Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (65998)	12/9/1999 10:29:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I had read that Jim Bowie and his brother had a racket going where they would alternate turning each other in as a slave smuggler to collect the bounty, but it sounds like a great story to tell while getting drunk in a bar, to me. The reality of slaving was probably much less amusing. Men were preferred as field slaves, because they were stronger, but enslaving men is a dangerous job. For reasons which are yet unknown to me, the preferred prospective slaves were what was called "bozales" ~ imported directly from Africa, not resold from another slaving colony. I assume that this was because resold slaves might be troublemakers that the owner was getting rid of, like selling a lemon, vs. buying "new". It is not well-known, but nevertheless a fact, that many, if not most, of the slaves imported from Africa were already enslaved by other black Africans in Africa. After about 1800, sugar became the big money-maker, and slaves were much needed in places like Cuba, because no white person would work the cane fields. The slavers started dealing in people who had been free, and were captives, including people who were traditionally hard to enslave like the Mende, and the Yalof. The danger of such actions can be seen in the movie, Amistad. Slavery continued to be legal in Cuba almost until the 20th century. It was finally abolished in Cuba in 1886. Slavery still exists in Africa today.