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Synopsis Of The Story 'Abina And The Important Men'

850 Words4 Pages

Brian Niswonger
Dr. Nicole Pacino
HY104 - H09
06 March, 2023
Prompt 1
The story of Abina and the Important Men is one of freedom, retaliation, and, ultimately, injustice. Throughout the story, we follow Abina Mansah as she fights for an escape from the system of slavery that she was raised in from a young age. Attempting to solidify her personal autonomy, she brings her frustration to court, which followed the British judicial process. Because of the abolitionist movement that was widespread across Europe, the civilizing of Africa and its relationship to slavery grew to be a touchy subject within the legal system of the Gold Coast. However, those in power created ways to work around this issue, further feeding into the injustice of the time. …show more content…

The economy of the Gold Coast was heavily influenced by the working of enslaved people and pushing for abolition could very well destroy the foundation of the kingdom (Getz and Clarke, 48). A British law was imposed that banned the trading of slaves but powerful slave owners who already had their established system could easily find loopholes to continue their practice as slavery was their main income. To get around these laws, they would often either convince the court that the slave is an apprentice or that the women were purchased as wives under the customs of African culture. To these rich owners, the civilization mission benefited them as slave laws were often held loosely due to cost and ability to enforce them, and many judges would often rule in favor of the owners (10 & 130). Because of such, slavery continued to run in the background with little to no regulation. This ultimately hurt the common citizen who was either sold into a household to work or lived on the streets. The idea of “freedom” was not one of use within the colonies as the British would put those wandering without a job in prison (9). For people like Abina, who were abused by the system, the civilization mission was not something of benefit. They instead became the pawns for the important men within the colonies. If the important men stayed happy and the economy stayed afloat, Britain would remain in control and the cycle could

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