Guest Blogging: Fun For The Whole Family - The Game Of Slave!

Here is another guest blog from resident guest Dad blogger Riaz. 

Riaz:

Kids like historic role play. They play pirates, cowboys and indians, knights etc.

 Armed with this knowledge, I have introduced my son and other children in my family to a game I have simply titled, "Slave." Slave as the name suggests, involves the children pretending to be slaves. Now this may be offensive to children who come from cultures that have suffered the ill effects of slavery in the past but I would venture, no more offensive to Native Americans when children pretend to be cowboys killing Indians or to Scots when children pretend to be Vikings raping the women from villages of the Scottish coast.

Here is the beauty of the game, Slave. You, the adult, are the slave master. 

Now, bear with me before you stop reading. I know, this sounds like work because it involves you having to play along in their game. But as the slave master, you don't have to do anything. You just tell the little gamers that as your slave, they have to do the dusting, load the washing machine and mix your cocktails. You also get to raise your voice at them and crack your belt on the floor a few times to keep them in the character of the game. They will also attempt to run away as did real slaves in the past. Here is the part of the game where you release your hounds on them - children love animals. If you have a child slightly older than the rest, you can also make that one an overseer so you don't even have to interrupt your relaxation time to crack your belt. Also, when Child Services drops by unexpectedly, you have an excuse as to why your offspring are in chains and shackles.

Me: To further on the topic of not making light of the subject of slavery here is an acedemic essay I have wrote on the emancipation of slaves in the New World - slavery is for asshole, not not the hippster asshole we all are. Read more after the jump - with references and all that fancy junk (click "read more below") 
          Were beliefs and ideologies in Britain more influential than other factors in bringing an end to the Atlantic slave trade and slavery.

    The abolition of the Atlantic slave trade and in turn the emancipation of slaves in British colonies had many factors, no doubt modernizing beliefs and ideologies associated with Enlightenment in Britain played a very important part, though were other factors such as economics, parliament, and the slaves themselves just as critical (Unit 13,p.14)? This paper will focus on and assess the contributing factors to the abolition of the trade, 1807, and the eventual emancipation of the slaves that would follow in 1833.  

    In the 18^th century Catholicism and orthodoxy had condoned slavery for more than a millennium, theologians could site unambiguous scripture that condoned the hereditary of slavery, and often literal reads were used to argue that Africans were divinely ordained for perpetual servitude (Unit 14, p.35-6).

Paradoxically at the same time Christian, mainly nonconformist Protestants from the evangelical revival, were emerging as major influences in the abolition and later emancipation movements (BBC, 2012). Evangelicals were motivated by moral fervor; they undertook good works of “charity” believing it to be Christ’s injunction and a principled obligation of there faith to over come personal sin to reach salvation (Unit 16, p.89). This nonconformist influence is hugely amplified by the Quakers would form the large majority of the founding committee of “A Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade” which was set up in London 1787 with a self-appointed task to create a constituency for British anti-slavery through the distribution of abolitionist books, pamphlets, prints and artifacts to atone and contribute to their personal “charity” and salvation (BBC, 2012). No matter the motives, this was a key moment in turning anti-slavery sentiment into political action, as the society brought together dissenting tradesmen with few upper class evangelical Anglicans (Unit 16, p89).  

    Two pivotal figures would emerge from the society. First Thomas Clarkson who became the principle investigator and publicist for the cause. The second was MP William Wilberforce. Prompted by his evangelical Christian faith and enormously influenced by Clarkson he was persuaded to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade and for 18 years he regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in parliament (BBC, 2012).

    It was not only Christian religious beliefs that were changing, but also enlightenment on humanitarian ideology, which was exploited by both Clarkson and Wilberforce in anti-slavery propaganda (Unit 13, p17). Clarkson gathered testimony from men who had served on slaving ships with first hand knowledge, which he published and distributed as a pamphlet Essay on the Efficiency of Regulation of Abolition (1789) (Anthology 4.3, p.270-3). In the testimony Clarkson highlights recurring themes of “(slaves being) stolen and forcefully dragged away”, “men, woman, and children (being seized) promiscuously,” “trading fairly by day but robbers by night,” and the high loss of life in the Atlantic transition. However for every tale of sorrow the abolitionist produced the trade defenders were able to produce their own testimony to support their interests.

    Along with a new intellectual climate of the Enlightenment came new economic fields that were opening up in India as well those introduced by the Industrial Revolution at home; as always politics and economics were very closely linked (Unit 13, p.15) (Unit 15, p.63). In 1776 Adam Smith as part of his inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, offered a critique of slavery as economically irrational. In an attempt to break Parliament’s debate over the effects abolition would have on British commerce Smith argued that slavery is less productive than free labor in a variety of superficial ways such as free laborers being responsible for their own well being an no incentive save for fear of violence for the slaves to be productive (Anthology 4.5, p.280-2). Though Smith’s claims were largely false in premise they where hugely influential and Wilberforce would successfully employ them to counter claims by pro-slavery factions that abolition would reduce their profits (Unit 16, p.88).

   No matter the importance of beliefs, ideologies, and economics the most valuable voice in the struggle to deny slavery’s moral legitimacy is that of the slaves and former slaves themselves. By 1780s, emancipated and educated slaves were engaging with the Bible where they found powerful myth of redemption from slavery and also secular rationalism of the Enlightenment giving motivation for freedom (Unit 16, p.90). One of first major steps taken by the slaves was the St Domingue Revolution. Over 1000 plantations were destroyed; hundreds of whites killed, and tens of thousands of slaves formed into guerrilla bands (Unit 16, p.95). Though an ambivalent figure, Revolt leader L’Ouverture became a martyr of liberty; and Haiti became of symbol of resistance and a haven for refugee and absconding slaves. The slave revolt rose as structures of the slave-owning powers were dissolving into near anarchy to the backdrop of the French Revolution which no doubt was a major fuel to the fires of the Haitian Revolt.

    As self-empowering as the Haitian Revolt was the destruction of Europe’s richest slave colony gave a great boost to the extension of the plantation system elsewhere such as Louisiana and Cuba. While in Europe the revolt cast a pall over the concepts of black and African self-governing and become an awful warning of where slave emancipation might lead, and an embarrassment to the emancipation cause (Unit 16, p.104).

    There was no great interest in slavery from Parliament until 1805 when war with France brought fears that extended virgin planting territories would not remain in British hands if a peace agreement were to be made and the potential dangers this held for established Jamaican and Barbadian planters. When PM Pitt banned trade to captured territories there was no demur: it was “in the national interest” (Unit 16, p.110). In February 1806 the scales finally tipped to complete abolition. There was only fleeting reference to humanity, those who voted gave their assent mostly in “national interest” In 1807 an Act was finally passed banning the slave trade throughout the British Empire (Unit 16,p.110).

The slave trade had ended but slavery was still as brutal as ever, annual exports were actually much higher between 1800 and 1850 than they had been between 1700 and 1750 (Etlis, 1993). Slavery continued as steamers began crossing the Atlantic and the first telegraph cables were being laid between Europe and the Americas (Unit 14, p.25). Wilberforce had denied any intention of emancipation, quite naively expected slavery holding to reform its self out of existence when cut from its African supply (Unit 16, p.113). Clarkson and the committee had also not sought emancipation for they believed it to not been objectively feasible: abolition of the trade would not interfere with the planters’ property rights (Unit 16, p.106).  Emancipation did not happen until 1933 in the British Empire (Crofton, 2011, p.130).

The British public's interest in slavery had declined after the slave trade was abolished and emancipation did not become a public issue until the relaxation of governing hostility to large-scale voluntary association and the threat of revolution at home and invasion from the French had been squandered (Unit 16, p.113).

    Largely thanks to groups that had experienced some form of discrimination themselves; such as woman, nonconformist Protestants and slaves, radical critics developed demanding immediate emancipation. Putting modernity into action through agency of ordinary and sub-ordinary people calling for political change (Conclusion, B4, p.123).

  A notable critic of slavery was Leicester Quaker Mrs. Elizabeth Heyrick (Unit 16, p.113).  Heyrick provoked by her religion, had previously released an anonymous pamphlet Immediate Not Gradual Emancipation in which she chastised the “wise and the good” for being duped by slaveholders into gradual emancipation, which she terms as “satanic policy” (Anthology document 4.9, p.296). The events of the Demerara Revolt prompted her to publish a second pamphlet in which she contrasted savagery of the whites with the peaceable resistance of the slaves, whom she portrays as Christian martyrs (Unit 16, p.116).

    The Sam Sharpe rebellion of December 1831 in Montego Bay and its bloody aftermath outraged the British public. Many slaves throughout the Carrabin had become Christian as a result of nonconformist missionary work, where they had received encouragement of literacy and new forms of association; chapel congregations were communities of freedom and equality (Unit 16, p.114).  The slaves now also mostly spoke the same language and were able to organize themselves in a way that was not previously possible. Where the Haitian revolt had had a negative backlash the Sam Sharpe Rebellion helped propel emancipation.

Abolitionists had held the moral high-ground since then 1790s, however slavery had not been a major preoccupation of radical reformers inside and out of Parliament, in fact the anti-slaver movement had often been berated for taking attention from the hardships of white Britains (Unit 16, p.116). The 1832 Act made significant concession to popular sovereignty by increasing the electorate, which since 1828, had also included nonconforming sympathetic Protestants. Simultaneously the Wesleyan conference had been petitioning for emancipation as a religious obligation and to support only parliamentary candidates who pledged to end slavery immediately. While Parliament became inundated with emancipation petitions, signed by over one and half million people. The Emancipation Bill was signed on 28 August 1833 becoming operative on 1 August 1834 (Unit 16, p.117).

    Though concepts of freedom were well established at home, Englishmen and women did not extend these ideas to African slaves until the last decades of the eighteenth century. The ideological basis for identifying slaves as “other” was predominantly Christian, however evolving nonconformist Christian beliefs and Enlightenment ideology became the major driving force on the abolition and emancipation movements (Conclusion, B4, p.122). Even the important voice of the slaves was heavily influenced by Christianity and the increasing literacy it brought, that helped slaves to articulate grievances and join together in revolt against their conditions (Conclusion, B4, p.122). Yet Political process of parliamentary center was arguably more important than the mobilization of public opinion. Public opinions were critical in putting abolition on the political agenda, but the actual decisions were made by the elite politicians (Unit 16’, p.111).  However at the time of passing the argument from “national interest” could not be as easily be argued for the passing of the Acts. By any calculation the economic interests lay in maintaining the trade to its own possessions while denying it to its enemies and competitors.  Where as the impetus behind the Atlantic slave trade had been economic; its purpose profit, total abolition could only truly be based on beliefs and ideologies of humanity and justice (Unit 13, p.16) (Unit 16, p.110).

Word count: 1742

Bibliography

BBC, (2012) British Anti-slavery, available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/antislavery_01.shtml (last accessed 29.02.2012).

Crofton, I. (2011) World History: 50 key milestones, London, Quercus Publishing Pic.

Etlis, D. (1993) Europe and the Atlantic Slave System, from A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom online resources.

Gibbons, R.C. (ed) (2007) Exploring History 1400-1900: An Anthology of Primary Sources, (Anthology document 4.3, 4.5 & 4.9) Manchester, Manchester University Press.

Goodrich, A. & Waits, B.(2011) Unit 13: “Slavery in Context” in A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Goodrich, A. & Waits, B.(2011) Unit 14: “The Atlantic Slave Trade: It’s Origins, Impact and Presistence” in A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Goodrich, A. & Waits, B.(2011) Unit 15: “Slave Producers And Old World Consumers: Colonial Trade, Economic Growth and Everyday Consumption in Britain c. 1700-1810” in A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Goodrich, A. & Waits, B.(2011) Unit 16: “resistance, Reform, Revolution and Emancipation: Ending the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonial Slavery” in A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Goodrich, A. & Waits, B.(2011) Block 4: “Conclusion to Block 4” in A 200 Block 4, Slavery and Freedom, Milton Keynes, The Open University.