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Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:54:53 EDT |
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I was at an American Anglican conference this weekend attended by
representatives of the Anglican Church of Kenya and the Anglican Church of Uganda.
Both Anglican churches have upcoming ordinations to the episcopate in the
United States. One of the conferees was a professor of history at Uganda
Christian University. I enjoyed the Christian fellowship I shared with my black
African brothers in Christ.
During social/cocktail hour (we are all Episcopalians after all) I had
occasion to sit with some of the African attendees and raised a number of the
issues that have been discussed in this forum on slavery in Virginia and the
United States, slavery reparations, etc. I found the discussion very
enlightening.
I was made aware that the enslavement and trading in black Africans took
place for untold centuries before the first European showed up. Black Africans
owning and trading in black African slaves was a well established institution
for hundreds of years prior to the Portugese stepping ashore. In fact,
African slavery in Virginia for 200 years was merely a short “snapshot” in the
long history of African slavery.
European countries engaged in slavery, rejected it, and outlawed slave
ownership and the slave trade. The United States followed, and later Cuba and
Brazil finally put an end to the slave trade as well.
However, the African slave trade continued to thrive in Africa even after
trading with the western cultures ended. Why? Because Black Africans continued
to buy and trade Black African Slaves.
This slave culture in Africa didn’t begin to end until ……….European
colonization. First the Christian missionaries, and then the colonial governments
forced the Africans to stop enslaving and trading in their black African “
brothers and sisters.” Were it not for European colonialization, black African
slavery and trading might continue to this day (although it apparently still
does exist in parts of sub-Sahara Africa).
As to black African slaves who went from enslavement in African to Virginia
and the new world, the consensus I got from all in the discussion was that
they were the lucky ones. Compared to the conditions and treatment of African
slaves in African, American slaves were living at the Four Seasons.
J South
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