Historical And Sociocultural Background Of Slavery In The United States

Chapter 1. Historical and Sociocultural Background of Slavery in The United States of America 1. What is slavery According to Wikipedia, slavery is a system in which principles of property law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals as a form of property (''Slavery''). The individuals who are bought as a property are called slaves, and they are people forced to work against their will and without any form of remuneration. Although nowadays slavery is considered as illegal in all countries, the number of slaves around the world has reached 45 million – more than in any other time in the history. There are four types of slavery: 1. Chattel slavery – the traditional form of slavery, where people are treated as the personal property of their master. That form of slavery is formally recognized by the law and one is a slave until his death or until the slave is set free by his master. Even slaves' children can not avoid that fate and since the birth, they have been branded as slaves. 2. Bonded labor – the form of unfree labor undertaken by a debtor to repay the loan.

Forced labor – the form of unfree labor, where people are coerced to work against their will under the threat of violence, but they are not slaves. The main examples of forced labor are serfdom, conscription, penal labor and forced prostitution. Nowadays, most cases of slavery takes the form of forced labor. 4. Forced marriage – the form of slavery where one is forced to get married against their will.(''Slavery'') 2. The history of slavery in colonial