Which "Four Seasons" do you mean J?  Your points are well made.  Slavery existed all over the world and greedy Europeans(IE the ones that wanted to go to the "New World" and live it up at the expense of others) took advantage of the continuing conflicts between African-(and later on various American and First Canadian Nations members) until people from many groups put it a stop to it and said "enough".  Jane Steele.

-----Original Message-----
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Jun 24, 2007 10:54 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Paying slaves
>
> 
>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
>
>
>
>************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


Lillian Jane Steele