A Summary of Slave,Slavery and Slave Society 16th-19th Century

This post would thus cover what a slave and slave society is, examples of slave societies , difference between “slave societies and “society with slave” . Also characteristics of slaves in the slave societies , the composition of a slave society and a little bit of the experiences slaves were subjected to in the slave society.

 Who is a slave?

The simplest meaning of a slave is a person owned by another.

picture by Ihillshot

What is a society?

A society could mean a group of persons with common interest or human beings generally in an association and or gathering.

What is a Slave Society?

A slave society is the fundamental class conflict and humanity based on the division of people into masters and slavery, or a society in which all part of its labour is done by slaves.

Picture by Ihillshots.

Example of Slave Societies

A large extent of blacks all around the world has been traced to the slave trade that took place from the 16^th -19^th century. Through the slave trade, the blacks including Yorubas and their distinctive culture were carried into the new world and Europe; this led to the Africans and Yoruba presence in the diaspora.

Slave societies were located in Portuguese America, Spanish America, the West Indies, the Americas as a whole present day Brazil, Caribbean’s, etc. There were other slave societies in Rome and other countries. For Brazil, it is estimated that 85% of all enslaved Africans were traded in the Atlantic slave trade; more than 3 million Africans were sent to Brazil to work mainly on Sugar cane, cotton plantations from 16^th-19^th century.

Difference Between “Slave Societies And “Society With Slave” .

Historians often distinguish between “Slave society” and “societies with slaves” based on the centrality of slavery to the economy. Ancient Rome and the plantation colonies were slave societies because of the centrality of slavery, slaves were taken from their homeland to the to a place to continue living their life, work, give birth and die there and the slaves were the main commodity thus becoming a slave society. Slavery in a slave society shaped the country or community social and ethnic landscape. For “society with slaves” most European countries was an example because slave was not totally central to the economy, and there was limited numbers of slave.

Characteristics of Slaves in The Slave Societies

There are several characteristics of slaves in the slave societies, I will mention a few.

1. Slaves were obliged to live their life in perpetual service

2. Slaves were under complete power of their masters, but sometimes the state and community may impose certain restrictions upon masters of the slavesPicture by Ihillshot

3. Slaves were property which could be passed sold or passed along as inheritance at the masters discretion.

4. The condition of slavery is transmitted from parent to child

The Composition of the Slave Society : Brazil as an Example. 

In slave society, there was race mixture and ethnic makeup that played a decisive role in the formation of people thus there were three possible race combinations namely white-black, white natives, black native. Colour line was strictly drawn as a large number of unions between races were outside wedlock, taking into consideration the despotic power of the planters on their indigenous and black slave women. The colour line led to the classification of individuals in a racial form which led to a change in the social consequence of the system, the way people were treated became worse and totally negative as it brutalized slaves and their off spring regardless of who the father was.

It fostered harmful attitudes with respect to dignity of labour, human dignity to mention a few.

Overtime humans in slave societies became classified based on colours

1. Negro which is a child of negro and negro

2. Molatoe which is a child of white and negro

3. Sambo which is a child of molatoe and negro

4. Quadroa which is a child of white and Molatoe

5. Mustel child of white and quadroa

6. Mustifino which is a child of white and mustel

7. Quintron which is a child of white and mustifino

8. Octoron a child of white and quintron

 It is important to note that most of these children were born out of wedlock, rape, prostitution and other etc. to some extent the children from this unions were provided with some basic western education and their experience and conditions slaves were subjected to sometimes differed but then was sometimes torturous. 

It is paramount to say the treatment of slaves varied considerably with the temperament of the individual slave owners. There were the House slaves who worked indoors as kitchen staffs, wet nurse etc and then the sugar, cotton, tobacco plantation slaves who faced long hours of labour picking cotton, during harvest time, some time the slaves worked round the clock grinding the canes. Discipline was said to be maintained with severity that often relapsed into vicious cruelty. There was harsh labour and low labours of reproduction among slaves, slaves were prone to frequent suicides which speak volume of the conditions slaves faced.

A question that came to my mind was how these humans that were used as slaves survived?

The Slaves assemble themselves, as there was the need to belong with a group, the fear of being in a new terrain etc. Thus  tried to preserve their culture ,  This led to the introduction of different methods of preservation and innovations during the slavery period. Yoruba culture was integrated into Brazil, Trindad, Cuba, Jamaica, U.S.A, Europe etc. in various means such as wearing of elaborate dress for worship, storytelling, secret meetings held by slaves, singing for almost all occasions, a materialistic outlook on life, polygamous practices,  “shouting” in church, and beliefs in reincarnation. Also though cooking

Read the link https://nokview.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/africa-nigeria-and-the-survival-of-the-yoruba-culture-from-the-1800s-to-the-present-globalized-world-part-1/

https://nokview.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/a-culture-in-africa-nigeria-and-the-survival-of-the-yoruba-culture-from-the-1800s-to-the-present-globalized-world-part-2/https://nokview.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/a-culture-in-africa-nigeria-and-the-survival-of-the-yoruba-culture-from-the-1800s-to-the-present-globalized-world-part-2/

Over time this practises has shaped present day music

Click on the link for more details http://bit.ly/UNESCODAYhttp://bit.ly/UNESCODAY

 Many slaves also ran away and formed settlements which became a self-sufficient African Kingdom with several thousand inhabitants eg. the republic of Palmore which was founded in 1603. There was a process of whereby slaves tried to get their freedom, this is another story entirely.

In summary Slavery and Slave trade was a dehumanising practice, the memories of it brings about pain, anger etc. but hopefully lessons have been learnt.

Slavery  in recent time has  evolved  and any form  should not be encouraged  in the 21^st century. Any form of racial discrimination and racial profiling should not be condoned.

Happy remembrance day.

Remembrance is  a way in which we draw awareness to an event that happened, a form  of acceptance and most times relates to memory and lesson that should be learnt and spoken of.

So This post is to mark the United Nations day for the remembrance of slave trade and its abolition, thus in the remembrance spirit the post has looked through what the slave societies were like and characteristics of the slave societies.

This post is a summary and does not cover all the experience of Slaves, slavery and the slave trade for additional readings check libraries, Jstor to mention a few

Reference.

David V. Trotman. The Yoruba and Orisha Worship in Trinidad and British Guinea: 1838-1870. African Studies Review, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Sep., 1976), pp. 1

Jacob U. Gordon, Yoruba Cosmology and Culture in Brazil: A Study of African Survivals in the New World. Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Dec., 1979), p 232

Streams, Petr N. , Micheal: etal. Africa and the Africans in the age of Atlantic slave trade. 1992

All the text I  used,

Ihillshots took pictures  portraying  and recreating the slaves experience through his arts.