(highlight:: History is Our Present Politics Projected Onto the Past
Summary:
Robert C. Davis, a historian at Ohio State University, charmingly tells us that history is simply our current politics projected onto the past.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Ohio state a university historian, robert c. Davis, is quoted as saying that history is often, as not, our present politics projected on to the past.)
- Time 0:01:42
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(highlight:: Slavery Was Viewed as a Labor-Saving Necessity for Societal Advancement
Summary:
In earlier eras, people used labor-saving devices like slaves to free up time for innovation and art.
Slavery was even prevalent in famous societies like ancient Athens. However, we now live in a time where slavery is universally reviled.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The ancients and the people in earlier eras, and the people in some places still to day, they have the kitchen of yesterday to day, and it's just as good. But instead of labor saving devices that are mechanical, they have people that do the same job. Slaves were one of the original labor saving devices. And when you read the views of slave holders in slave societies, they will often connect it to the highest aspirations of mankind as a whole. Write, it's people who do the slave type jobs that free up people that push society forward and think and and write and come up with all these unow pieces of art that otherwise would not Be available, ecause they'd have to go to the grocery store in the morning, the market place would probably be more apropos, and pick up the stuff for to night's dinner, and then make It, then clean up after it. Otherwise, i man hour, we're going to have time to write and read. You'll see that all the way in to post colonial times the united states, right this is how societies push forward. Even on a famous athens in the era where it was democratic wriht, it sort of the shining city on the democratic hill for people looking back at the beginnings of things like democracy, Was an enormous slave state. Nice chunk of its population was enslaved. So what was once referred to as a peculiar institution, slavery, is not. We live in the strange time now, a time where slavery is universally reviled.)
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(highlight:: Slavery is a Spectrum
Summary:
Slavery exists in various forms, ranging from wage slavery to chattel slavery.
Chattel slavery is the lowest level, where humans are treated as property. Christopher Columbus encountered this type of slavery when he discovered the new world for Europeans.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And that it isn't meant to be trite, but there's all kinds of slavery, and it's sort of on a gradient. On one end, you have things like, ah, in a wage slavery, as some people would say, right, people that are trapped in jobs that don't make them enough money to live, but they get paid. Then you have things like bond slavery, debt slavery, which is really the same thing, endentured servitude, all the way down to the lowest level of slavery on the gradient, chattel Slavery. Chattel slavery is t is where we take human beings and we make them things. Maybe it would be more apropos rather than comparing them to a hammer or a chair, to compare them to some sort of animal you'd find on a farm. That's how because the slave owners would often try to keep them healthy the same way you would try to keep live stock healthy. But it's now you own them, you can do whatever you want with them. That's chattel slavery. Surfdom, peasantry. There's all kinds of these things that would fall somewhere in the category, but chattel slavery is the lowest of the low and that's the kind of slavery athat the world had gone on when Christopher columbus found the new world for the europeans and the old world.)
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(highlight:: Slaves were an economic commodity, no different from sugar or tobacco or oil
Summary:
Add modern stuff, investors and big firms to the story.
Trade human beings like sugar or oil. But humans feel pain, unlike oil. Supply and demand explain this phenomenon well.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But you add the modern stuff to it, and we have investors, right? And big firms and a just, again, it could be told in the pages of the wall street journal, this story. If you make human beings a legal commodity to trade. Opium was that way for a walther. You just make it a legal commodity, then it is like sugar or tobacco or oil. And the mind reels, right? Oil doesn't feel pain, right? Oil doesn't suffer. Human beings do, though, right? And yet, supply and demand does as good of a job explaining some of this stuff as any other thing you can up.)
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(highlight:: Columbus's Journey was a like a logistics startup
Summary:
Columbus's approach to exploration was like a well-capitalized financial expedition and resembled a Renaissance version of Shark Tank.
He pitched his idea to potential investors, seeking funds to reach Asia and establish trade channels. Initially met with doubt, the rulers of Castile eventually gave him money to secure his idea.
It was a Renaissance version of a non-disclosure agreement or non-compete.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And this approach to dealing with things actually is involved in the columbus explorations. I mean, this looks like a giant, a well invested, well capitalized financial expedition. It's, it's antrapenuria, colonialism, in a sense. I mean, columbus, if you follow his career, he went and gave presentations to potential investors. It's like right out of a renaissance version of shark tank an who goes to these people and says, they have a proposal. I'm going to go in the other direction and reach asia, and we can open up our own direct trade channels, right? This is a trade deal. This is a money making thing. Ies goig to be like per one imports, you know, the 14 92 style version of it. And he gets put off, and and the ine s don't think he's got his calculations right. But at one point, the rulers of castile, who will eventually become the spanish monarchy, they decide they like his idea enough that they don't want him taking it elsewhere, so they Give him some money to sit tight on it. It's almost like a renaissance version of a non disclosure agreement or non compete.)
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(highlight:: Columbus' Proceeds: Uncovering the Truth and Changing Perspectives
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Then, if you're columbus, and you're getting a percent of whatever you find or put together, or whatever, this expedition turns out an turns of proceeds. What are your proceeds when you land in modern day haite or cuba? Well, it gets a little bit dicy, doesn't it? And once again, i think the angle i'd like to look at this from, and we're going to change this angle over the course of this discussion. It will focus on different things at different times. But i'm trying to get into the, you know how impossible this is. We're playing a game here. Riht, justat little games to see if we can get a step closer to understanding things a little bit more in contact with these people. I mean, if you'd take the human element out of this question, i'd forget about suffering and injustice and death torture and all the things that this involves, and just think of it in, You know, a profit or lost sort of way. A the story. It's interesting how, as i said, it sort of falls into place. I mean, take columbus to start with here for a second. Now, i've read some stuff recently that suggests that maybe the traditional interpretation of what columbus was after maybe wrong.)
- Time 0:39:38
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(highlight:: Types of Investments: Green Bananas v.s. Yellow Bananas
Summary:
An investor explained the concept of 'green bananas' and 'yellow bananas' as different types of investments.
Yellow bananas are quick and profitable investments, while green bananas require time and effort to become profitable. Columbus unintentionally stumbled upon a green banana deal while searching for a yellow banana opportunity in Asia.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I had an investor once explaind to me that he considers there to be two kinds of investments, and he called them green bananas and yellow bananas. Yellow bananas are investments that are going be ripe quickly, that will pay off in the short term. Green bananas are the ones that require watering and fertilizing and pruning and maintenance and all sorts of investment to eventually turn into something that is paying off. Columbus was heading, if the asia destination thing that weve always thought was true is true. Columbus was looking for a yellow banana deal and tumbled into a green banana deal.)
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(highlight:: The Hidden Holocaust: The Transfer of European Diseases Decimated South American Civilization & Culture
Summary:
The number one reason is the catastrophic impact of germs, which is like a mind-boggling science fiction.
The majority of the victims are hidden in the interiors of the Americas, having caught diseases from indigenous peoples. These undiscovered areas won't be known for a century, causing a population collapse.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The number one reason for this is the germ astrophe. And the germ ctastrophe is, it's mind boggling science fiction, like twilight. So it's got all those elements that fascinate someone like me. But there's a little guilt in the fact that it's a holocost. And for the most part, it's a hidden holocost. The majority of the people affected and the victims of this, are going to be in the interiors of the americas, having caught these ailments from, you know, other indigenous peoples Through the trade routes and everything that they have going. And most of these places in the deep interiors of the far areas of the americas continent, won't be discovered for a century or more, when lewis and clark, by the way, finds ah the peoples And cultures of the northwest an places like that, and then tells the people back in the eastern united states what these cultures are like. He has no idea that he's looking at remnants and survivors and a rebuilders and people whose cultures have been skeletonized and whose numbers reduced by 80 to 95 %. There's never been anything like that. In his book, the slave trade, author hugh thomas calls it a population collapse.)
- Time 0:47:43
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(highlight:: The Societal Impact of Plagues: Creating Instability, Destroying Hierarchies, and Uprooting Cultural Bedrock
Summary:
The high mortality rates of diseases like the Black Death and the impact on societies have always been fascinating.
These diseases not only result in a large number of deaths but also disrupt the entire fabric of societies, including religious and social structures. It turns everything upside down and creates instability.
Survivors are traumatized for generations.
This is similar to what Charles C. Mann described as opening Pandora's Box.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I'm always fascinated with things like the black death in europe, but 85 to 95 % numbers is much worse than the black death. And what's so fascinating about how europe and places fected by the black death, or maybe you could even go back and say the justinian plague, earlier than that, is what they do to societies. It's not just the number of people who diei it starts destroying the things the framework of societies, a, you know, the the religious bedrock, sorts of elements, the interaction between Human beings, the hierarchies. I mean, everything gets turned up side down. And societis become unstable. And the survivors are like tramatize, sometimes for generations, and then when it comes back again and takes out the survivors. Well, as charles c mann had written about these diseases, and i mean, this is the closest you'll ever find to a literal version where you could use the term pandora's box and have it apply.)
- Time 0:48:58
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(highlight:: The Germ Apocalypse's Massive Impact on Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
Summary:
In the Americas, the introduction of diseases from Europe caused immense suffering and death among the indigenous population.
Diseases such as smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, and the plague devastated the Amerindians who had little resistance to these imported diseases. Even the European colonists faced heavy mortality.
The population loss in the Americas during this time is considered the greatest in human history, with estimates suggesting a 90% decline in central Mexico within 75 years.
The death rate was even worse in the Caribbean, where pestilence and mass slaughter occurred.
The impact of these diseases was so severe that the population of Hispaniola, for example, fell from hundreds of thousands to fewer than 500 survivors.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But when it gets going, it involves all the diseases against a population that's never had any of them. Charles c mann wrote, it was as if the suffering these diseases had ca sed in eurasia over the past millennia were concentrated into the span of decades. In his book, in human bondage, a historian of slavery, david brion davis, puts it this way to give you a sense of, i mean, if this is a pandora's box of of a bad things that can happen to you, What exactly are these bad things named and what's in the box. Davis writes the amer indians throughout the hemisphere had little capacity for resisting imported diseases, both temperate and tropical pathagans, including small pox, malaria, Yellow fever, influenza, typhus and the plague. Given the previous isolation of the western hemisphere, this disaster has been called a virgin soil pand even whites, he writes, suffered heavy mortality. Of the 25 hundred colonists who arrived in hispaniola in 15 o, two one thousand died in a fairly short period of time. But the spaniards were bewildered, he writes, and some even horrified, as the indian population seemed to evaporate before their eyes. He also writes that they couldn't just compensate for the diseased deaths by increasing the birth rate, because the people of child bearing years were as badly affected as the old. And the young took out everybody. In terms of numbers, well, because no one knows how many people were in the americas in the pre columbian era. Nobody has a good idea of numbers or percentages. And some of this stuffn you keep your ers cross might be answered by a dna type stuff in the future, but a davis writes, while specialists differ with respect to numbers, which are necessarily Somewhat speculative, we are clearly considering the greatest known population loss in human history, that is, mortality as a percentage of population. The population of central mexico may well have fallen by almost 90 % in 75 years. Estimates for peru and chile, he writes, where the diseases spread well before the arrival of europeans, are almost as high. The death rate was even worse. In the caribbian he writes, where pestilence coincided with the ecomienda system and much mass slaughter. Estimates of hispaniola's pre columbian eroac, and i believe it's tino indian, ranged from about 300 thousand to half a million. By the 15 forties, there were fewer than 500 survivors.)
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(highlight:: The Slavery and Torture of Indigenous People by the Spanish
Summary:
The Spanish colonization of the Caribbean islands led to the destruction of the native populations through violence, torture, and forced labor.
The islands were depopulated as people were killed, scared away, or taken to other islands as labor. The work in processing plants also killed the remaining natives.
This horrifying account by a Dominican friar sheds light on the brutal actions of the Spanish.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The pattern established at the outset, he writes, has remained unchanged to this day. And the spaniards still do nothing tear the natives to shreds, murder them and inflict upon them untold misery suffering and distress, tormenting, harrying and persecuting them Mercilessly. We shall, in due course, describe some of the many ingenious methods of torture that they have invented and refined for this purpose. But one can get some idea of the effectiveness of their methods from the figures alone. When the span s first journeyed there, he writes, the indigenous population of the island of hispaniola stood at some three million. To day, only 200 survive. The island of cuba, which extends for a distance almost as great as that separating valladalid from rome, is now, to all intents and purposes, uninhabited. And two other large, beautiful and fertile islands, porto rico and jamaica, have been similarly devastated. Not a living soul remains to day on any of the islands in the bahamas, he writes, which lie to the north of hispaniola and cuba, even though every single one of the 60 or so islands in the Group, as well as those known as the islands of giants and others in the area, both large and small, is more fertile and more beautiful than the royal gardens in seville. And the climate is as healthy as anywhere on earth. The native population, which once numbered some 500 thousand, was wiped out by forcible expatriation to the island of hispaniola, a policy adopted by the spanish in an endeavor to Make up losses amongst the indigenous population of that island. So what this dominican friar is saying that already the spanish are trying to figure out work arounds to their labor issue. As people disappear on some islands, they go get them from other islands and bring them in, which depopulates the old islands, and then they die in the in the mines anyway. So, you know, you can only keep that up for so long. Now, the actual reading of delas ca s work is nightmarish. I was going to include one of the really horrible scenes a delas casus talks about, he's very graphic. It's einzats, grouping level stuff, really horrible. But you can't differentiate one from another. And some of these things he saw himself, and some he more heard about. But it's, it's as is anything you can listen to. And it completely helps explain why in addition to disease, there would be less and less of the natives. If not only are you killing them, but you're scaring the heck out of them, they're going to leave. So these islands being depopulated is due to several things, including these people fleeing. You know, who wouldn't flee? But then you add to that the fact that when the spanish start using the indigenous peoples that they have left for the purposes that they have in mind, wrihte the creation of the a in a processing Plant that will turn these green bananas into usable yellow bananas, the work kills the natives. Andelas casus talks about that, he links it to these organized a butcheries, because he will basically say that after the men are all killed, the spanish will take what's left,)
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(highlight:: Antonio Montesino's Defense of Indigenous Rights
Summary:
In a famous sermon on the island of Hispaniola, Antonio Montesinos criticized the Spaniards for their cruel treatment of the indigenous people.
He questioned the colonists' authority and asked if they saw the natives as equals. This sermon became a reference point for future struggles to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples.
For Lascasus in particular, the question of loving them as oneself became a guiding principle.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A short account of the destruction of the indies written by historian anthony pagden. And he writes, the story is now a famous one, that morning a recent arrival on the island, the dominican antonio montesinos delivered a sermon in church of santo domingo. Taking his text from saint john, he drew an analogy between the natural desert in which the evangelist had chosen to spend his life, and the human desert which the spaniards had made Of the once fruitfuland paradisical island of hispaniola. He then turned upon the colonists, now quoting the friar with what right he demanded of them? And with what justice do you keep these poor indians in such cruel and horrible servitude? By what authority have you made such detestable wars against these people who lived peacefully and gently on their own lands? Are these not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not obliged to love them as yourselves? Pagden then writes, the last three questions were to become the reference of every subsequent struggle to defend the rights of the indigenous peoples of the americas. For lascasus in particular, the third, are you not obliged to love them as yourselves? Was to guide his actions for the rest of his life.)
- Time 1:06:49
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(highlight:: Because slavery in the Americas was created from scratch, people struggled with questions of moral culpability and slave welfare
Summary:
The Portuguese and Spanish felt extra responsibility in the Caribbean because they had to write the original laws for the slave trade.
This created discussions over different levels of culpability. However, some laws that appeared humanitarian were actually sound business decisions.
For instance, keeping the natives healthy benefited both the dominican friars and the business people.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I read something recently, and i don't know if it was fernando cervantes bookon conquistidorsa new book he has out, but it was talking about the extra responsibility that the portuguese And the spanish felt in this area because they were the ones who had to write the original laws, as compared to something like in africa, where there was already an ongoing slave trade And they were just essentially customers. So compare it to a drug situation. It's one thing to be buying a drugs from the manufacturer or from a middle person. It's another thing to be setting up your own matlabs. And so some of this appears to be discussions over a different level of culpability here, and a lack of laws on how you run things right? It's not up to the spanish or the portuguese how the african rulers in africa handle the beginnings of the slave trade. But here it grounds zero. In the caribbean, it is. You have to organize it from the getgo. So things are a little bit different, and you can, if you look for them, find clear evidence of trying to somehow be something like humanitarian. A lot of the laws strike us as nibbling around the edges and get frustrating. And a lot of times these law s that look like they're done for the welfare of the natives are, in fact, a sound business decision. Sometimes those two things dovetail. For example, keeping the natives healthy works in favor of both the dominican friars who are advocating for their welfare and the business people who would like to see their products Show up to market in good shape.)
- Time 1:09:37
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(highlight:: The Concept of Race Developed as a Result of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Summary:
During the colonial period in the New World, it was widely believed that the labor of one Black person was equal to that of multiple Indigenous people.
This mindset was influenced by early contact colonists like the Spanish and Portuguese. In earlier times, the concept of slavery was associated with certain people being born as slaves, which was supported by thinkers like Aristotle.
However, in the antebellum South, the focus shifted to race, with people believing that certain ethnicities were inherently destined for slavery.
This marked the development of the modern concept of race.
Before this era, people recognized differences between groups, but skin color was just one aspect. Ancient Greeks referred to Black Africans as Ethiopians and had issues with various other groups as well. The idea of categorizing individuals solely based on skin tone originated during this time period.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Davis writes, throughout the new world, colonists agreed that the labor of one black was worth that of several ans. Now when davis as colonists, in this case he means early first contact colonists, the spanish and the caribbean, the portuguese in brazil. And the going rate is multiple indians for every african. Now in an earlier era, people like the greeks and aristotle and what not, might that a sign right there that you should be a slave? Obviously they're good at it. They make good slaves. That's a sign that they're thereae in that class of people born to be slaves. And if you go to like, the anti bellum south in maybe the 18 twenties, 18 thirties, 18 forties, they'll make it a totally racial question. That's justw that's the ethnicity. That's the geans. And you can see it in the people and thats they're just born that way. The concept of race as we understand it to day, develops during this era. And it's valuable to learn about this era, if for no other reason than that considering the importance of the concept of race in our modern world. Before this time period, it wasn't like people were all comba ya and that they didn't notice, you know, the difference between us and them, the them group, was just a lot bigger. And your skin lor was only one of many things that played into it. For an ancient greek, someone who was black from africa, they would call them ethiopians. Probably. That was in the ancient world. The greeks maybe thought of them as ethiopians. Sure, they might have had some issues with them, but just like they'd had issus with the scythians and the thracians and the epirots and the persians. I mean, this difference in color that separates people of every nationality into groups of people that are only designated by their skin tone, that comes from this era.)
- Time 1:15:41
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(highlight:: The Devastating Effects of the Slave Trade
Summary:
Historian Brenda A. Stevenson estimates that between the 15th and 19th centuries, approximately 28 million Africans were enslaved and sold.
Of these, around 12.5 million were sent to the Americas and the Caribbean, while about 16 million were traded to North Africa, the Indian Ocean coast, and the Middle East. This number does not include the millions who died during slave raiding, forced marches, the middle passage, or those who lost their homes and families.
The economic impact of the slave trade is significant.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Historian brenda a stevenson from usiele, whom we quoted earlier, in her book, what is slavery, goes over the numbers a little bit. And these are all difficult to gure out occasionally, because sometimes the records are great and sometimes they are not. But she says that most of the historians dealing with this subject now agree that some 28 million africans were enslaved and sold between the fifteenth and nineteenth century. So that the 14 hundreds and the 18 hundreds. And she says apo mately, 12 point five million left for the americas and the caribbean. About 16 million, purportedly, were traded, not across the atlantic, but rather to north africa, on the coast of the indian ocean and throughout the middle east. But the 11 million or so who arrived in the americas did not account for the millions. Some believe, at least four million who died as part of the slave raiding warfare, during the forced marches to the slave trading coasts, or who perished in the middle passage, the ocean Trip from africa to america, as a result of scurvy and other diseases, dehydration, starvation, harsh treatment or suicide. Nor does it measure. She writes the millions who lost their homes and families and who were physically displaced as a result of the trade. And and you can trace the development of all this so economically, as i sai, this is what makes the whole period seem like it's beyond it cell by date.)
- Time 1:27:45
- slavery, impact of slavery,

Slavery Existed (And Still Exists Today So Privileged People Can Consume Nonessential Products
Summary:
Leaders turned to cash crops like tobacco and sugar, produced by African slaves.
The need for labor from Africa increased due to slave mortality and the expansion of colonies. The New World became like a furnace, consuming African slaves to satisfy the growing demand for sugar, coffee, rice, and tobacco.
Today, we still rely on near-slave labor to produce goods that everyone uses and consumes.
The terms may have changed, but the addiction to bondage remains.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Colonial leaders turn to cash crops such as tobacco and especially sugar, produced by slaves imported from africa. After initial experiments with indian labor, for reasons we will later examine, the african workers could never come close to re producing their numbers, except in the chesapeake In the 17 twenties and in south carolina a half century later. Hence, he writes the need for a continuing and growing stream of labor from africa to make up for the slave mortality and to clear new land and found new colonies for cultivation. Much of the new world then came to resemble the death furnace of the ancient god moloch, consuming african slaves. So increasing numbers of europeans and later, white americans could consume sugar, coffee, rice and tobacco. That might sound harsh to some people, but one could make the case that that still applies to day. We just have in a slave labor, or close to slave labor in some places, ducing supplies that not just americans any more, but everybody uses and consumes. We're still addicted to bondage. The terms may be a little different, though, anda the benefits more spread out.)
- Time 1:33:03
- global inequality, diffusion of responsibility, privilege, moloch, slavery, conspicuous consumption, capitalism, negative externalities, banality of evil,

(highlight:: Slaves Spent Months on Slave Ships Before Even Leaving the African Coast
Summary:
The conditions on the wooden ships during the slave trade were incredibly brutal.
The longer someone was on the ship, the worse the conditions became. These ships would pick up cargo like an airport bus, stopping at different places until they had a full load.
The ships would stay off the coast of Africa, in sweltering heat, until they had enough slaves to set sail.
Africans often spent longer on these ships than they did crossing the Atlantic.
Some ships acted as permanent offshore prisons, passing captives to other ships. The Dutch, British, and French ships spent an average of 120-200 days on the coast. Millions of Africans spent months at sea before even reaching the Americas. The length of time on board determined survival, making the situation worse than originally thought.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So james walvin in freedom points out that the key ingredient in terms of how nasty the transport was on these wooden ships from africa to the new world had to do with how long you had to Be on the ships, right? The longer you were on it, the worse it was. Cause if you're being tortured. The longer you're being tortured, the worse it is. Right? But then he says something that i didn't realize, which is that these ships picked up cargo a little like the airport transport bus often does, where instead of just picking you up and Taking you to the airport, it stops at many different stops until it has a full bus, and then it leaves for the airport. So these ships are staying off shore in africa, off the coast near the equator, right? Sou it's hot as hell with people below decks, until they get enough people to leave for the new world. And a walvan gives you a sense of how long it might take before the ship is filled up enough to leave, with people below decks in chains, in a coffin size und of personal space. And walven writes, quote, africans often spent longer on board a slave ship anchored off the coast of africa than in crossing the atlantic. The ships accumulated their human cargoes slowly from place to place where there were no facilities for holding africans on shore. The ship acted as a floating prison until the master decided that he had enough enslaved people to set out across the atlantic. Some ships, little more than hulks, acted as permanent offshore prisons, passing on their captives to other ships ready to sail. In the seventeenth century, he writes, dutch ships spent an average of a hundred and 20 days on the coast. British ships 94. A century later, the dutch spent an average of two hundr days on the coast. French ships, a hundred and forty three. In the mid to late eighteenth century, british ships spent a hundred and 73 days on the african coast. He says that one fact that stands out from the wealth of information is that millions of africans spent months at sea before they even left for the americas. And if the amount of time you're on board the ship is the key question in terms of whether you live or die, or how long the torture continues, you can see that the situation is worse than Most of us originally thought.)
- Time 2:02:38
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(highlight:: The Incomprehensible Horrors of the Slave Ship Journey and Its Lasting Trauma
Summary:
The closeness and heat on the ship, along with overcrowding, cause sickness and death among the slaves.
Chains and filth make their situation even worse. Some slaves jump overboard and commit suicide.
Sexual assault is a constant threat. The pain and trauma can last for generations.
The ship owners profit from packing the ship tightly, but this leads to even more deaths. The Middle Passage is notorious for its horrific conditions, comparable to the worst experiences in history.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The closeness of the place and the heat the climate added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many Died, thus falling victims to the improvident ava s, as i may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation, he says, was again aggravated by the galling of the chains now become insupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs into which the children often fell And were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror, almost conceivable. And it goes on for months. Slaves jump overboard to get away from it, committing suicide, some believing that they'll go back to africa after they die. Some refuse to eat, and as a response, are brutally flogged. Ah, the person, the slave i just quoted, said that he saw a white sailor flogged so horribly that he died, and that they threw him overboard, basically pointing out that the people that Were doing this to the slaves, in his mind, had no human feeling at all, and would do this to each other, which scared him even more. And once again, we have the hidden part of this story, which is the rape, and the many insinuations of girls and female children and young male children being raped by the crew continuously Across the whole journey. So you have these people who are almost dying, whose only time to get out of the hold and out of the chains is to be part of a sexual assault. These stories are about drama inflicted upon drama, in a way that one has a logical question that one can ask of something like this. How long would it take a family to have the pain and effects of trama at this sort of level melt away? Mean, would your children be able to pick out things in their life that are the result of the trama that you went through in a situation like this? But your grandchildren? In other words, how long until this sort of pain and suffering? How long till the ripples caused by it die out? And that's assuming, of course, that these people live very long. Tons of them die on the journey. And it's this real catch 20 too, if you're looking at this from a business sense, because you have a vested interest in packing the ship as closely as you can to get as many pieces of cargo On there as you can. Cause, of course, that means more to sell. But there becomes a point where you're hurting your own cargo, and they start dying at greater rates if you pack them too much, like sardines. So perhaps there's a you. Now, it's funny when you start saying that the only protection these people have in terms of better living conditions is because of their worth as a com odity. Doesn't stop them from being thrown overboard in droves, sometimes, sometimes to collect the insurance money. There's a reason that this middle passage has been so mythologized in the history of slavery, because in terms of horrible experiences that people go through, it is right up there near The top of the list, able to hold its own with many of the worst things that you can think of throughout history.)
- Time 2:08:17
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(highlight:: The Scramble: The Chaotic Process of Buying a Slave at a Slave Market
Summary:
In his book, Milton Meltzer describes the chaotic and cruel nature of slave sales.
The slaves, both sick and healthy, were sold rapidly and at a low price. The scramble, as it was called, involved buyers rushing in to choose the best slaves, often resorting to violence.
Some slaves were so terrified that they fled and ran through the town.
Despite attempts to escape, all slaves were eventually caught, even those who jumped into the sea.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In his book, slavery, an world history, milton meltzer describes a a sort of a typical slave market, a sale. And says that sometimes the affairs were done privately, with an advance sale that had been arranged ahea time, but normally it was the sort of in a doors opend at noon, at the sound of A gun, you know, im grab whatever you can kind of deal. And he says the official name for it among some was the scramble. And he writes, after the walking skeletons had been disposed of, he means, they're really sick, thete they were sold sort of in bulk right away. Get them out of the way. Less than a dollar a slave, obviously, he sayd cause they died. And then you bring out the good product. He said, after the walking skeletons had been disposed of, the healthy slaves came next. Sometimes they would be marched through the town behind bagpipes and drawn up for inspection by planters or their overseers in the public square. If a west indian factor handled retail sales, he took 15 % of the gross and another five % of the net returns. The andscramble, however, was the customary way of handling a sale, by agreement with the buyers. A fixed price was set for the four categories of slaves, man, woman, boy and girl. A day for the sale was advertised. When the hour came, a gun was fired, the door to the slave yard was flung open, and a horde of purchasers rushed in, quotewith all the ferocity of brutes n sad a man named falconbridge, A slave ship surgeon, who witnessed several scrambles, each buyer, meltzer writes, bent on getting his pick of the pack, tried to encircle the largest number of choice slaves by means Of a rope. The slaves, helpless, bewildered, terrified, were yanked about savagely, torn one buyer from another. Some were so panicked by one such scramble on the island of grenada that they hurled themselves over the wall and ran madly through the town. Once falconbridge saw a scramble aboard a ship in kingston harbor, when the buyers swooped in to seize their prey, about 30 of the slaves leaped into the sea, but all of them were soon Fished out.)
- Time 2:18:04
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(highlight:: A Slave Owner's Son's Perspective on The Fear of Being Retalianted On By Slaves
Summary:
A French family living in Haiti expresses their fear and grievances about owning 200 slaves.
Despite their dominance, they long for contact with others and feel trapped in a life intertwined with the slaves' existence.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A primary source letter, i believe it was, that's recounted in um melter's book, slavery, a world history. And it's from a french family that is living in hayti. I believe it is um. And it's just the family, right? There's nobody else but the mom, the dad, the kids. And there's five of em, and they live with 200 slaves, africans, or african descendants. Meltzer says that the french colonists in haite, that they didn't like it, and expressing, you know, how they feel. And i just want to point out, if you're ared of your slaves, because you understand that things have been done to them that would give them grievances, how much more scared are you going To be with a ratio of 200 to five? And by the way, note that this slave holding family is asking for pity, because they're stuck with all these slaves that they own. Have pity for an existence which must be eked out far from the world of our own peoplee here number five whites, my father, my mother, my two brothers and myself, surrounded by more than 200 slaves, the number of our negroes who are domestics alone, coming almost to 30. From morning to night, wherever we turn, their faces meet our eyes. No matter how early we awaken, they are at our bedsides. And the custom which obtains here not to make the least move otthe help of one of these negro servants brings it about not only that we live in their society the greater portion of the day, But also that they are involved in the least important events of our daily life. Should we go outside our house to the workshops, we are still subject to this strange propinquity. Add to this the fact that our conversation has almost entirely to do with the health of slaves, their needs, which must be cared for, the manner in which they are to be distributed about The estate and their attempts to revolt, and you will come to understand that our entire life is so closely identified with that of these unfortunates that in the end, it is the same as Theirs. And despite whatever pleasure may come from that almost complete dominance which is given us to exercise over them. Regrets do not assail us daily because of our inability to have contact and correspondence with others than these unfortunates, so far removed from us in point of view. Customs and education.)
- Time 2:50:56
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(highlight:: Would You Be Able to Keep a Slave In Line? To Whip Them For a Half Hour?
Summary:
David Brion Davis poses a thought-provoking question about the challenging and morally reprehensible job of controlling and punishing slaves.
He reflects on his own experience in the navy and the difficulty of ordering around African American sailors. Davis points out the disturbing nature of the treatment of slaves, which we would now consider sociopathic.
He questions whether we could inflict such brutal punishment on another person, regardless of their gender or age.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
David brion davis has this great question. It's us the kind of questions that we would ask too were he asks. And he says, no matter what your skill set or your training, he says, can you imagine trying to be the person whose job it is to keep a hundred and 50, or he says, even 50 slaves in line, make Sure they work all the time at maximum speed, punish them for any a getting of line? He then goes on to tell a story about his own time, many years ago in the navy, on being intimidated by a bunch of african american sailors that, as an 18 year old, he'd been told to go order Around. Not so easy to do, necessarily. And the job requires the sort of treatment of people that to day, we would think only some sort of sociapath would be willing to do. And yet it was common. This does't sort of hearken back to the thomas jefferson idea that it's somehow coarsens society, because it would be difficult for us to imagine a person that would be comfortable A meting out the sort of punishment that was absolutely common and ubiquitous in the slave societies. Could you beat a person with a whip? Could you do it for half hour? Could you do it with them screaming the whole time? Could you do it to if you werea if you're a guy, could you do it to to a female? If you're a female? Could you do it to a child? I mean, you see what i'm saying.)
- Time 2:53:36
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(highlight:: A Slave's Account of Whipping of a Pregnant Woman by Another Slave
Summary:
During the Great Depression, the government hired people to collect stories from surviving slaves.
One account described a pregnant slave being beaten by a black overseer. The complexity of the situation highlights the complicated realities of history.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So during the great depression, there was a some people would call it a make work programme, but it shows you how a make work programme during, you know, a terrible economic crisis can End up benefiting all of us. Because these people that were hired by the government went around and got all the surviving ave to tell some stories that they could put in the archives so they'd be available for all Of us to day. Now, they come with all of the problems that first hand accounts that are, that are given decades after the events always have, but they're still priceless. And i was reading one where the slave that was being interviewed, he was 87 years old at the time, and this was the 19 thirties, i think, where he was being interviewed, he talked about Watching a relative who was nine months pregnant, being beaten by the overseer. And the overseer dug a special hole for her stomach to fit in so she could lay down and have a place for the stomach while he hit her with a whip for a half hour. And she ended up giving birth during the process. And he said the the ex slave had said that he wantedhe wanted to hunt the man down and kill him and the overseer, just to show you how complicated these stories are in real life, as opposed To the two dimensional way we simplify them for history writing. The overseer who did this, that the ex slave wanted to kill, was himself black. In our little mental experiment to try to view things from all sides, the rashamon approach hard enough. To view it from the of the overseer. Youre lashing the poor black slave to begin with, isn't it? Now try the mind flip that it's going to be, if you happen to be a black person and a slave, perhaps too right, beating another person of your own color and your own standing for the person That owns you both. I mean, wow, that is so wrong.)
- Time 2:59:19
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(highlight:: The Transformation of Europe's Attitude towards Slavery
Summary:
James Walven explains how attitudes towards slavery changed dramatically from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century.
In the past, major powers and colonies engaged in the slave trade for profit, but a century later, they had abolished slavery and strongly opposed it. This shift was not only reflected in political and diplomatic circles, but also captured the attention of the general public.
The once confident slave owners and traders were now gone, and defending slavery publicly was seen as eccentric.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And james walven, in the very first paragraph of his book explains, let's use it again, the flipping of the seit geist, and how quickly, not just attitudes, but the actual structure Of the world that required those attitudes not to change, were forced to cha when the attitudes did. In walven wrighte's on the eve of the french revolution, all of europe's major maritime powers and a number of thriving colonies in the americas were keen to have a share of the transatlantic Business of slavery, shipping africans to the americas and using them and their offspring to labor, mainly in agricultural work, was a lucrative concern urn which no one seemed able To resist. A century later, he writes, those same nations had banned the slave trade, had freed all their former slaves and were now vehemently opposed to slavery. Not only was their antipathy expressed in the upper echalons of power in formal politics, government and diplomacy, but it had also caught the imagination of millions of ordinary People, people who were increasingly well informed vi the explosion of literacy and the world of cheap print. To make the point more crudely, he writes, in the late eighteenth century, most atlantic slave owners and slave traders felt confident that they could rite out any criticism of slavery. By the late nineteenth century, they had all vanished, and only an eccentric would have felt confident to defend slavery publicly in the west.)
- Time 3:03:50
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(highlight:: The Collapse of the Slade Trade as an Example Of Achieving Moral Progress By Overcoming Political and Economic Barriers
Summary:
The idea that history bends towards justice may be a dangerous delusion, as one person's justice can be another's atrocity.
However, looking at the accomplishments and possibilities of change in one human lifespan gives some hope. The legacy system of slavery, deeply entrenched in society, was flipped, showing that change is possible even under financial and institutional constraints.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
This idea that the best way to describe it is that great quote always attributed to martin luther king, but i don't think he was the first to say, that, the arc of the moral universe is long, But it bends towards justice. That's sort of the whig view of history, that we're making progress. And it may be, you know, two steps forward, one step back, bunny hop kind of progress, but it's moving in a direction that's getting more humane, better for everybody, more inclusive, You know, wht ever you ane ay. And these days, most historians don't think that way, and it might be a dangerous delusion to think that way, because there might be a little complacency in this idea that' don't worry, It's all going to work out. The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, you know, unless it doesn't. Also, let's not forget that one person's justice could be another person's manson like a murderous atrocity, so you never know, kind of thing. I think the one aspect of this though, that makes me come away with a net positive is look at what was accomplished, look at what's possible. That's what this history. Experience here teaches us for it doesn't teach lessons. It's an example look at how much change towards our modern point of view would be a good way to put it, that you see in what amounts to one long human life span here. No, we're not talking about global public opinion deciding they want a different sweetener in their tea, as we've been saying. This is the legacy system of all legacy systems. It's slavery, centuries old in the atlantic. Slave trade form, millennia old, ancient in the institution form, wrapped up in the economies, the life styles, the down profits of everybody. I mean, woven into the fabric of society, entrenched. And if they can flip that iceberg, they prove it can be done, right? That icebergs can be flipped. And the reason we should take heart as we have a few icebergs in our future that may have to be flipped under similar sorts of constraints, financial, institutional, woven into the fabric Of our ciety, money.)
- Time 3:05:48
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(highlight:: Heroization: Heros like Thomas Jefferson are often more complicated than they're portrayed to be
Summary:
Thomas Jefferson, a symbol of hypocrisy, played a key role in developing human rights but also owned hundreds of slaves.
Despite this contradiction, he advocated for ending the slave trade in early America. Many historical figures face similar complexities, where their actions may have positive outcomes but their personal lives make them difficult to support.
Heroes are often portrayed as flawless figures, ignoring their flaws and presenting them in a convenient, two-dimensional manner.
Thomas Jefferson serves as an example of such a figure, and discussing his contradictions can be uncomfortable.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But jefferson is, all by himself, a perfect, as we've said, symbol of the hypocrisy. Here's a man who's got a hand in writing two of the most influential bedrock foundational documents and statements, and coming up with the language and the approach and everything For what modern human rights are all sort of based on. And he owns hundreds of people, and yet he becomes a powerful voice in the early american republic for curtailing and eliminating the slave trademe. What do you make of a guy like this? There's a lot of historical figures like this, by the way, wrihte these ones who maybe are a responsible for things that we all consider to be good things to day, but who, when you examine Their individual lives, make them hard to rout for. O heroes are that way. The whole process of heroization requires that we, you know, send off those rough edges and squash em into the two dimensional convenience store cardboard cut out figures, so that We can use them for a purpose, right? To celebrate a message or one of our finer stand up moments in history. Be like that person. And if your going to say b like thomas jefferson, you don't want to talk about all weird stuff.)
- Time 3:17:29
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(highlight:: The Impact of Activist Journalism on Public Opinion About Slavery: A Historical Example
Summary:
Activist journalism, fueled by pamphlets, magazines, editorials, and newspapers, is shaping public opinion.
In the late 18th century, a national abolitionist petition campaign sparked in Britain. Liverpool, a city benefiting from slavery, saw a significant rise in petition signers from 10,000 to 100,000 in just one year.
This trend continued, with an estimated 400,000 signatures four years later.
It's a remarkable swing in public opinion.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Besides public opinion that is spurred on by pamphlets and magazines and editorials and newspapers and all this kind of stuff, that is the sort of public opinion shaping, ah, you know, They'd call it activist journalism maybe. To day, all of that's having an impact. David brion davis gives some statistics, and theyre like data points, is a good way to look at it. But he says that the first a national abolitionist petition campaign to end the slave trade in britain kicked off in 17 88. And the year before, in liverpool, ask people to sign a petition to end the slave trade. And in this industrial, working class northern british city that was a shipping town that benefited directly from slavery, the first time they had a chance to do. So more than ten thousand people sign the petitionand you think, ok, that's interesting, but its trends we're looking for. Right? The very next year, those ten thousand or so people had mushroom to a hundred thousand. Four years later, an estimated 400 thousand in britain signed the similar petition. So you see this growth rate where you're just wondering, what the ect's going on here, right? This is, this is a swing in public opinion.)
- Time 3:24:25
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(highlight:: The Impact of Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin on the Economics of Slavery
Summary:
In the mid-1790s, Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, leading to an economic boom in the American South.
The invention enables large-scale cotton cultivation and increases cotton exports exponentially. By 1820, cotton exports reach a staggering 35 million pounds.
Cotton becomes the mainstay of the industrial revolution and the South's economic backbone.
The demand for slaves skyrockets as cotton becomes the new gold rush.
The South, lacking in industry, relies heavily on cotton's profitability. The growth in slave numbers mirrors the rise of the cotton gin, making the US a major player in the slave trade. The South's economic power becomes inseparable from slavery.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In the middle 17 nineties, a guy name eli whitney invents the cotton gin, and the economic situation in the american south explodes. And there is very little like it. Hugh thomas in the slave trade writes in 17 90 slavery in north america, as opposed to north american participation in the slave trade to cuba and elsewhere, seemed to be in decline. But eli whitney's fateful invention of the cotton gin on misus nathaniel green's plantation at savannah, georgia during the spring of 17 93, and the realization that with the removal Of this great hindrance hitherto to the large scale cultivation of cotton. And he says, that's the taking of the lint from the seeds that used to hold them back. He says, he then quotes a contemporary source that says that one negro, their words, could produce 50 pounds of cleaned cotton. Then he gives statistics. And, you know, you can see similar statistics in other books, but the like is hard to find elsewhere. He says that the year before the invention of the cotton gin, that 17 92, a mere, what's basically a hundred and 39 thousand pounds of cotton was exported by the united states, which is The same amount, he says, as a guiana in 17 94. So that's two years later, right? He says the figure had leapt. Now, remember, it was a hundred 39 thousand pounds to a million, 600 thousand pounds, in 18 hundred, that's six years after that, she exported almost, i'm just rounding off here, 18 Million pounds. And in 18 20, cotton exports, he writes, reached 35 million pounds. So let me do that again. 17 92, it's a hundred forty thousand pounds. 17 94, it's a million, 600 thousand pounds. In 18 hundred, it's 18 million pounds. And in 18 20, it's 35 million pounds. And it is the fibre of the industrial revolution. And the american south is supporting, you know, the industrial world. The money is incredible. James walven says that at the outbreak of the civil war, cotton was worth more than all the other us. Exports put together. So the north is industrializing. And you'll often hear that, before the civil war, we have an industrialized north and an agricultural south. And it makes it sound like the south can't hold their own economically at all. Well, they don't have the diversity of products, and they don't have the industry that the north has. They don't have the manufacturing the north has. But they have the oil, the yellow bananas that is cotton. And there's nothing else like it. Now. It's the new sugar, right? And with this potential new gold rush comes a brand new, amazingly huge need for slaves. And you can chart the growth in the numbers of us. Slaves from the cotton gins invention onward. And it's a straight up, this is where the us. Finally becomes a major slave player. Because in 18 hundred, as we'd said, there'd been about 700 thousand slaves. That numberis going to explode, both from exports from other countries, africa mainly, but also internal slave trade and internal population growth.)
- Time 3:32:22
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(highlight:: The Horrors of Slave Life During Peak Slavery in America
Summary:
A historian named C L R James uncovered horrific records of the treatment of slaves.
They endured physical abuse such as iron restraints, dragging blocks, tin plate masks, and mutilation. Their masters subjected them to burning, burying, and forcing them to eat excrement.
These were not rare occurrences, but rather normal aspects of slave life.
The question is, how far would you go to change this situation?
And what vengeance would you seek against those who kept you in such misery? A bloodbath seems inevitable.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A the records were combed by a marxus historian from trinidad. His name was c l r james, and he's quoted in slavery, or world history, by milton meltzer. And james went through the official reports of what was being told to officials was going on. And c l r james writes, there was no ingenuity that fear or depraved imagination could devise which was not employed to break their spirit, the slave spirit, and satisfy the lust and Resentment of their owners and guardians. Irons on the hands and feet, blocks of wood that the slaves had to drag behind them wherever they went. The tin plate mask, designed to prevent the slaves eating the sugar cane. The iron collar. Whipping was interrupted in order to pass a piece of hot wood on the buttocks of the victim. Salt pepper trons, cinders, aloes and hot ashes were poured into the bleeding wounds. Mutilations were common, limbs, ears and sometimes the private parts, to deprive them of the pleasures which they could indulge in without expense. Their masters, he writes, poured burning wax on their arms and hands and shoulders, emptied the boiling cane sugar over their heads, burned them al ive, roasted them on slow fires, Filled them with gunpowder and blew them up with a match. Buried them up to the neck and smeared their heads with sugar that the flies might devour them. Fastened them near to nests of ants or wasps, made them eat their excrement, drink their urine and licked the saliva of other slaves. Meltzer says that these were not the mad acts of crazed colonists, but says that james asserts that these were the normal features of slave life. If those were the features of your life, what would you do about that? What lengths would you be willing to go to change that sit ton? And what would you do to the people that put and kept you there if you had a chance to get your hands on them? As they say in the television commercials, results may vary, but no one would be surprised if a blood bath happened and there were people prophesiing it.)
- Time 3:40:15
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(highlight:: The Beginning of the Race-Based Caste System to Undermine Progress Towards Black Emancipation
Summary:
The 17th-century Code Noir in Saint-Domingue set minimum standards for the treatment of slaves, but these rules were undermined over time.
Free people of color faced discrimination through various laws, such as paying liberty taxes and restrictions on professions, naming conventions, and personal appearance. These laws created a hereditary caste system based on race and ethnicity, which is still evident today.
This system persisted legally in the United States until less than a generation ago.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So sant deming, for example, is one of these areas because it's a part of france that's covered by the code noir, which was the 16 hundreds era rules governing how slaves could be treated And why not. So so setting minimum standards, you could say, which was never well enforced in everything else. So am lurent du bois, author of avengers of the new world, writes the code noir stipulations about emancipation, however, like those regarding the treatment of slaves, were steadily Undermined during the eighteenth century. Attempting to counter the increasing size and power of communities of free ple of color, colonial administrators required masters who freed their slaves to pay liberty taxes. And they gradually made african ancestry a legal liability. In other words, they were getting tired of slaves being freed and turning into these kind of people. So they were going to charge slave owners money if they wanted to free their slaves, the liberty tax. And then he references the seven years war, which came not that long before the american revolution. It was between britain and france. And he writes, in the wake of the seven years war, scattered discriminatory legislation against free people of color was systematized and expanded. A 17 64 royal decree forbade people of african descent to practise medicine, surgery or pharmacy. The next year, another re excluded them from working in legal professions or in the offices of notaries. A 17 73 law made it illegal for them to take the names of their masters or white relatives, on the ground that such a practice destroyed the there are several quotes here from the original Document, the insurmountable barrier which public opinion had placed between the two communities, which government had wisely preserved. There are more attempts to make sure that the lines between the various communities are more definitively drawn. He says, naming conventions were required so that you couldn't name your child a name that confused somebody as to maybe their their genetic heritage, and then you couldn't start getting Upaty. He writes, a 17 79 regulation made it illegal for free people of color to, quote, affect the dress, hair styles, style or bearing of whites. And some local ordinances, dubois, said, forbade them to ride in carriages or to own certain home furnishings. By the time of the revolution, free coloreds, he writes, were subjected to a variety of laws that discriminated against them solely on the basis of race. Doesn't that remind you of, like, sumptuary laws? You saw this in europe during the period where wealthy, but non blue blooded merchants were starting to make more money than some of the blue blood nobility. Back when, you know, europe was so class conscious based on birth, and it was so upsetting to society, they sometimes made these rules that, you said, it doesn't matter how much money These s have, youre not allowed to wear this fabric. That's just for people like us. So no matter what you do, no matter how much money you have, you're oin o be able to wear this kind of fur around your neck, that kind of thing. So what they're saying here is, no matter how many plantations you may own, no matter how much money you make, no matter how many sugar cane fields you harvest, and no matter how many slaves You own. Yes, these free people of color own something like a hundred thousand of san doming slaves, whichs weird. But the white colonists are saying, you still won't be equal to a poor white artisan on this island. And what all these laws on san doming and all the ones that are part of the same trend in the 17 hundreds in other places in the americas, what they're doing is creating a permanent, hereditary Cast system based on, well, ethnicity, racial origin, background, skin color, all these sorts of things, something, by the way, we still live with to day. When i was born, the decade i was born, this caste system was still legally maintained in many us. States, where an african american could try to get into a hotel room and there might be a sign on the door that said, whites only, and that was legal. So were less than a generation away from that time period. And that stuff begins during this eracaus.)
- Time 4:01:28
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(highlight:: Stirring Up Fears of Slave Revolt by Abolitionist Vincent Oge
Summary:
Vincent Oge, a wealthy mixed-race planter from San Domingo, delivers a speech in Paris in 1789.
He warns of impending disaster and proposes prompt action to avoid bloodshed, destruction, and revolt. Oge offers his plan to the assembly, hoping to help prevent catastrophe.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In a speech in 17 89 in paris, vincent oge who is a wealthy planter from san doming he's mixed race. I believe he's a quadroon. I'm not sure that would make him a quarter black, but he owns a lot of slaves himself. He's one of the wealthiest, free people of color in the colony. And he tells this parisian audience that you better do something quickly. And i have a proposal. But if we don't do something, disaster will strike. And he said, if the most prompt and effective measures are not taken, if firmness, courage and consistency do not animate us all, if we do not quickly bundle together all our abilities, Our means and our effort, if we sleep for an instant on the edge of the abyss, let us tremble. At the moment of our waking, blood will flow. Our property will be invaded, the fruits of our labor destroyed and our homes burned. Our neighbors, our friends, our wives and children will be slaughtered and mutilated. The slave will have raised the standard of revolt. The islands will be no more than a vast and fateful inferno, with commerce destroyed. France will receive a mortal wound, and a multitude of decent citizens will be impoverished, ruined. We will have lost everything. But gentlemen, he said, there is still time to avert the disaster. If the assembly wishes to admit me, if it authorizes me to draw up and submit to it my plan, i will do so with pleasure and even gratitude. And perhaps i will be able to contribute to the warding off the storm that rumbles above our heads.)
- Time 4:07:35
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(highlight:: Double Standards: Slave Revolts in the North Stroke Up Sympathy for White Slave Owners
Summary:
Amidst fires and chaos, locals join a family plantation during a revolution.
Horrifying atrocities committed by slaves are recounted, stirring up hatred and loathing. These shocking events will scandalize societies worldwide.
The irony lies in the fact that the very acts of revenge carried out by slaves were inflicted upon them prior to the revolution.
Sympathy is aroused when such atrocities befall people similar to those reading about them.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And the account picks up with all the locals, while the fires rage around them, and the slaves are tearing stuff up and destroying things and hacking people to death, they all join on This family's plantation. And he writes, the frightened families among our neighbors met together at our plantation. The men armed to face the storm. The mothers, wives sisters were lamenting and gathering in all haste. A few precious effects, desolation and fear were painted on all faces. The sky seemed on fire. Guns could be heard from afar, and the bells of the plantations were sounding the alarm. The danger increased. The flames at each moment were approaching and enclosing about us. There was no time to lose. We fled, he continues. And this is probably bo reality, and yet also a trope. This is what this revolution's going to have to live down in terms of atrocities. This supposed eye witness, but trying to whip up, you know, hatred and loathing back in places like france, for the slave class. Here writes, the victims who escaped at sword's point came to swell the number of atives and recounted to us the horrors which they had witnessed. They had seen unbelievable tortures to which they testified. Many women, young, beautiful and virtuous perished beneath the infamous caresses of the brigands, among the cadavers of their fathers and husbands. Bodies still palpitating, were dragged through the roads with atrocious acclamations. Young hildren transfixed upon the point of bayonets were the bleeding flags which followed the troop of cannibals. These pictures were not exaggerated, and i more than once saw the sorrowful spectacle these images are going to be picked up by the mass meti of the time, they are going to horrify, ah, The societies of north america south america, europe. I mean, this is going tobe such a scandal that some of the abolitionists are even going to look at this and say, well, you know, maybe you deserve to be in chains then if you can't separate The guilty and the innocent. It'sgoing to be held up as an example, especially by the pro slavery people of the savagery here. Look at these. These are monsters that deserve slavery. But it's never quite addressed that the very things, or the functional equivalent of the very things that these slave rioters are doing in hot blood during an insurrection, with all The pent up revenge and everything else, you know, going on right a moment, it's never quite pointed out that the functional equivalent of what they're doing here was done to them right Before this revolution started. I mean, let's remember the list of things that the historian from trinidad, see llar james had said, right? Being smeared with sugar and devoured by the ants, being roasted on spits. I mean, there's a couple of stories that make the rounds here, one of a carpenter being sawed in to with a saw. Another of some colonist being nailed or something to the door of his barn, and then having his limbs chopped off, one by one with axes by the slave rioters. Well, my goodness, it was just back in february, which is only months ago, that the legally, you now entrusted authority of these colonies, sentenced vincent o jay and another guy to Be broken on the wheel, legally, in public. I mean, it's the functional equivalent, but the sympathy comes when these sorts of things are happening to people who look like the people that are reading the mass media about it.)
- Time 4:34:31
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(highlight:: Jean Jacques Desaline's Justifies White Genocide as Revenge for Torture of Black and Indigenous Slaves
Summary:
Jean Jacques Dessalines, the ruler of Haiti, delivers a terrifying and intimidating speech invoking fear and vengeance.
He justifies his actions of genocide and connects it to the ideas of Enlightenment and human rights. Dessalines compares himself to the avenging angel of the continent and announces that justice is being enacted.
He declares that the hour of vengeance has struck and the enemies of man's rights have received the punishment they deserve.
He proclaims that he has saved his country and avenged America.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And the sort of things that this genjacqus desaline says in the declaration of independence for hayde and then the subsequent announcement of several months later, which is really Sort of a a justification for the genesi that he's going to inflict are well, there are few things like it in history, and most of the things like it come from a really long time ago, not Relatively recently. But not only is it frightful and scary and intimidating, one author i read called it seething, it's meant to be in the same way that, you know, the french colonists wanted their spectacular Executions to send a message and be horrible and talked about in high profile. Jeann jacques desaline feels the same way, and says, so the lines from his declaration of independence, when you when you know what's going to happen next, are frightful. I mean, he says, for example, for 14 years we have been the victims of our own gullibility and tolerance, defeated not by french arms, but by the pitiful eloquence of their official proclamations. Therefore shall we tire of breathing the same air as they do. What do we have in common with this murderous nation? Its cruelty compared to our evident moderation, its color unlike our own, the wide seas that separate us, our avenging climate, all tell us that they are not our brothers. And never will be. If they find refuge among us, they will again seek to cause trouble and to divide us. He then says, you know, where are all your loved ones? And he mentions sisters, brothers, children. And then he says, these people, these vultures, ate them. What he can do about that? I mean, ther's a lot of implied things here. And his speech, after some of this genecite has been carried out, delivered, a proclamation delivered the end of april, 18 o four, and written by his secretary, caus you know that this Sort of flowing language doesn't necessarily roll off the tongue of this former slave. He's more of a doer and not a talker. But his secretary puts some words into his mouth that will frighten every slave society still on the planet that reads it. And he connects this able blood letting. And the stories are insane. I mean, forty foot pools of blood that people have to walk around cause, yukno, stacks of hundreds and hundreds of white bodies, or are on both sides this reagees terrible, terrible Stuff. And a by the way, notice how this murderous human being is tying his ideas to the ideas of enlightenment, right? He is the employer of the weaponized philosophy. And as with everything else that sounds relatively innocuous and maybe even high minded, moral sentiment, when written on the page and read by the audience, sometimes looks a little Bit different in practice than in theory. Doesn't mean it's wrong, just means reality's a lot more messy. And here we have a person who institutes genicide, connecting it to, you know, human rights and the preservation of such things, and comparing himself to the avenging angel of the entire Continent and all of the indigenous peoples for hundreds of years. This is a guy, by the way, who wanted to call his army, at one point, his army of slaves and free colored people, the army of the incas. So you know where he was thinking. He thought about calling it the sons of the sun. And he announces in late april, 18 o four, that o justice is being enacted. And he says, finally, the hour of vengeance has struck, and the implacable enemies of the rights of man have received the punishment their crimes deserved. I raised over their guilty heads my arm that for too long had been restrained. At this signal, ordained by a just god, your hands, divinely armed, set the axe to the ancient tree of slavery and prejudice in vain had time and still more, the diabolical politics of The europeans encased it in triple armor. You stripped away this armour and placed it on your own breasts, becoming like your natural enemies, cruel and pitiless, like an overflowing torrent that roars uproots and carries All before it. Your avenging pas in has swept away everything in its impetuous path. May thus perish all who tyrannize the innocent, all oppressors of the human race. Yes, we have rendered unto these true cannibals, war for war, crime for crime, outrage for outrage. Yes, i have saved my country. I have avenged america. This ruler is the one who will rename the whole place hayte, after an indigenous name for the place.)
- Time 5:15:01
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(highlight:: Frederick Douglas's Expression of Gratitude for the Haitian Black Revolution
Summary:
Frederick Douglas gave a famous speech where he recognized the contributions of abolitionism, economics, morals, and slave revolts to the fight for freedom.
He praised Haiti for their role in the liberation of black people worldwide. The audience's enthusiastic applause suggests a deeper force driving changes in attitudes and the need for attitude change.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And this is a famous speech by frederick douglas where he points out, you know, his may be two sents on the question of, how much did all these different things, abolitionism, economics, Morals, slave revolts, how much did each of them play in the whole thing, he said, and i have the transcript o, the applause is mentioned when it happens in just vindication of hayte, I can go one step further. I can speak of her not only words of admiration, but words of gratitude as well. She has grandly served the cause of universal human liberty. We should not forget that the freedom you and i enjoy to day, that the freedom that 800 thousand colored people enjoy in the british west indies, the freedom that has come to the colored Race the world over, is largely due to the brave stand taken by the black sons of haite 90 years ago when they struck for freedom. He said, they builded better than they knew. Their swords were not drawn, and could not be drawn simply for themselves alone. They were linked and interlinked with their race. And striking for their freedom, they struck for the freedom of every black man in the world. And and the my transcript says, prolonged applause. Well, i'm not going to argue with frederick douglas about what he thinks the most important strands of all this change in the zeit geist were. I'm just going to say that the fact that that audience in that era, comprised of those particular people applauding like that, and the applauses over and over and over again, isa n that There was something else at work, to a pinging between io changes in our attitudes and demands that our attitudes change.)
- Time 5:28:10
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(highlight:: Self-Initiated Recovery v.s. Forced Recovery: Comparing American Slavery to Addiction
Summary:
Comparing addiction to bondage, the difference between someone deciding to stop on their own and someone having an outside authority stop them.
The American South never came to the conclusion that slavery was wrong. How long would it have taken the South to eliminate slavery on its own?
Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, almost in the twentieth century.
The last holdouts are like the last smokers in a world that moved past cigarettes.
How does this change subsequent history?
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I can pose the question. Maybe you have the answer, but we've been comparing this to an addiction whole time. Rit addicted to bondage. Is there a difference between an attic deciding that they have had enough of what they're doing, or that it's bad for them, or that it's wrong, or any number of things, where they might Decide for themselves that it is time for me to stop this behaviour thati that i do too often, and that is not good for me a long term, versus some one who simply has an outside authority Come in and ok, you're not doing this any more. We're taking this stuff that you have a habit for, thatyou're hooked to, and we're going to prohibit you from using again. So those people didn't come to their own conclusion that what they were doing needed to stop. Somebody just stopped it. I mean, the us. South, for example. And you know, when you make these statements, it's like saying, the germans in the second world war. Well, the germans in the second war might have had a whole lot of different ideas. They're not one group of people, so were generalizing. But the american south never came to the conclusion as a whole that slavery was wrong, that they should get rid of it, that it was an abomination, that it was past its historical cell by Date. Those things were never a part of the equation, right? And we had asked earlier, i believe, how long would it have taken the south to eliminate slavery on its own, had there not been a us. Civil war and an emancipation proclamation? I mean, cuba did it in 18 86, which is the year geronimo surrenders in the american indian wars, as they were called. Then a sort of officially end battle of wounded knees still going to happen. That's more of a massacre. But brazil doesn't officially abolish slavery until 18 88. That's almost the twentieth century. So these last holdouts, who have a ton of slaves left, are seeing their individual stories end differently than so to the global version. They did not participate in this a sort of levelling up of public opinion, in the turning of the iceberg. During the time it turned they're like the last smokers in a world that's moved past cigarettes. I wonder if that changes how subsequent history went.)
- Time 5:31:35
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(highlight:: While Slavery Ended, America's Race-Based Caste System Did Not
Summary:
Slavery didn't really end a hundred years ago after the US civil war.
Elements of slavery persisted, including the skin color-based caste system which still exists today. Even in recent history, there were instances of racial discrimination like segregation and mistreatment of Black individuals.
This caste system continues to influence people's beliefs.
While it may seem backward, it is rooted in the past where the Middle Ages shaped people's thinking.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The other thing that's kind of worth pointing out is that you will often hear people talk about how slavery ended more than a hundred years agoand people need to get over it. But they're ignoring the fact that it didn't really end a hundred years ago, because once the united states civil war, to just use the american example, only ended, many of the same elements From slavery are put back into place, not all of them, but many the same elements, including the one element that we still live with to day, this inherited skin color based caste system, Which probably would have died out by now if it hadn't been around. Even when i was a kid, legally, as we said in the south, it was legal for places to say that they were only going to have whites stay in their hotels or whites eat in their restaurant. There's famous photographs of doctor martin luther king being handcuffed at a lunch counter in a southern restaurant, simply for having the audacity, as a black man, to sit there. Rosa parks on the bus. I mean, these are famous stories that happen not that long ago. So it's not quite slavery, but it's not quite freedom either. And even after the 19 sixties, this caste system still lives in the minds and hearts of many people. I don't know what a natural amount of time to estimate it would take for that to die out, but i do think we have to remember that if something like that looks like really retrograde or backwards Kind of thinking, that it is connected to an era where the people who came up with this thing still had the middle ages reflected back at them in their historical rerview mirror.)
- Time 5:33:43
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(highlight:: The Lingering Effects of America's Caste System
Summary:
Famous stories of racial discrimination against Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks serve as reminders that the caste system still lingers even after the 1960s.
It may take time for this regressive thinking to fade, but we must recognize its connection to a bygone era. Follow us on Twitter @hardcorehistory and get merchandise at dancarlin.com.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
There's famous photographs of doctor martin luther king being handcuffed at a lunch counter in a southern restaurant, simply for having the audacity, as a black man, to sit there. Rosa parks on the bus. I mean, these are famous stories that happen not that long ago. So it's not quite slavery, but it's not quite freedom either. And even after the 19 sixties, this caste system still lives in the minds and hearts of many people. I don't know what a natural amount of time to estimate it would take for that to die out, but i do think we have to remember that if something like that looks like really retrograde or backwards Kind of thinking, that it is connected to an era where the people who came up with this thing still had the middle ages reflected back at them in their historical rerview mirror.
Speaker 2
Tofollow us on twitter, the addresses at hard core history.
Speaker 1
For hard core history tea shirts or other merchandise, go to dan carlin dot com.)
- Time 5:34:35
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(highlight:: History is Our Present Politics Projected Onto the Past
Summary:
Robert C. Davis, a historian at Ohio State University, charmingly tells us that history is simply our current politics projected onto the past.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Ohio state a university historian, robert c. Davis, is quoted as saying that history is often, as not, our present politics projected on to the past.)
- Time 0:01:42
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(highlight:: Slavery Was Viewed as a Labor-Saving Necessity for Societal Advancement
Summary:
In earlier eras, people used labor-saving devices like slaves to free up time for innovation and art.
Slavery was even prevalent in famous societies like ancient Athens. However, we now live in a time where slavery is universally reviled.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The ancients and the people in earlier eras, and the people in some places still to day, they have the kitchen of yesterday to day, and it's just as good. But instead of labor saving devices that are mechanical, they have people that do the same job. Slaves were one of the original labor saving devices. And when you read the views of slave holders in slave societies, they will often connect it to the highest aspirations of mankind as a whole. Write, it's people who do the slave type jobs that free up people that push society forward and think and and write and come up with all these unow pieces of art that otherwise would not Be available, ecause they'd have to go to the grocery store in the morning, the market place would probably be more apropos, and pick up the stuff for to night's dinner, and then make It, then clean up after it. Otherwise, i man hour, we're going to have time to write and read. You'll see that all the way in to post colonial times the united states, right this is how societies push forward. Even on a famous athens in the era where it was democratic wriht, it sort of the shining city on the democratic hill for people looking back at the beginnings of things like democracy, Was an enormous slave state. Nice chunk of its population was enslaved. So what was once referred to as a peculiar institution, slavery, is not. We live in the strange time now, a time where slavery is universally reviled.)
- Time 0:05:42
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(highlight:: Slavery is a Spectrum
Summary:
Slavery exists in various forms, ranging from wage slavery to chattel slavery.
Chattel slavery is the lowest level, where humans are treated as property. Christopher Columbus encountered this type of slavery when he discovered the new world for Europeans.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And that it isn't meant to be trite, but there's all kinds of slavery, and it's sort of on a gradient. On one end, you have things like, ah, in a wage slavery, as some people would say, right, people that are trapped in jobs that don't make them enough money to live, but they get paid. Then you have things like bond slavery, debt slavery, which is really the same thing, endentured servitude, all the way down to the lowest level of slavery on the gradient, chattel Slavery. Chattel slavery is t is where we take human beings and we make them things. Maybe it would be more apropos rather than comparing them to a hammer or a chair, to compare them to some sort of animal you'd find on a farm. That's how because the slave owners would often try to keep them healthy the same way you would try to keep live stock healthy. But it's now you own them, you can do whatever you want with them. That's chattel slavery. Surfdom, peasantry. There's all kinds of these things that would fall somewhere in the category, but chattel slavery is the lowest of the low and that's the kind of slavery athat the world had gone on when Christopher columbus found the new world for the europeans and the old world.)
- Time 0:07:39
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(highlight:: Slaves were an economic commodity, no different from sugar or tobacco or oil
Summary:
Add modern stuff, investors and big firms to the story.
Trade human beings like sugar or oil. But humans feel pain, unlike oil. Supply and demand explain this phenomenon well.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But you add the modern stuff to it, and we have investors, right? And big firms and a just, again, it could be told in the pages of the wall street journal, this story. If you make human beings a legal commodity to trade. Opium was that way for a walther. You just make it a legal commodity, then it is like sugar or tobacco or oil. And the mind reels, right? Oil doesn't feel pain, right? Oil doesn't suffer. Human beings do, though, right? And yet, supply and demand does as good of a job explaining some of this stuff as any other thing you can up.)
- Time 0:20:30
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(highlight:: Columbus's Journey was a like a logistics startup
Summary:
Columbus's approach to exploration was like a well-capitalized financial expedition and resembled a Renaissance version of Shark Tank.
He pitched his idea to potential investors, seeking funds to reach Asia and establish trade channels. Initially met with doubt, the rulers of Castile eventually gave him money to secure his idea.
It was a Renaissance version of a non-disclosure agreement or non-compete.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And this approach to dealing with things actually is involved in the columbus explorations. I mean, this looks like a giant, a well invested, well capitalized financial expedition. It's, it's antrapenuria, colonialism, in a sense. I mean, columbus, if you follow his career, he went and gave presentations to potential investors. It's like right out of a renaissance version of shark tank an who goes to these people and says, they have a proposal. I'm going to go in the other direction and reach asia, and we can open up our own direct trade channels, right? This is a trade deal. This is a money making thing. Ies goig to be like per one imports, you know, the 14 92 style version of it. And he gets put off, and and the ine s don't think he's got his calculations right. But at one point, the rulers of castile, who will eventually become the spanish monarchy, they decide they like his idea enough that they don't want him taking it elsewhere, so they Give him some money to sit tight on it. It's almost like a renaissance version of a non disclosure agreement or non compete.)
- Time 0:38:00
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(highlight:: Columbus' Proceeds: Uncovering the Truth and Changing Perspectives
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Then, if you're columbus, and you're getting a percent of whatever you find or put together, or whatever, this expedition turns out an turns of proceeds. What are your proceeds when you land in modern day haite or cuba? Well, it gets a little bit dicy, doesn't it? And once again, i think the angle i'd like to look at this from, and we're going to change this angle over the course of this discussion. It will focus on different things at different times. But i'm trying to get into the, you know how impossible this is. We're playing a game here. Riht, justat little games to see if we can get a step closer to understanding things a little bit more in contact with these people. I mean, if you'd take the human element out of this question, i'd forget about suffering and injustice and death torture and all the things that this involves, and just think of it in, You know, a profit or lost sort of way. A the story. It's interesting how, as i said, it sort of falls into place. I mean, take columbus to start with here for a second. Now, i've read some stuff recently that suggests that maybe the traditional interpretation of what columbus was after maybe wrong.)
- Time 0:39:38
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(highlight:: Types of Investments: Green Bananas v.s. Yellow Bananas
Summary:
An investor explained the concept of 'green bananas' and 'yellow bananas' as different types of investments.
Yellow bananas are quick and profitable investments, while green bananas require time and effort to become profitable. Columbus unintentionally stumbled upon a green banana deal while searching for a yellow banana opportunity in Asia.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I had an investor once explaind to me that he considers there to be two kinds of investments, and he called them green bananas and yellow bananas. Yellow bananas are investments that are going be ripe quickly, that will pay off in the short term. Green bananas are the ones that require watering and fertilizing and pruning and maintenance and all sorts of investment to eventually turn into something that is paying off. Columbus was heading, if the asia destination thing that weve always thought was true is true. Columbus was looking for a yellow banana deal and tumbled into a green banana deal.)
- Time 0:43:09
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(highlight:: The Hidden Holocaust: The Transfer of European Diseases Decimated South American Civilization & Culture
Summary:
The number one reason is the catastrophic impact of germs, which is like a mind-boggling science fiction.
The majority of the victims are hidden in the interiors of the Americas, having caught diseases from indigenous peoples. These undiscovered areas won't be known for a century, causing a population collapse.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The number one reason for this is the germ astrophe. And the germ ctastrophe is, it's mind boggling science fiction, like twilight. So it's got all those elements that fascinate someone like me. But there's a little guilt in the fact that it's a holocost. And for the most part, it's a hidden holocost. The majority of the people affected and the victims of this, are going to be in the interiors of the americas, having caught these ailments from, you know, other indigenous peoples Through the trade routes and everything that they have going. And most of these places in the deep interiors of the far areas of the americas continent, won't be discovered for a century or more, when lewis and clark, by the way, finds ah the peoples And cultures of the northwest an places like that, and then tells the people back in the eastern united states what these cultures are like. He has no idea that he's looking at remnants and survivors and a rebuilders and people whose cultures have been skeletonized and whose numbers reduced by 80 to 95 %. There's never been anything like that. In his book, the slave trade, author hugh thomas calls it a population collapse.)
- Time 0:47:43
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(highlight:: The Societal Impact of Plagues: Creating Instability, Destroying Hierarchies, and Uprooting Cultural Bedrock
Summary:
The high mortality rates of diseases like the Black Death and the impact on societies have always been fascinating.
These diseases not only result in a large number of deaths but also disrupt the entire fabric of societies, including religious and social structures. It turns everything upside down and creates instability.
Survivors are traumatized for generations.
This is similar to what Charles C. Mann described as opening Pandora's Box.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I'm always fascinated with things like the black death in europe, but 85 to 95 % numbers is much worse than the black death. And what's so fascinating about how europe and places fected by the black death, or maybe you could even go back and say the justinian plague, earlier than that, is what they do to societies. It's not just the number of people who diei it starts destroying the things the framework of societies, a, you know, the the religious bedrock, sorts of elements, the interaction between Human beings, the hierarchies. I mean, everything gets turned up side down. And societis become unstable. And the survivors are like tramatize, sometimes for generations, and then when it comes back again and takes out the survivors. Well, as charles c mann had written about these diseases, and i mean, this is the closest you'll ever find to a literal version where you could use the term pandora's box and have it apply.)
- Time 0:48:58
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(highlight:: The Germ Apocalypse's Massive Impact on Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
Summary:
In the Americas, the introduction of diseases from Europe caused immense suffering and death among the indigenous population.
Diseases such as smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, and the plague devastated the Amerindians who had little resistance to these imported diseases. Even the European colonists faced heavy mortality.
The population loss in the Americas during this time is considered the greatest in human history, with estimates suggesting a 90% decline in central Mexico within 75 years.
The death rate was even worse in the Caribbean, where pestilence and mass slaughter occurred.
The impact of these diseases was so severe that the population of Hispaniola, for example, fell from hundreds of thousands to fewer than 500 survivors.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But when it gets going, it involves all the diseases against a population that's never had any of them. Charles c mann wrote, it was as if the suffering these diseases had ca sed in eurasia over the past millennia were concentrated into the span of decades. In his book, in human bondage, a historian of slavery, david brion davis, puts it this way to give you a sense of, i mean, if this is a pandora's box of of a bad things that can happen to you, What exactly are these bad things named and what's in the box. Davis writes the amer indians throughout the hemisphere had little capacity for resisting imported diseases, both temperate and tropical pathagans, including small pox, malaria, Yellow fever, influenza, typhus and the plague. Given the previous isolation of the western hemisphere, this disaster has been called a virgin soil pand even whites, he writes, suffered heavy mortality. Of the 25 hundred colonists who arrived in hispaniola in 15 o, two one thousand died in a fairly short period of time. But the spaniards were bewildered, he writes, and some even horrified, as the indian population seemed to evaporate before their eyes. He also writes that they couldn't just compensate for the diseased deaths by increasing the birth rate, because the people of child bearing years were as badly affected as the old. And the young took out everybody. In terms of numbers, well, because no one knows how many people were in the americas in the pre columbian era. Nobody has a good idea of numbers or percentages. And some of this stuffn you keep your ers cross might be answered by a dna type stuff in the future, but a davis writes, while specialists differ with respect to numbers, which are necessarily Somewhat speculative, we are clearly considering the greatest known population loss in human history, that is, mortality as a percentage of population. The population of central mexico may well have fallen by almost 90 % in 75 years. Estimates for peru and chile, he writes, where the diseases spread well before the arrival of europeans, are almost as high. The death rate was even worse. In the caribbian he writes, where pestilence coincided with the ecomienda system and much mass slaughter. Estimates of hispaniola's pre columbian eroac, and i believe it's tino indian, ranged from about 300 thousand to half a million. By the 15 forties, there were fewer than 500 survivors.)
- Time 0:50:12
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(highlight:: The Slavery and Torture of Indigenous People by the Spanish
Summary:
The Spanish colonization of the Caribbean islands led to the destruction of the native populations through violence, torture, and forced labor.
The islands were depopulated as people were killed, scared away, or taken to other islands as labor. The work in processing plants also killed the remaining natives.
This horrifying account by a Dominican friar sheds light on the brutal actions of the Spanish.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The pattern established at the outset, he writes, has remained unchanged to this day. And the spaniards still do nothing tear the natives to shreds, murder them and inflict upon them untold misery suffering and distress, tormenting, harrying and persecuting them Mercilessly. We shall, in due course, describe some of the many ingenious methods of torture that they have invented and refined for this purpose. But one can get some idea of the effectiveness of their methods from the figures alone. When the span s first journeyed there, he writes, the indigenous population of the island of hispaniola stood at some three million. To day, only 200 survive. The island of cuba, which extends for a distance almost as great as that separating valladalid from rome, is now, to all intents and purposes, uninhabited. And two other large, beautiful and fertile islands, porto rico and jamaica, have been similarly devastated. Not a living soul remains to day on any of the islands in the bahamas, he writes, which lie to the north of hispaniola and cuba, even though every single one of the 60 or so islands in the Group, as well as those known as the islands of giants and others in the area, both large and small, is more fertile and more beautiful than the royal gardens in seville. And the climate is as healthy as anywhere on earth. The native population, which once numbered some 500 thousand, was wiped out by forcible expatriation to the island of hispaniola, a policy adopted by the spanish in an endeavor to Make up losses amongst the indigenous population of that island. So what this dominican friar is saying that already the spanish are trying to figure out work arounds to their labor issue. As people disappear on some islands, they go get them from other islands and bring them in, which depopulates the old islands, and then they die in the in the mines anyway. So, you know, you can only keep that up for so long. Now, the actual reading of delas ca s work is nightmarish. I was going to include one of the really horrible scenes a delas casus talks about, he's very graphic. It's einzats, grouping level stuff, really horrible. But you can't differentiate one from another. And some of these things he saw himself, and some he more heard about. But it's, it's as is anything you can listen to. And it completely helps explain why in addition to disease, there would be less and less of the natives. If not only are you killing them, but you're scaring the heck out of them, they're going to leave. So these islands being depopulated is due to several things, including these people fleeing. You know, who wouldn't flee? But then you add to that the fact that when the spanish start using the indigenous peoples that they have left for the purposes that they have in mind, wrihte the creation of the a in a processing Plant that will turn these green bananas into usable yellow bananas, the work kills the natives. Andelas casus talks about that, he links it to these organized a butcheries, because he will basically say that after the men are all killed, the spanish will take what's left,)
- Time 0:59:03
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(highlight:: Antonio Montesino's Defense of Indigenous Rights
Summary:
In a famous sermon on the island of Hispaniola, Antonio Montesinos criticized the Spaniards for their cruel treatment of the indigenous people.
He questioned the colonists' authority and asked if they saw the natives as equals. This sermon became a reference point for future struggles to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples.
For Lascasus in particular, the question of loving them as oneself became a guiding principle.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A short account of the destruction of the indies written by historian anthony pagden. And he writes, the story is now a famous one, that morning a recent arrival on the island, the dominican antonio montesinos delivered a sermon in church of santo domingo. Taking his text from saint john, he drew an analogy between the natural desert in which the evangelist had chosen to spend his life, and the human desert which the spaniards had made Of the once fruitfuland paradisical island of hispaniola. He then turned upon the colonists, now quoting the friar with what right he demanded of them? And with what justice do you keep these poor indians in such cruel and horrible servitude? By what authority have you made such detestable wars against these people who lived peacefully and gently on their own lands? Are these not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not obliged to love them as yourselves? Pagden then writes, the last three questions were to become the reference of every subsequent struggle to defend the rights of the indigenous peoples of the americas. For lascasus in particular, the third, are you not obliged to love them as yourselves? Was to guide his actions for the rest of his life.)
- Time 1:06:49
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(highlight:: Because slavery in the Americas was created from scratch, people struggled with questions of moral culpability and slave welfare
Summary:
The Portuguese and Spanish felt extra responsibility in the Caribbean because they had to write the original laws for the slave trade.
This created discussions over different levels of culpability. However, some laws that appeared humanitarian were actually sound business decisions.
For instance, keeping the natives healthy benefited both the dominican friars and the business people.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I read something recently, and i don't know if it was fernando cervantes bookon conquistidorsa new book he has out, but it was talking about the extra responsibility that the portuguese And the spanish felt in this area because they were the ones who had to write the original laws, as compared to something like in africa, where there was already an ongoing slave trade And they were just essentially customers. So compare it to a drug situation. It's one thing to be buying a drugs from the manufacturer or from a middle person. It's another thing to be setting up your own matlabs. And so some of this appears to be discussions over a different level of culpability here, and a lack of laws on how you run things right? It's not up to the spanish or the portuguese how the african rulers in africa handle the beginnings of the slave trade. But here it grounds zero. In the caribbean, it is. You have to organize it from the getgo. So things are a little bit different, and you can, if you look for them, find clear evidence of trying to somehow be something like humanitarian. A lot of the laws strike us as nibbling around the edges and get frustrating. And a lot of times these law s that look like they're done for the welfare of the natives are, in fact, a sound business decision. Sometimes those two things dovetail. For example, keeping the natives healthy works in favor of both the dominican friars who are advocating for their welfare and the business people who would like to see their products Show up to market in good shape.)
- Time 1:09:37
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(highlight:: The Concept of Race Developed as a Result of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Summary:
During the colonial period in the New World, it was widely believed that the labor of one Black person was equal to that of multiple Indigenous people.
This mindset was influenced by early contact colonists like the Spanish and Portuguese. In earlier times, the concept of slavery was associated with certain people being born as slaves, which was supported by thinkers like Aristotle.
However, in the antebellum South, the focus shifted to race, with people believing that certain ethnicities were inherently destined for slavery.
This marked the development of the modern concept of race.
Before this era, people recognized differences between groups, but skin color was just one aspect. Ancient Greeks referred to Black Africans as Ethiopians and had issues with various other groups as well. The idea of categorizing individuals solely based on skin tone originated during this time period.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Davis writes, throughout the new world, colonists agreed that the labor of one black was worth that of several ans. Now when davis as colonists, in this case he means early first contact colonists, the spanish and the caribbean, the portuguese in brazil. And the going rate is multiple indians for every african. Now in an earlier era, people like the greeks and aristotle and what not, might that a sign right there that you should be a slave? Obviously they're good at it. They make good slaves. That's a sign that they're thereae in that class of people born to be slaves. And if you go to like, the anti bellum south in maybe the 18 twenties, 18 thirties, 18 forties, they'll make it a totally racial question. That's justw that's the ethnicity. That's the geans. And you can see it in the people and thats they're just born that way. The concept of race as we understand it to day, develops during this era. And it's valuable to learn about this era, if for no other reason than that considering the importance of the concept of race in our modern world. Before this time period, it wasn't like people were all comba ya and that they didn't notice, you know, the difference between us and them, the them group, was just a lot bigger. And your skin lor was only one of many things that played into it. For an ancient greek, someone who was black from africa, they would call them ethiopians. Probably. That was in the ancient world. The greeks maybe thought of them as ethiopians. Sure, they might have had some issues with them, but just like they'd had issus with the scythians and the thracians and the epirots and the persians. I mean, this difference in color that separates people of every nationality into groups of people that are only designated by their skin tone, that comes from this era.)
- Time 1:15:41
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(highlight:: The Devastating Effects of the Slave Trade
Summary:
Historian Brenda A. Stevenson estimates that between the 15th and 19th centuries, approximately 28 million Africans were enslaved and sold.
Of these, around 12.5 million were sent to the Americas and the Caribbean, while about 16 million were traded to North Africa, the Indian Ocean coast, and the Middle East. This number does not include the millions who died during slave raiding, forced marches, the middle passage, or those who lost their homes and families.
The economic impact of the slave trade is significant.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Historian brenda a stevenson from usiele, whom we quoted earlier, in her book, what is slavery, goes over the numbers a little bit. And these are all difficult to gure out occasionally, because sometimes the records are great and sometimes they are not. But she says that most of the historians dealing with this subject now agree that some 28 million africans were enslaved and sold between the fifteenth and nineteenth century. So that the 14 hundreds and the 18 hundreds. And she says apo mately, 12 point five million left for the americas and the caribbean. About 16 million, purportedly, were traded, not across the atlantic, but rather to north africa, on the coast of the indian ocean and throughout the middle east. But the 11 million or so who arrived in the americas did not account for the millions. Some believe, at least four million who died as part of the slave raiding warfare, during the forced marches to the slave trading coasts, or who perished in the middle passage, the ocean Trip from africa to america, as a result of scurvy and other diseases, dehydration, starvation, harsh treatment or suicide. Nor does it measure. She writes the millions who lost their homes and families and who were physically displaced as a result of the trade. And and you can trace the development of all this so economically, as i sai, this is what makes the whole period seem like it's beyond it cell by date.)
- Time 1:27:45
- slavery, impact of slavery,

Slavery Existed (And Still Exists Today So Privileged People Can Consume Nonessential Products
Summary:
Leaders turned to cash crops like tobacco and sugar, produced by African slaves.
The need for labor from Africa increased due to slave mortality and the expansion of colonies. The New World became like a furnace, consuming African slaves to satisfy the growing demand for sugar, coffee, rice, and tobacco.
Today, we still rely on near-slave labor to produce goods that everyone uses and consumes.
The terms may have changed, but the addiction to bondage remains.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Colonial leaders turn to cash crops such as tobacco and especially sugar, produced by slaves imported from africa. After initial experiments with indian labor, for reasons we will later examine, the african workers could never come close to re producing their numbers, except in the chesapeake In the 17 twenties and in south carolina a half century later. Hence, he writes the need for a continuing and growing stream of labor from africa to make up for the slave mortality and to clear new land and found new colonies for cultivation. Much of the new world then came to resemble the death furnace of the ancient god moloch, consuming african slaves. So increasing numbers of europeans and later, white americans could consume sugar, coffee, rice and tobacco. That might sound harsh to some people, but one could make the case that that still applies to day. We just have in a slave labor, or close to slave labor in some places, ducing supplies that not just americans any more, but everybody uses and consumes. We're still addicted to bondage. The terms may be a little different, though, anda the benefits more spread out.)
- Time 1:33:03
- global inequality, diffusion of responsibility, privilege, moloch, slavery, conspicuous consumption, capitalism, negative externalities, banality of evil,

(highlight:: Slaves Spent Months on Slave Ships Before Even Leaving the African Coast
Summary:
The conditions on the wooden ships during the slave trade were incredibly brutal.
The longer someone was on the ship, the worse the conditions became. These ships would pick up cargo like an airport bus, stopping at different places until they had a full load.
The ships would stay off the coast of Africa, in sweltering heat, until they had enough slaves to set sail.
Africans often spent longer on these ships than they did crossing the Atlantic.
Some ships acted as permanent offshore prisons, passing captives to other ships. The Dutch, British, and French ships spent an average of 120-200 days on the coast. Millions of Africans spent months at sea before even reaching the Americas. The length of time on board determined survival, making the situation worse than originally thought.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So james walvin in freedom points out that the key ingredient in terms of how nasty the transport was on these wooden ships from africa to the new world had to do with how long you had to Be on the ships, right? The longer you were on it, the worse it was. Cause if you're being tortured. The longer you're being tortured, the worse it is. Right? But then he says something that i didn't realize, which is that these ships picked up cargo a little like the airport transport bus often does, where instead of just picking you up and Taking you to the airport, it stops at many different stops until it has a full bus, and then it leaves for the airport. So these ships are staying off shore in africa, off the coast near the equator, right? Sou it's hot as hell with people below decks, until they get enough people to leave for the new world. And a walvan gives you a sense of how long it might take before the ship is filled up enough to leave, with people below decks in chains, in a coffin size und of personal space. And walven writes, quote, africans often spent longer on board a slave ship anchored off the coast of africa than in crossing the atlantic. The ships accumulated their human cargoes slowly from place to place where there were no facilities for holding africans on shore. The ship acted as a floating prison until the master decided that he had enough enslaved people to set out across the atlantic. Some ships, little more than hulks, acted as permanent offshore prisons, passing on their captives to other ships ready to sail. In the seventeenth century, he writes, dutch ships spent an average of a hundred and 20 days on the coast. British ships 94. A century later, the dutch spent an average of two hundr days on the coast. French ships, a hundred and forty three. In the mid to late eighteenth century, british ships spent a hundred and 73 days on the african coast. He says that one fact that stands out from the wealth of information is that millions of africans spent months at sea before they even left for the americas. And if the amount of time you're on board the ship is the key question in terms of whether you live or die, or how long the torture continues, you can see that the situation is worse than Most of us originally thought.)
- Time 2:02:38
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(highlight:: The Incomprehensible Horrors of the Slave Ship Journey and Its Lasting Trauma
Summary:
The closeness and heat on the ship, along with overcrowding, cause sickness and death among the slaves.
Chains and filth make their situation even worse. Some slaves jump overboard and commit suicide.
Sexual assault is a constant threat. The pain and trauma can last for generations.
The ship owners profit from packing the ship tightly, but this leads to even more deaths. The Middle Passage is notorious for its horrific conditions, comparable to the worst experiences in history.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The closeness of the place and the heat the climate added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many Died, thus falling victims to the improvident ava s, as i may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation, he says, was again aggravated by the galling of the chains now become insupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs into which the children often fell And were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror, almost conceivable. And it goes on for months. Slaves jump overboard to get away from it, committing suicide, some believing that they'll go back to africa after they die. Some refuse to eat, and as a response, are brutally flogged. Ah, the person, the slave i just quoted, said that he saw a white sailor flogged so horribly that he died, and that they threw him overboard, basically pointing out that the people that Were doing this to the slaves, in his mind, had no human feeling at all, and would do this to each other, which scared him even more. And once again, we have the hidden part of this story, which is the rape, and the many insinuations of girls and female children and young male children being raped by the crew continuously Across the whole journey. So you have these people who are almost dying, whose only time to get out of the hold and out of the chains is to be part of a sexual assault. These stories are about drama inflicted upon drama, in a way that one has a logical question that one can ask of something like this. How long would it take a family to have the pain and effects of trama at this sort of level melt away? Mean, would your children be able to pick out things in their life that are the result of the trama that you went through in a situation like this? But your grandchildren? In other words, how long until this sort of pain and suffering? How long till the ripples caused by it die out? And that's assuming, of course, that these people live very long. Tons of them die on the journey. And it's this real catch 20 too, if you're looking at this from a business sense, because you have a vested interest in packing the ship as closely as you can to get as many pieces of cargo On there as you can. Cause, of course, that means more to sell. But there becomes a point where you're hurting your own cargo, and they start dying at greater rates if you pack them too much, like sardines. So perhaps there's a you. Now, it's funny when you start saying that the only protection these people have in terms of better living conditions is because of their worth as a com odity. Doesn't stop them from being thrown overboard in droves, sometimes, sometimes to collect the insurance money. There's a reason that this middle passage has been so mythologized in the history of slavery, because in terms of horrible experiences that people go through, it is right up there near The top of the list, able to hold its own with many of the worst things that you can think of throughout history.)
- Time 2:08:17
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(highlight:: The Scramble: The Chaotic Process of Buying a Slave at a Slave Market
Summary:
In his book, Milton Meltzer describes the chaotic and cruel nature of slave sales.
The slaves, both sick and healthy, were sold rapidly and at a low price. The scramble, as it was called, involved buyers rushing in to choose the best slaves, often resorting to violence.
Some slaves were so terrified that they fled and ran through the town.
Despite attempts to escape, all slaves were eventually caught, even those who jumped into the sea.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In his book, slavery, an world history, milton meltzer describes a a sort of a typical slave market, a sale. And says that sometimes the affairs were done privately, with an advance sale that had been arranged ahea time, but normally it was the sort of in a doors opend at noon, at the sound of A gun, you know, im grab whatever you can kind of deal. And he says the official name for it among some was the scramble. And he writes, after the walking skeletons had been disposed of, he means, they're really sick, thete they were sold sort of in bulk right away. Get them out of the way. Less than a dollar a slave, obviously, he sayd cause they died. And then you bring out the good product. He said, after the walking skeletons had been disposed of, the healthy slaves came next. Sometimes they would be marched through the town behind bagpipes and drawn up for inspection by planters or their overseers in the public square. If a west indian factor handled retail sales, he took 15 % of the gross and another five % of the net returns. The andscramble, however, was the customary way of handling a sale, by agreement with the buyers. A fixed price was set for the four categories of slaves, man, woman, boy and girl. A day for the sale was advertised. When the hour came, a gun was fired, the door to the slave yard was flung open, and a horde of purchasers rushed in, quotewith all the ferocity of brutes n sad a man named falconbridge, A slave ship surgeon, who witnessed several scrambles, each buyer, meltzer writes, bent on getting his pick of the pack, tried to encircle the largest number of choice slaves by means Of a rope. The slaves, helpless, bewildered, terrified, were yanked about savagely, torn one buyer from another. Some were so panicked by one such scramble on the island of grenada that they hurled themselves over the wall and ran madly through the town. Once falconbridge saw a scramble aboard a ship in kingston harbor, when the buyers swooped in to seize their prey, about 30 of the slaves leaped into the sea, but all of them were soon Fished out.)
- Time 2:18:04
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(highlight:: A Slave Owner's Son's Perspective on The Fear of Being Retalianted On By Slaves
Summary:
A French family living in Haiti expresses their fear and grievances about owning 200 slaves.
Despite their dominance, they long for contact with others and feel trapped in a life intertwined with the slaves' existence.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A primary source letter, i believe it was, that's recounted in um melter's book, slavery, a world history. And it's from a french family that is living in hayti. I believe it is um. And it's just the family, right? There's nobody else but the mom, the dad, the kids. And there's five of em, and they live with 200 slaves, africans, or african descendants. Meltzer says that the french colonists in haite, that they didn't like it, and expressing, you know, how they feel. And i just want to point out, if you're ared of your slaves, because you understand that things have been done to them that would give them grievances, how much more scared are you going To be with a ratio of 200 to five? And by the way, note that this slave holding family is asking for pity, because they're stuck with all these slaves that they own. Have pity for an existence which must be eked out far from the world of our own peoplee here number five whites, my father, my mother, my two brothers and myself, surrounded by more than 200 slaves, the number of our negroes who are domestics alone, coming almost to 30. From morning to night, wherever we turn, their faces meet our eyes. No matter how early we awaken, they are at our bedsides. And the custom which obtains here not to make the least move otthe help of one of these negro servants brings it about not only that we live in their society the greater portion of the day, But also that they are involved in the least important events of our daily life. Should we go outside our house to the workshops, we are still subject to this strange propinquity. Add to this the fact that our conversation has almost entirely to do with the health of slaves, their needs, which must be cared for, the manner in which they are to be distributed about The estate and their attempts to revolt, and you will come to understand that our entire life is so closely identified with that of these unfortunates that in the end, it is the same as Theirs. And despite whatever pleasure may come from that almost complete dominance which is given us to exercise over them. Regrets do not assail us daily because of our inability to have contact and correspondence with others than these unfortunates, so far removed from us in point of view. Customs and education.)
- Time 2:50:56
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(highlight:: Would You Be Able to Keep a Slave In Line? To Whip Them For a Half Hour?
Summary:
David Brion Davis poses a thought-provoking question about the challenging and morally reprehensible job of controlling and punishing slaves.
He reflects on his own experience in the navy and the difficulty of ordering around African American sailors. Davis points out the disturbing nature of the treatment of slaves, which we would now consider sociopathic.
He questions whether we could inflict such brutal punishment on another person, regardless of their gender or age.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
David brion davis has this great question. It's us the kind of questions that we would ask too were he asks. And he says, no matter what your skill set or your training, he says, can you imagine trying to be the person whose job it is to keep a hundred and 50, or he says, even 50 slaves in line, make Sure they work all the time at maximum speed, punish them for any a getting of line? He then goes on to tell a story about his own time, many years ago in the navy, on being intimidated by a bunch of african american sailors that, as an 18 year old, he'd been told to go order Around. Not so easy to do, necessarily. And the job requires the sort of treatment of people that to day, we would think only some sort of sociapath would be willing to do. And yet it was common. This does't sort of hearken back to the thomas jefferson idea that it's somehow coarsens society, because it would be difficult for us to imagine a person that would be comfortable A meting out the sort of punishment that was absolutely common and ubiquitous in the slave societies. Could you beat a person with a whip? Could you do it for half hour? Could you do it with them screaming the whole time? Could you do it to if you werea if you're a guy, could you do it to to a female? If you're a female? Could you do it to a child? I mean, you see what i'm saying.)
- Time 2:53:36
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(highlight:: A Slave's Account of Whipping of a Pregnant Woman by Another Slave
Summary:
During the Great Depression, the government hired people to collect stories from surviving slaves.
One account described a pregnant slave being beaten by a black overseer. The complexity of the situation highlights the complicated realities of history.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So during the great depression, there was a some people would call it a make work programme, but it shows you how a make work programme during, you know, a terrible economic crisis can End up benefiting all of us. Because these people that were hired by the government went around and got all the surviving ave to tell some stories that they could put in the archives so they'd be available for all Of us to day. Now, they come with all of the problems that first hand accounts that are, that are given decades after the events always have, but they're still priceless. And i was reading one where the slave that was being interviewed, he was 87 years old at the time, and this was the 19 thirties, i think, where he was being interviewed, he talked about Watching a relative who was nine months pregnant, being beaten by the overseer. And the overseer dug a special hole for her stomach to fit in so she could lay down and have a place for the stomach while he hit her with a whip for a half hour. And she ended up giving birth during the process. And he said the the ex slave had said that he wantedhe wanted to hunt the man down and kill him and the overseer, just to show you how complicated these stories are in real life, as opposed To the two dimensional way we simplify them for history writing. The overseer who did this, that the ex slave wanted to kill, was himself black. In our little mental experiment to try to view things from all sides, the rashamon approach hard enough. To view it from the of the overseer. Youre lashing the poor black slave to begin with, isn't it? Now try the mind flip that it's going to be, if you happen to be a black person and a slave, perhaps too right, beating another person of your own color and your own standing for the person That owns you both. I mean, wow, that is so wrong.)
- Time 2:59:19
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(highlight:: The Transformation of Europe's Attitude towards Slavery
Summary:
James Walven explains how attitudes towards slavery changed dramatically from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century.
In the past, major powers and colonies engaged in the slave trade for profit, but a century later, they had abolished slavery and strongly opposed it. This shift was not only reflected in political and diplomatic circles, but also captured the attention of the general public.
The once confident slave owners and traders were now gone, and defending slavery publicly was seen as eccentric.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And james walven, in the very first paragraph of his book explains, let's use it again, the flipping of the seit geist, and how quickly, not just attitudes, but the actual structure Of the world that required those attitudes not to change, were forced to cha when the attitudes did. In walven wrighte's on the eve of the french revolution, all of europe's major maritime powers and a number of thriving colonies in the americas were keen to have a share of the transatlantic Business of slavery, shipping africans to the americas and using them and their offspring to labor, mainly in agricultural work, was a lucrative concern urn which no one seemed able To resist. A century later, he writes, those same nations had banned the slave trade, had freed all their former slaves and were now vehemently opposed to slavery. Not only was their antipathy expressed in the upper echalons of power in formal politics, government and diplomacy, but it had also caught the imagination of millions of ordinary People, people who were increasingly well informed vi the explosion of literacy and the world of cheap print. To make the point more crudely, he writes, in the late eighteenth century, most atlantic slave owners and slave traders felt confident that they could rite out any criticism of slavery. By the late nineteenth century, they had all vanished, and only an eccentric would have felt confident to defend slavery publicly in the west.)
- Time 3:03:50
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(highlight:: The Collapse of the Slade Trade as an Example Of Achieving Moral Progress By Overcoming Political and Economic Barriers
Summary:
The idea that history bends towards justice may be a dangerous delusion, as one person's justice can be another's atrocity.
However, looking at the accomplishments and possibilities of change in one human lifespan gives some hope. The legacy system of slavery, deeply entrenched in society, was flipped, showing that change is possible even under financial and institutional constraints.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
This idea that the best way to describe it is that great quote always attributed to martin luther king, but i don't think he was the first to say, that, the arc of the moral universe is long, But it bends towards justice. That's sort of the whig view of history, that we're making progress. And it may be, you know, two steps forward, one step back, bunny hop kind of progress, but it's moving in a direction that's getting more humane, better for everybody, more inclusive, You know, wht ever you ane ay. And these days, most historians don't think that way, and it might be a dangerous delusion to think that way, because there might be a little complacency in this idea that' don't worry, It's all going to work out. The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, you know, unless it doesn't. Also, let's not forget that one person's justice could be another person's manson like a murderous atrocity, so you never know, kind of thing. I think the one aspect of this though, that makes me come away with a net positive is look at what was accomplished, look at what's possible. That's what this history. Experience here teaches us for it doesn't teach lessons. It's an example look at how much change towards our modern point of view would be a good way to put it, that you see in what amounts to one long human life span here. No, we're not talking about global public opinion deciding they want a different sweetener in their tea, as we've been saying. This is the legacy system of all legacy systems. It's slavery, centuries old in the atlantic. Slave trade form, millennia old, ancient in the institution form, wrapped up in the economies, the life styles, the down profits of everybody. I mean, woven into the fabric of society, entrenched. And if they can flip that iceberg, they prove it can be done, right? That icebergs can be flipped. And the reason we should take heart as we have a few icebergs in our future that may have to be flipped under similar sorts of constraints, financial, institutional, woven into the fabric Of our ciety, money.)
- Time 3:05:48
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(highlight:: Heroization: Heros like Thomas Jefferson are often more complicated than they're portrayed to be
Summary:
Thomas Jefferson, a symbol of hypocrisy, played a key role in developing human rights but also owned hundreds of slaves.
Despite this contradiction, he advocated for ending the slave trade in early America. Many historical figures face similar complexities, where their actions may have positive outcomes but their personal lives make them difficult to support.
Heroes are often portrayed as flawless figures, ignoring their flaws and presenting them in a convenient, two-dimensional manner.
Thomas Jefferson serves as an example of such a figure, and discussing his contradictions can be uncomfortable.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But jefferson is, all by himself, a perfect, as we've said, symbol of the hypocrisy. Here's a man who's got a hand in writing two of the most influential bedrock foundational documents and statements, and coming up with the language and the approach and everything For what modern human rights are all sort of based on. And he owns hundreds of people, and yet he becomes a powerful voice in the early american republic for curtailing and eliminating the slave trademe. What do you make of a guy like this? There's a lot of historical figures like this, by the way, wrihte these ones who maybe are a responsible for things that we all consider to be good things to day, but who, when you examine Their individual lives, make them hard to rout for. O heroes are that way. The whole process of heroization requires that we, you know, send off those rough edges and squash em into the two dimensional convenience store cardboard cut out figures, so that We can use them for a purpose, right? To celebrate a message or one of our finer stand up moments in history. Be like that person. And if your going to say b like thomas jefferson, you don't want to talk about all weird stuff.)
- Time 3:17:29
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(highlight:: The Impact of Activist Journalism on Public Opinion About Slavery: A Historical Example
Summary:
Activist journalism, fueled by pamphlets, magazines, editorials, and newspapers, is shaping public opinion.
In the late 18th century, a national abolitionist petition campaign sparked in Britain. Liverpool, a city benefiting from slavery, saw a significant rise in petition signers from 10,000 to 100,000 in just one year.
This trend continued, with an estimated 400,000 signatures four years later.
It's a remarkable swing in public opinion.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Besides public opinion that is spurred on by pamphlets and magazines and editorials and newspapers and all this kind of stuff, that is the sort of public opinion shaping, ah, you know, They'd call it activist journalism maybe. To day, all of that's having an impact. David brion davis gives some statistics, and theyre like data points, is a good way to look at it. But he says that the first a national abolitionist petition campaign to end the slave trade in britain kicked off in 17 88. And the year before, in liverpool, ask people to sign a petition to end the slave trade. And in this industrial, working class northern british city that was a shipping town that benefited directly from slavery, the first time they had a chance to do. So more than ten thousand people sign the petitionand you think, ok, that's interesting, but its trends we're looking for. Right? The very next year, those ten thousand or so people had mushroom to a hundred thousand. Four years later, an estimated 400 thousand in britain signed the similar petition. So you see this growth rate where you're just wondering, what the ect's going on here, right? This is, this is a swing in public opinion.)
- Time 3:24:25
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(highlight:: The Impact of Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin on the Economics of Slavery
Summary:
In the mid-1790s, Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, leading to an economic boom in the American South.
The invention enables large-scale cotton cultivation and increases cotton exports exponentially. By 1820, cotton exports reach a staggering 35 million pounds.
Cotton becomes the mainstay of the industrial revolution and the South's economic backbone.
The demand for slaves skyrockets as cotton becomes the new gold rush.
The South, lacking in industry, relies heavily on cotton's profitability. The growth in slave numbers mirrors the rise of the cotton gin, making the US a major player in the slave trade. The South's economic power becomes inseparable from slavery.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In the middle 17 nineties, a guy name eli whitney invents the cotton gin, and the economic situation in the american south explodes. And there is very little like it. Hugh thomas in the slave trade writes in 17 90 slavery in north america, as opposed to north american participation in the slave trade to cuba and elsewhere, seemed to be in decline. But eli whitney's fateful invention of the cotton gin on misus nathaniel green's plantation at savannah, georgia during the spring of 17 93, and the realization that with the removal Of this great hindrance hitherto to the large scale cultivation of cotton. And he says, that's the taking of the lint from the seeds that used to hold them back. He says, he then quotes a contemporary source that says that one negro, their words, could produce 50 pounds of cleaned cotton. Then he gives statistics. And, you know, you can see similar statistics in other books, but the like is hard to find elsewhere. He says that the year before the invention of the cotton gin, that 17 92, a mere, what's basically a hundred and 39 thousand pounds of cotton was exported by the united states, which is The same amount, he says, as a guiana in 17 94. So that's two years later, right? He says the figure had leapt. Now, remember, it was a hundred 39 thousand pounds to a million, 600 thousand pounds, in 18 hundred, that's six years after that, she exported almost, i'm just rounding off here, 18 Million pounds. And in 18 20, cotton exports, he writes, reached 35 million pounds. So let me do that again. 17 92, it's a hundred forty thousand pounds. 17 94, it's a million, 600 thousand pounds. In 18 hundred, it's 18 million pounds. And in 18 20, it's 35 million pounds. And it is the fibre of the industrial revolution. And the american south is supporting, you know, the industrial world. The money is incredible. James walven says that at the outbreak of the civil war, cotton was worth more than all the other us. Exports put together. So the north is industrializing. And you'll often hear that, before the civil war, we have an industrialized north and an agricultural south. And it makes it sound like the south can't hold their own economically at all. Well, they don't have the diversity of products, and they don't have the industry that the north has. They don't have the manufacturing the north has. But they have the oil, the yellow bananas that is cotton. And there's nothing else like it. Now. It's the new sugar, right? And with this potential new gold rush comes a brand new, amazingly huge need for slaves. And you can chart the growth in the numbers of us. Slaves from the cotton gins invention onward. And it's a straight up, this is where the us. Finally becomes a major slave player. Because in 18 hundred, as we'd said, there'd been about 700 thousand slaves. That numberis going to explode, both from exports from other countries, africa mainly, but also internal slave trade and internal population growth.)
- Time 3:32:22
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(highlight:: The Horrors of Slave Life During Peak Slavery in America
Summary:
A historian named C L R James uncovered horrific records of the treatment of slaves.
They endured physical abuse such as iron restraints, dragging blocks, tin plate masks, and mutilation. Their masters subjected them to burning, burying, and forcing them to eat excrement.
These were not rare occurrences, but rather normal aspects of slave life.
The question is, how far would you go to change this situation?
And what vengeance would you seek against those who kept you in such misery? A bloodbath seems inevitable.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
A the records were combed by a marxus historian from trinidad. His name was c l r james, and he's quoted in slavery, or world history, by milton meltzer. And james went through the official reports of what was being told to officials was going on. And c l r james writes, there was no ingenuity that fear or depraved imagination could devise which was not employed to break their spirit, the slave spirit, and satisfy the lust and Resentment of their owners and guardians. Irons on the hands and feet, blocks of wood that the slaves had to drag behind them wherever they went. The tin plate mask, designed to prevent the slaves eating the sugar cane. The iron collar. Whipping was interrupted in order to pass a piece of hot wood on the buttocks of the victim. Salt pepper trons, cinders, aloes and hot ashes were poured into the bleeding wounds. Mutilations were common, limbs, ears and sometimes the private parts, to deprive them of the pleasures which they could indulge in without expense. Their masters, he writes, poured burning wax on their arms and hands and shoulders, emptied the boiling cane sugar over their heads, burned them al ive, roasted them on slow fires, Filled them with gunpowder and blew them up with a match. Buried them up to the neck and smeared their heads with sugar that the flies might devour them. Fastened them near to nests of ants or wasps, made them eat their excrement, drink their urine and licked the saliva of other slaves. Meltzer says that these were not the mad acts of crazed colonists, but says that james asserts that these were the normal features of slave life. If those were the features of your life, what would you do about that? What lengths would you be willing to go to change that sit ton? And what would you do to the people that put and kept you there if you had a chance to get your hands on them? As they say in the television commercials, results may vary, but no one would be surprised if a blood bath happened and there were people prophesiing it.)
- Time 3:40:15
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(highlight:: The Beginning of the Race-Based Caste System to Undermine Progress Towards Black Emancipation
Summary:
The 17th-century Code Noir in Saint-Domingue set minimum standards for the treatment of slaves, but these rules were undermined over time.
Free people of color faced discrimination through various laws, such as paying liberty taxes and restrictions on professions, naming conventions, and personal appearance. These laws created a hereditary caste system based on race and ethnicity, which is still evident today.
This system persisted legally in the United States until less than a generation ago.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So sant deming, for example, is one of these areas because it's a part of france that's covered by the code noir, which was the 16 hundreds era rules governing how slaves could be treated And why not. So so setting minimum standards, you could say, which was never well enforced in everything else. So am lurent du bois, author of avengers of the new world, writes the code noir stipulations about emancipation, however, like those regarding the treatment of slaves, were steadily Undermined during the eighteenth century. Attempting to counter the increasing size and power of communities of free ple of color, colonial administrators required masters who freed their slaves to pay liberty taxes. And they gradually made african ancestry a legal liability. In other words, they were getting tired of slaves being freed and turning into these kind of people. So they were going to charge slave owners money if they wanted to free their slaves, the liberty tax. And then he references the seven years war, which came not that long before the american revolution. It was between britain and france. And he writes, in the wake of the seven years war, scattered discriminatory legislation against free people of color was systematized and expanded. A 17 64 royal decree forbade people of african descent to practise medicine, surgery or pharmacy. The next year, another re excluded them from working in legal professions or in the offices of notaries. A 17 73 law made it illegal for them to take the names of their masters or white relatives, on the ground that such a practice destroyed the there are several quotes here from the original Document, the insurmountable barrier which public opinion had placed between the two communities, which government had wisely preserved. There are more attempts to make sure that the lines between the various communities are more definitively drawn. He says, naming conventions were required so that you couldn't name your child a name that confused somebody as to maybe their their genetic heritage, and then you couldn't start getting Upaty. He writes, a 17 79 regulation made it illegal for free people of color to, quote, affect the dress, hair styles, style or bearing of whites. And some local ordinances, dubois, said, forbade them to ride in carriages or to own certain home furnishings. By the time of the revolution, free coloreds, he writes, were subjected to a variety of laws that discriminated against them solely on the basis of race. Doesn't that remind you of, like, sumptuary laws? You saw this in europe during the period where wealthy, but non blue blooded merchants were starting to make more money than some of the blue blood nobility. Back when, you know, europe was so class conscious based on birth, and it was so upsetting to society, they sometimes made these rules that, you said, it doesn't matter how much money These s have, youre not allowed to wear this fabric. That's just for people like us. So no matter what you do, no matter how much money you have, you're oin o be able to wear this kind of fur around your neck, that kind of thing. So what they're saying here is, no matter how many plantations you may own, no matter how much money you make, no matter how many sugar cane fields you harvest, and no matter how many slaves You own. Yes, these free people of color own something like a hundred thousand of san doming slaves, whichs weird. But the white colonists are saying, you still won't be equal to a poor white artisan on this island. And what all these laws on san doming and all the ones that are part of the same trend in the 17 hundreds in other places in the americas, what they're doing is creating a permanent, hereditary Cast system based on, well, ethnicity, racial origin, background, skin color, all these sorts of things, something, by the way, we still live with to day. When i was born, the decade i was born, this caste system was still legally maintained in many us. States, where an african american could try to get into a hotel room and there might be a sign on the door that said, whites only, and that was legal. So were less than a generation away from that time period. And that stuff begins during this eracaus.)
- Time 4:01:28
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(highlight:: Stirring Up Fears of Slave Revolt by Abolitionist Vincent Oge
Summary:
Vincent Oge, a wealthy mixed-race planter from San Domingo, delivers a speech in Paris in 1789.
He warns of impending disaster and proposes prompt action to avoid bloodshed, destruction, and revolt. Oge offers his plan to the assembly, hoping to help prevent catastrophe.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
In a speech in 17 89 in paris, vincent oge who is a wealthy planter from san doming he's mixed race. I believe he's a quadroon. I'm not sure that would make him a quarter black, but he owns a lot of slaves himself. He's one of the wealthiest, free people of color in the colony. And he tells this parisian audience that you better do something quickly. And i have a proposal. But if we don't do something, disaster will strike. And he said, if the most prompt and effective measures are not taken, if firmness, courage and consistency do not animate us all, if we do not quickly bundle together all our abilities, Our means and our effort, if we sleep for an instant on the edge of the abyss, let us tremble. At the moment of our waking, blood will flow. Our property will be invaded, the fruits of our labor destroyed and our homes burned. Our neighbors, our friends, our wives and children will be slaughtered and mutilated. The slave will have raised the standard of revolt. The islands will be no more than a vast and fateful inferno, with commerce destroyed. France will receive a mortal wound, and a multitude of decent citizens will be impoverished, ruined. We will have lost everything. But gentlemen, he said, there is still time to avert the disaster. If the assembly wishes to admit me, if it authorizes me to draw up and submit to it my plan, i will do so with pleasure and even gratitude. And perhaps i will be able to contribute to the warding off the storm that rumbles above our heads.)
- Time 4:07:35
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(highlight:: Double Standards: Slave Revolts in the North Stroke Up Sympathy for White Slave Owners
Summary:
Amidst fires and chaos, locals join a family plantation during a revolution.
Horrifying atrocities committed by slaves are recounted, stirring up hatred and loathing. These shocking events will scandalize societies worldwide.
The irony lies in the fact that the very acts of revenge carried out by slaves were inflicted upon them prior to the revolution.
Sympathy is aroused when such atrocities befall people similar to those reading about them.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And the account picks up with all the locals, while the fires rage around them, and the slaves are tearing stuff up and destroying things and hacking people to death, they all join on This family's plantation. And he writes, the frightened families among our neighbors met together at our plantation. The men armed to face the storm. The mothers, wives sisters were lamenting and gathering in all haste. A few precious effects, desolation and fear were painted on all faces. The sky seemed on fire. Guns could be heard from afar, and the bells of the plantations were sounding the alarm. The danger increased. The flames at each moment were approaching and enclosing about us. There was no time to lose. We fled, he continues. And this is probably bo reality, and yet also a trope. This is what this revolution's going to have to live down in terms of atrocities. This supposed eye witness, but trying to whip up, you know, hatred and loathing back in places like france, for the slave class. Here writes, the victims who escaped at sword's point came to swell the number of atives and recounted to us the horrors which they had witnessed. They had seen unbelievable tortures to which they testified. Many women, young, beautiful and virtuous perished beneath the infamous caresses of the brigands, among the cadavers of their fathers and husbands. Bodies still palpitating, were dragged through the roads with atrocious acclamations. Young hildren transfixed upon the point of bayonets were the bleeding flags which followed the troop of cannibals. These pictures were not exaggerated, and i more than once saw the sorrowful spectacle these images are going to be picked up by the mass meti of the time, they are going to horrify, ah, The societies of north america south america, europe. I mean, this is going tobe such a scandal that some of the abolitionists are even going to look at this and say, well, you know, maybe you deserve to be in chains then if you can't separate The guilty and the innocent. It'sgoing to be held up as an example, especially by the pro slavery people of the savagery here. Look at these. These are monsters that deserve slavery. But it's never quite addressed that the very things, or the functional equivalent of the very things that these slave rioters are doing in hot blood during an insurrection, with all The pent up revenge and everything else, you know, going on right a moment, it's never quite pointed out that the functional equivalent of what they're doing here was done to them right Before this revolution started. I mean, let's remember the list of things that the historian from trinidad, see llar james had said, right? Being smeared with sugar and devoured by the ants, being roasted on spits. I mean, there's a couple of stories that make the rounds here, one of a carpenter being sawed in to with a saw. Another of some colonist being nailed or something to the door of his barn, and then having his limbs chopped off, one by one with axes by the slave rioters. Well, my goodness, it was just back in february, which is only months ago, that the legally, you now entrusted authority of these colonies, sentenced vincent o jay and another guy to Be broken on the wheel, legally, in public. I mean, it's the functional equivalent, but the sympathy comes when these sorts of things are happening to people who look like the people that are reading the mass media about it.)
- Time 4:34:31
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(highlight:: Jean Jacques Desaline's Justifies White Genocide as Revenge for Torture of Black and Indigenous Slaves
Summary:
Jean Jacques Dessalines, the ruler of Haiti, delivers a terrifying and intimidating speech invoking fear and vengeance.
He justifies his actions of genocide and connects it to the ideas of Enlightenment and human rights. Dessalines compares himself to the avenging angel of the continent and announces that justice is being enacted.
He declares that the hour of vengeance has struck and the enemies of man's rights have received the punishment they deserve.
He proclaims that he has saved his country and avenged America.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And the sort of things that this genjacqus desaline says in the declaration of independence for hayde and then the subsequent announcement of several months later, which is really Sort of a a justification for the genesi that he's going to inflict are well, there are few things like it in history, and most of the things like it come from a really long time ago, not Relatively recently. But not only is it frightful and scary and intimidating, one author i read called it seething, it's meant to be in the same way that, you know, the french colonists wanted their spectacular Executions to send a message and be horrible and talked about in high profile. Jeann jacques desaline feels the same way, and says, so the lines from his declaration of independence, when you when you know what's going to happen next, are frightful. I mean, he says, for example, for 14 years we have been the victims of our own gullibility and tolerance, defeated not by french arms, but by the pitiful eloquence of their official proclamations. Therefore shall we tire of breathing the same air as they do. What do we have in common with this murderous nation? Its cruelty compared to our evident moderation, its color unlike our own, the wide seas that separate us, our avenging climate, all tell us that they are not our brothers. And never will be. If they find refuge among us, they will again seek to cause trouble and to divide us. He then says, you know, where are all your loved ones? And he mentions sisters, brothers, children. And then he says, these people, these vultures, ate them. What he can do about that? I mean, ther's a lot of implied things here. And his speech, after some of this genecite has been carried out, delivered, a proclamation delivered the end of april, 18 o four, and written by his secretary, caus you know that this Sort of flowing language doesn't necessarily roll off the tongue of this former slave. He's more of a doer and not a talker. But his secretary puts some words into his mouth that will frighten every slave society still on the planet that reads it. And he connects this able blood letting. And the stories are insane. I mean, forty foot pools of blood that people have to walk around cause, yukno, stacks of hundreds and hundreds of white bodies, or are on both sides this reagees terrible, terrible Stuff. And a by the way, notice how this murderous human being is tying his ideas to the ideas of enlightenment, right? He is the employer of the weaponized philosophy. And as with everything else that sounds relatively innocuous and maybe even high minded, moral sentiment, when written on the page and read by the audience, sometimes looks a little Bit different in practice than in theory. Doesn't mean it's wrong, just means reality's a lot more messy. And here we have a person who institutes genicide, connecting it to, you know, human rights and the preservation of such things, and comparing himself to the avenging angel of the entire Continent and all of the indigenous peoples for hundreds of years. This is a guy, by the way, who wanted to call his army, at one point, his army of slaves and free colored people, the army of the incas. So you know where he was thinking. He thought about calling it the sons of the sun. And he announces in late april, 18 o four, that o justice is being enacted. And he says, finally, the hour of vengeance has struck, and the implacable enemies of the rights of man have received the punishment their crimes deserved. I raised over their guilty heads my arm that for too long had been restrained. At this signal, ordained by a just god, your hands, divinely armed, set the axe to the ancient tree of slavery and prejudice in vain had time and still more, the diabolical politics of The europeans encased it in triple armor. You stripped away this armour and placed it on your own breasts, becoming like your natural enemies, cruel and pitiless, like an overflowing torrent that roars uproots and carries All before it. Your avenging pas in has swept away everything in its impetuous path. May thus perish all who tyrannize the innocent, all oppressors of the human race. Yes, we have rendered unto these true cannibals, war for war, crime for crime, outrage for outrage. Yes, i have saved my country. I have avenged america. This ruler is the one who will rename the whole place hayte, after an indigenous name for the place.)
- Time 5:15:01
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(highlight:: Frederick Douglas's Expression of Gratitude for the Haitian Black Revolution
Summary:
Frederick Douglas gave a famous speech where he recognized the contributions of abolitionism, economics, morals, and slave revolts to the fight for freedom.
He praised Haiti for their role in the liberation of black people worldwide. The audience's enthusiastic applause suggests a deeper force driving changes in attitudes and the need for attitude change.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And this is a famous speech by frederick douglas where he points out, you know, his may be two sents on the question of, how much did all these different things, abolitionism, economics, Morals, slave revolts, how much did each of them play in the whole thing, he said, and i have the transcript o, the applause is mentioned when it happens in just vindication of hayte, I can go one step further. I can speak of her not only words of admiration, but words of gratitude as well. She has grandly served the cause of universal human liberty. We should not forget that the freedom you and i enjoy to day, that the freedom that 800 thousand colored people enjoy in the british west indies, the freedom that has come to the colored Race the world over, is largely due to the brave stand taken by the black sons of haite 90 years ago when they struck for freedom. He said, they builded better than they knew. Their swords were not drawn, and could not be drawn simply for themselves alone. They were linked and interlinked with their race. And striking for their freedom, they struck for the freedom of every black man in the world. And and the my transcript says, prolonged applause. Well, i'm not going to argue with frederick douglas about what he thinks the most important strands of all this change in the zeit geist were. I'm just going to say that the fact that that audience in that era, comprised of those particular people applauding like that, and the applauses over and over and over again, isa n that There was something else at work, to a pinging between io changes in our attitudes and demands that our attitudes change.)
- Time 5:28:10
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(highlight:: Self-Initiated Recovery v.s. Forced Recovery: Comparing American Slavery to Addiction
Summary:
Comparing addiction to bondage, the difference between someone deciding to stop on their own and someone having an outside authority stop them.
The American South never came to the conclusion that slavery was wrong. How long would it have taken the South to eliminate slavery on its own?
Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, almost in the twentieth century.
The last holdouts are like the last smokers in a world that moved past cigarettes.
How does this change subsequent history?
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I can pose the question. Maybe you have the answer, but we've been comparing this to an addiction whole time. Rit addicted to bondage. Is there a difference between an attic deciding that they have had enough of what they're doing, or that it's bad for them, or that it's wrong, or any number of things, where they might Decide for themselves that it is time for me to stop this behaviour thati that i do too often, and that is not good for me a long term, versus some one who simply has an outside authority Come in and ok, you're not doing this any more. We're taking this stuff that you have a habit for, thatyou're hooked to, and we're going to prohibit you from using again. So those people didn't come to their own conclusion that what they were doing needed to stop. Somebody just stopped it. I mean, the us. South, for example. And you know, when you make these statements, it's like saying, the germans in the second world war. Well, the germans in the second war might have had a whole lot of different ideas. They're not one group of people, so were generalizing. But the american south never came to the conclusion as a whole that slavery was wrong, that they should get rid of it, that it was an abomination, that it was past its historical cell by Date. Those things were never a part of the equation, right? And we had asked earlier, i believe, how long would it have taken the south to eliminate slavery on its own, had there not been a us. Civil war and an emancipation proclamation? I mean, cuba did it in 18 86, which is the year geronimo surrenders in the american indian wars, as they were called. Then a sort of officially end battle of wounded knees still going to happen. That's more of a massacre. But brazil doesn't officially abolish slavery until 18 88. That's almost the twentieth century. So these last holdouts, who have a ton of slaves left, are seeing their individual stories end differently than so to the global version. They did not participate in this a sort of levelling up of public opinion, in the turning of the iceberg. During the time it turned they're like the last smokers in a world that's moved past cigarettes. I wonder if that changes how subsequent history went.)
- Time 5:31:35
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(highlight:: While Slavery Ended, America's Race-Based Caste System Did Not
Summary:
Slavery didn't really end a hundred years ago after the US civil war.
Elements of slavery persisted, including the skin color-based caste system which still exists today. Even in recent history, there were instances of racial discrimination like segregation and mistreatment of Black individuals.
This caste system continues to influence people's beliefs.
While it may seem backward, it is rooted in the past where the Middle Ages shaped people's thinking.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
The other thing that's kind of worth pointing out is that you will often hear people talk about how slavery ended more than a hundred years agoand people need to get over it. But they're ignoring the fact that it didn't really end a hundred years ago, because once the united states civil war, to just use the american example, only ended, many of the same elements From slavery are put back into place, not all of them, but many the same elements, including the one element that we still live with to day, this inherited skin color based caste system, Which probably would have died out by now if it hadn't been around. Even when i was a kid, legally, as we said in the south, it was legal for places to say that they were only going to have whites stay in their hotels or whites eat in their restaurant. There's famous photographs of doctor martin luther king being handcuffed at a lunch counter in a southern restaurant, simply for having the audacity, as a black man, to sit there. Rosa parks on the bus. I mean, these are famous stories that happen not that long ago. So it's not quite slavery, but it's not quite freedom either. And even after the 19 sixties, this caste system still lives in the minds and hearts of many people. I don't know what a natural amount of time to estimate it would take for that to die out, but i do think we have to remember that if something like that looks like really retrograde or backwards Kind of thinking, that it is connected to an era where the people who came up with this thing still had the middle ages reflected back at them in their historical rerview mirror.)
- Time 5:33:43
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(highlight:: The Lingering Effects of America's Caste System
Summary:
Famous stories of racial discrimination against Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks serve as reminders that the caste system still lingers even after the 1960s.
It may take time for this regressive thinking to fade, but we must recognize its connection to a bygone era. Follow us on Twitter @hardcorehistory and get merchandise at dancarlin.com.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
There's famous photographs of doctor martin luther king being handcuffed at a lunch counter in a southern restaurant, simply for having the audacity, as a black man, to sit there. Rosa parks on the bus. I mean, these are famous stories that happen not that long ago. So it's not quite slavery, but it's not quite freedom either. And even after the 19 sixties, this caste system still lives in the minds and hearts of many people. I don't know what a natural amount of time to estimate it would take for that to die out, but i do think we have to remember that if something like that looks like really retrograde or backwards Kind of thinking, that it is connected to an era where the people who came up with this thing still had the middle ages reflected back at them in their historical rerview mirror.
Speaker 2
Tofollow us on twitter, the addresses at hard core history.
Speaker 1
For hard core history tea shirts or other merchandise, go to dan carlin dot com.)
- Time 5:34:35
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