Did Europeans Enslave Native Americans?

Comments · 912

• HA

  @Hallows4 · 5 years ago

  When I was volunteering in the library of the American Museum of Natural History, I had to catalogue a bunch of movies that were shown at the annual Margaret Mead Film Festival. One of them showcased an annual celebration (somewhere in the south but I don’t remember where, possibly Louisiana?) where the descendants of enslaved Africans honor the Native American tribes who sheltered their runaway ancestors and helped them escape.

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• JS

  @jso6790 · 5 years ago

  Your comment about &quot;not comparing&quot; is very important. I, too often, hear Irish Americans talk about the trafficking of Irish indentured servants as a way to minimize the suffering and legitimate grievances of African-Americans. Whenever I can have the conversation, I explain that what happened to the Irish is a great crime against humanity in so many ways, but that crime doesn&apos;t minimize or excuse what happened to African-Americans (or Native Americans, but I do not hear the Irish comment in that context) and that a full and honest reckoning WOULD have to account for the Irish story, and thus it should make (as it once did!) natural allies of the descendants of trafficked Africans and trafficked Irish. The book &quot;White Cargo&quot; addresses this story.<br><br>I would argue that far from comparing experiences as a means of &quot;competitive suffering,&quot; comparing helps us to recognize the ways by which the powerful construct systems by which human bodies can be commodified and exploited, and further why it is in everyone&apos;s interest to uproot these systems, because we can always become the next victims of these systems.

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• MO

  @Mojabi_ghost · 5 years ago (edited)

  Thank you for covering this! My ancestors’/people’s enslavement is so incredibly overlooked just because of how poorly documented it is here in the U.S. (or at least for how hard they tried to erase this from history). However we can still see many examples, and the effects Native enslavement had on our continents when looking at other countries like Latin American ones. I’ll forever be proud to be a descendant of the amazing native people🥰

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• EL

  @eliscanfield3913 · 5 years ago

  ...I really wish &quot;like&quot; wasn&apos;t the option, &apos;cause everyone should dislike the events you&apos;re describing, but as always, you&apos;re telling an important part of history, far too important to ignore.

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• PR

  @PRDreams · 5 years ago

  The answer is yes. Hell, by any other name... it still hell.

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• DE

  @dese4999 · 5 years ago

  This a very good episode. Living in Humboldt County Northern California It is especially relevant. California was a Slave state for Natives. They would round them up and send them north or south away from their homeland. it was mostly children and mostly women. The Men were hunted for scalps. Check out the history of the Humboldt and specifically the Jacoby Storehouse in Arcata. It&apos;s on stolen Wiyot land and is a standing monument to the not too distant genocidal enslaving past of California.

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• WE

  @wezul · 5 years ago

  40 million people still enslaved in the world. Hot damn, we humans can really suck as a species. :(

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• NI

  @NikkiBdraws · 5 years ago (edited)

  It took me nearly the entire video before I realized she was wearing a Sailor Moon shirt. I was so focused on what she was saying, which is a good thing, I guess!

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• DC

  @dc-k4868 · 5 years ago

  This is really important work to help rebalance the history we were taught in English schools when I was growing up (through the 1960s &amp; 1970s).<br>Thanks also for the references which help to reinforce the academic underpinnings of this work.

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• KE

  @kevinschaude6592 · 5 years ago

  Shoutout for the book mentioned. My wife bought it for me as a Xmas present. I can&apos;t wait to get started.

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• 3M

  @3m287 · 5 years ago (edited)

  Great content, have you guys thought about doing a video on East African/Middle Eastern slave trades? This part of history is largely ignored for some reason and would love to see a video on that topic in this style.

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• JE

  @jeremyslather · 5 years ago

  Short answer: yes.<br>Europeans came to all America (the continent). South America was widely exploited for gold and silver since the invasion of America.

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