for Sale
Part 2: Mission possible
Part 3: Freeing 249 slaves
Part 4: Fear rules the Dinkas
Part 5: Sellers of souls
Part 6: Fighting back
Part 7: Risking it all
Part 8: Fuelling the fire
"Witness to Slavery" - This 1996 Baltimore Sun series was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Two reporters responded to a challenge from Louis Farrakhan by visiting the Sudan, witnessing the slave trade, and even buying the freedom of eleven boys. Here are two excerpts from the series.
Bought -- and Freed
Sudan Denies Slavery, But...
DATELINE NBC: Spotlight on Slavery - DATELINE sought to confirm reports of chattel slavery in the Sudan, and sent in an investigative team. The following is a transcript of the program they produced.
NAACP Anti-Slavery Resolution - The NAACP Executive Board passed this eloquently worded anti-slavery resolution in 1995. The NAACP thus became the first national black
organization to take a stand against modern day black slavery.
EYEWITNESS ACOUNTS: top
"The Al Diein Massacres" - This 1987 report by two professors at the University of Khartoum first announced the recurrence of slavery in the Sudan. The brave Muslim scholars who documented the massacre of a Dinka [Sudanese blacks] village risked their lives by publishing the report in the West.
'Witness to a Slave Raid" - Mrs. Jane Alley escaped a slave raid on her village. She
delivered this testimony at the National Press Club in 1996. That evening she was also featured on Black Entertainment Television (BET).
U.N. Special Reports from Sudan and Mauritania - The United Nationas sent a Special
Rapporteur, Gaspar Biro, to investigate claims of slavery in the Sudan. Read excerpts of his report.
PHOTOS AND STORIES: top
"Slaves
on the Road to Freedom" - Masses of Sudanese slaves waiting to be redeemed for cash by American abolitionists.
"The Buy-Back" - Trading cash for slaves
"Families Reunited" - The pure joy of parent and child reunited after years of slavery.
BOOKS: top
"Silent Terror" - African American abolitionist Samuel L. Cotton has just published a remarkable first-hand account of his journey into modern day African slavery. Cotton
describes his undercover trip through Mauritania, as well as the disappointing American political response he encountered.
Bibliography - An expanded list of articles, studies, and books on the subject of modern day black slavery.
anti-slavery.org |
