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No one actually said that slavery was uniquely American. But it was implied.
Growing up in the white side of a major city, the presence of black folk on television demanded an explanation. They were descendants of slaves brought to America from Africa, I was told.
Then there were the Tarzan movies featuring Johnny Weissmuller. Most every Sunday afternoon was spent watching the white man on television swinging through a jungle where he fought lions, crocodiles, and—when the natives were restless—taking on entire tribes of spear chucking black men when they popped through the ferns.
I just assumed Africa was covered in jungles and Africans had nothing to do but chase after adroit white people who had nothing to do but traipse through Africa dodging spears. Next came Ma and Pa Kettle, and that rounded out my Sunday afternoons in the 1950s. Aside from Nat King Cole, that was my understanding of black people.
These black Africans, I later learned, were rounded up by white slave traders, shackled, and piled aboard ships to be sold somewhere in South Carolina. The Civil War was fought by indignant Northerners to free them, which Abraham Lincoln did, and now they lived across town and, once each week, would drive a garbage truck through the back alley.
The far left exploited our ignorance as well as that of black Americans. But the advent of the internet shined lights in the darkness that not even Hollywood could back.
Here's what I learned...
Some black American slaves were business owners. Marie Justine Couvent, a formerly enslaved African woman, funded a school for black orphans in the 1840s called Institut Catholique des Orphelines Indigentes. It was there that about 2,000 black men mustered to volunteer for the Confederate Army and elected from among them two black officers. The building, located at 1941 Dauphine Street in New Orleans, was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915.
The list of hidden history related to black American history is endless, but our focus is on the truth about the African slave trade.
A Universal Phenomenon
The institution of human bondage has threaded through the fabric of civilizations across the globe for millennia, manifesting in diverse ways yet consistently reducing individuals to tools of labor, status, or sacrifice under the control of others.
As I noted in previous articles, the practice of giving quarter to prisoners of war is relatively new. For much of history, captives were not released because warfare lacked systems for parole or exchange, and freed prisoners could easily rejoin enemy forces. Feeding them would not be resourceful, so they were put to work as slaves. Slavery was institutionalized and snatching able bodied men was considered fair game. Saint Patrick is an example of a young man captured and enslaved.
This practice endured in nearly every major society until relatively recent times, with its most scrutinized chapter involving the forced migration of millions across vast oceans to fuel colonial economies.
Often, narratives center on external powers as the sole architects of this inhumane travesty, portraying affected populations as mere recipients of fate. Yet historical realities reveal a more intricate web of agency, where local leaders, warriors, and merchants actively shaped, sustained, and defended such systems for economic, political, and cultural gain.
Bondage in Ancient and Pre-Colonial Africa
Long before interactions with distant seafaring traders intensified, bondage was deeply embedded in many African societies. Ancient civilizations along the Nile and Mediterranean engaged in it, while extensive networks moved people across deserts and seas to serve in households, armies, or fields in distant lands.
In West Africa particularly, successive powerful states built their prosperity on structured systems of servitude. Empires rose and fell, drawing captives from weaker neighbors through warfare, treating them as symbols of elite prestige or as essential workers in mines, farms, and courts. Some captives labored harshly with little hope, while others gained limited rights, including eventual self-purchase or roles in governance.
The Arrival of European Maritime Traders
When maritime traders from Europe first appeared along the coasts in the 1400s and 1500s, they encountered established hierarchies rather than unorganized groups. Initial captives sent to Europe gave way to larger demands for labor in emerging overseas territories.
Contrary to simplistic depictions of raids by outsiders, the bulk of those transported resulted from transactions with African intermediaries. Regional rivalries, the quest for advanced weaponry, and desires for imported luxuries drove many rulers to supply captives in exchange for goods that bolstered their authority.
Diverse Responses Across African Polities
Various polities embraced these opportunities differently. Some kingdoms forged alliances that funneled thousands annually into the trade, viewing it, as noted above, as a pragmatic outlet for war prisoners or a means to expand influence. Ethnic and political divisions, far predating foreign contact, meant solidarity against exploitation rarely materialized; instead, groups competed fiercely.
Others resisted or adapted selectively. Certain leaders curtailed coastal exchanges when population losses threatened stability, closing ports while preserving internal servitude. In one notable case, a militarized coastal state rose dramatically by dominating key embarkation points, fielding vast armies that raided neighbors relentlessly to sustain both its forces and economy. This kingdom integrated captives deeply into its social order—as laborers, status markers, and even ritual offerings during ceremonies meant to honor ancestors or ensure prosperity.
The Atrocities of Slave Ownership Within Sub-Saharan Africa
Slavery in Africa is often discussed primarily in the context of the transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism. While those systems were uniquely vast and destructive, they were hardly the only forms of slavery to exist on the continent. Long before and during European involvement, systems of slave ownership operated within Sub-Saharan Africa, where Africans enslaved other Africans. These systems involved coercion, violence, dehumanization, and exploitation, and they inflicted severe and lasting harm on millions of people.
Indigenous African Slave Systems
While slavery existed in many African societies prior to European contact, it varied by region and period. In many cases, enslaved people were war captives, debtors, or individuals taken during raids. States and empires such as the Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, Oyo Empire, Benin Kingdom, Ethiopia, and various Swahili Coast city-states maintained institutionalized slavery as part of their political and economic systems.
To my knowledge, there has never been a Hollywood movie focused on intra-African slavery, though Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (2006) captures tits essence. (Note the movie ends with European ships on the horizon.)
Enslaved individuals were considered property. They could be bought, sold, inherited, punished, or killed with little or no legal protection. A notable exception was in North America. In many societies, slaves were forced into agricultural labor, mining, military service, domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation. Their status was typically hereditary, meaning children born to enslaved parents were themselves enslaved.
Violence and Coercion
Slave acquisition within Sub-Saharan Africa frequently relied on extreme violence. Raids on neighboring villages were common, particularly during periods of political instability. Entire communities were attacked, with survivors marched long distances in chains. Those who resisted were often killed, and families were routinely separated.
The psychological trauma was severe. Enslaved people were stripped of their identity, language, and kinship ties. Many were forcibly assimilated into the culture of their captors while remaining socially stigmatized and permanently subordinate.
Historian Paul E. Lovejoy notes that internal African slave trading expanded significantly between the 15th and 19th centuries, in part due to growing regional and international demand for enslaved labor.
Sexual Exploitation and Forced Reproduction
Sexual exploitation was a central feature of African slave systems. Enslaved women were frequently subjected to rape, concubinage, and forced reproduction. In many societies, female slaves were valued for both labor and their ability to produce children who would increase the slave-holding household’s wealth.
These practices were normalized within the legal and cultural frameworks of slave-owning societies, leaving enslaved women with no recourse or protection.
Participation in External Slave Trades
African elites, merchants, and rulers played active roles in supplying enslaved Africans to trans-Saharan, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and later transatlantic markets. While European and Middle Eastern buyers created demand, African intermediaries captured, sold, and transported enslaved people, often profiting substantially.
This participation intensified internal slave raiding and warfare, destabilizing entire regions. Communities that resisted enslavement were often destroyed, contributing to long-term population loss and economic disruption.
Long-Term Consequences
The legacy of intra-African slavery includes entrenched social hierarchies, ethnic stigmatization, and inherited inequality that persist in parts of Africa today. In some regions, descendants of enslaved people continue to face discrimination in marriage, land ownership, and political participation.
Modern forms of descent-based servitude still exist in limited areas, demonstrating that the damage caused by these systems did not end with legal abolition.
Resistance, Defense, and the End of an Era
Despite mounting external pressure from anti-bondage advocates, its rulers staunchly defended the practice as foundational to their people's identity and wealth, subverting restrictions through alternative routes until military defeat ended the era.
European expansion on the continent often intertwined with campaigns against such systems, a fact often lost on leftist revisionists. While economic and strategic aims dominated the "scramble" for territory, moral arguments against ongoing trade and servitude provided justification for interventions. Naval actions bombarded ports, treaties imposed bans, and conquests dismantled resistant states under banners of liberation. In some regions, colonial authorities gradually suppressed local customs, though full eradication proved slow amid fears of unrest from entrenched elites.
Acknowledging the Full Spectrum of History
The narrative of suffering demands unflinching acknowledgment: untold millions endured unimaginable hardship through forced exile, brutal voyages, and lifelong exploitation. Yet this history belongs to a broader human pattern of power, opportunism, and complicity—not confined to any single group or region.
Africans, like peoples elsewhere, included both victims and participants who built, profited from, and fiercely guarded institutions of domination. Recognizing this complexity honors the full scope of the past, portraying societies as dynamic and multifaceted rather than one-dimensional. It underscores that the long road to ending such practices involved diverse actors, motivations, and struggles, ultimately contributing to a shared global shift toward freedom.
Still, the far left retains a laser focus exclusively on the history of slavery in America. As noted earlier, the advent of the internet is broadening our scope of understanding and, in so doing, limiting the gaslighting effect that targets white people.
Conclusion
The
reality of slave ownership within Sub-Saharan Africa challenges
simplistic narratives that frame slavery as solely an external
imposition. African-run systems of slavery were often brutal, coercive,
and dehumanizing, inflicting immense suffering on millions of Africans
at the hands of other Africans. Recognizing this history does not
diminish the horrors of European or Arab slave systems; rather, it
provides a fuller and more honest understanding of slavery as a global
and human tragedy.
Acknowledging all forms of historical slavery
is essential for accurate scholarship, meaningful reconciliation, and
preventing modern forms of exploitation from continuing under different
names.
Atlantic slave trade
Transatlantic slave trade
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Slavery in Africa
Dahomey
The kingdom of Dahomey and the Atlantic world: a misunderstood legacy
Trans-Saharan slave trade
Benin Expedition of 1897
Encyclopaedia Britannica – “Slavery in African History”
Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa
UNESCO – The Slave Route Project
Encyclopaedia Britannica – “African Participation in the Slave Trade
Anti-Slavery International – “Slavery and Descent-Based Discrimination
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