This story of white servitude is hidden and they represent (AT LEAST) 1/2 to 2/3 of the first settlers of the America colony.
They were temporary chattel.
They were:
The Forgotten White Slaves Of America
By: Nehesy (Jan 2009)
You had:
– The Redemptioners ( specially the Germans who came with all their family but the family members were frequently sold to different masters);
– The Indentured Servants who sold themselves for a better life and a better place to live; they were lured with false promises ie “A land of milk and Honey is waiting for you in the new world”; and London was characterized by high poverty, famine and was “infested” with plagues…
– The kidnapped people of London, Bristol and Liverpool (Men, Women, Children); It was a Royal policy : POOR RELIEF;
– The poors and vagrants (Men, Women, Children) of the United Kingdom;
– The loose or lewd women (prostitutes);
– The convicts and criminals; who were highly preferred by planters because they were bound for 14 years at least; The child servants were praised for the same reason ( long period of bondage)…Maryland and Virginia were convicts’ states…
– The war prisoners ie Irish and Scottish ( Monmouth Rebels , Covenanters etc); the “Irish slave trade” is hidden into our history books but it’s a reality of the past …
– Apprentices , which was the best form of “bondage” (with the Redemptioners) because they could learn a job;
– Many indentured servants came from Europe (Italy and Greece) as well;
– Seamen impressed in ships ( they were bound to the master’s ship and could whipped in case of mutiny). They were often kidnapped in British Taverns; many case of desertions occurred in the Royal and Continental navies. As Richard Brandon Morris said they were the “last slaves” to be emancipated in 1915…Their hand could be cut off in a case of aggression against the ship’s captain…
It must be said that London ( Liverpool,Bristol) Merchants and British authorities ( Royalty; Mayor etc) were responsible for their temporary enslavement, and made huge profits in selling them to the colonies …
London ( Liverpool , Bristol) Merchants with British Authorities ( specially the Royalty) were also involved in the African slave trade…
When the supply of white servants happened to be insufficient in order to match the labor demand in the colonies, they created the Royal Company of Africa in order to import (kidnap) more Africans…
When you have a look at the first census in the American colonies , white servants or temporary slaves, outnumbered African slaves in all the British colonies ( America and West Indies).
The African slave trade and the possession of black slaves happened to be more profitable to the former servants traders/drivers and to the former servants masters in the colonies. This is why, we African or afro descendants suffered so much..
Planters were really harsh on them : many servants deaths were due to maltreatment…
After the American Revolution, British turned to Australia , as a convict colony. The Jails ships in London ( called “HULKS” were overcrowded).
When the African slave trade has been abolished, they turned to Asia for the “Pig” Trade or Coolie Trade, ( China and India). The same suffering, the same maltreatments, the same riots ( in the plantations and the slave ships)….
Only the European poor and the middle class went to the new world , the richest stayed in Europe.
Many white servants and black slaves married together because they suffered the same pains and maltreatments. Many white servants were involved in slave riots like in the New York Plot ( see Pr Richard Brandon Morris and Pr Abbott Emerson Smith), and some even fled to the Indians with their black brethren.
They suffered the “middle passage” as well, because they died like flies in the ships who brought them to the colonies, they were packed like “herring”….
With the time, white servants became overseers, and hatred was installed between the two communities, by the planters who divided them in order to ruled them…Some white servants were used in the militia in order to defend the colony from French and Spanish , but also to kill Indians or suppress slaves insurrections.
The “Divide and Rule” technique was used against the Indians (first slaves in America) in order to get allies and slaves. Europeans would give guns to their Indian allies in order to enslave other Indians. They used this technique in Canada, North America, South America ( Mexico) , the West Indies (Cuba) and in Africa as well… But the Indians slaves in North America died like flies, and could flee easily because after all it was their country.
Europeans kidnapped Indians , or caused wars between Indians tribes in order to response to their labor demand.
The American used the race card in order to ally with the white servants (or former servants), even if they really despised them , by calling them names : “White Trash”; “Redneck”; “Hillbillies”; “White niggers” etc.
It’s must be said that white servant preceded the black slave into the South plantations.
And the system which was imposed to them ( punishment, tortures, rapes, separation of families etc) was ready to absorb the black Africans slaves ( See Pr Ulrich B Phillips).
It was really “A NASTY” period for poor whites and anything colored ( Blacks, Indians etc).
The European rich class caused a lot of suffering to these people , even if they were white like them ….
Nothing better could happened to blacks, Chinese or Indians who were bound to that same class !!!
The seeds and the framework of their suffering can be found in the story of the white “slaves” who peopled American and West Indies colonies.
The racial card and segregation was played against them, and the white colonists had any mercy for them : Burned alive, Emasculation; Cutting the limbs; Extreme cases of torture …
This is stories they won’t tell you at school, or in Hollywood movies. In order to know a little research process is compulsory…
It depends on the view you are applying to diagnose a society. Some of them are partial and prejudicialist, some are more realistic. My point of view is based on asking this simple question: who owned the property of production on that time? The answer gives you the opportunity to discover that the largest group of people were not owners of anything and they did not really matter in that society. So they could be slaved by the other group (who could be slaved?any of the poor people, did not matter whats was your skin color) even now in 2016
It is so reassuringly edifying to see these FACTS. “Slave” is of European start, inference, and, starting, e.g., Yugoslavia. To see/hear in what manner or capacity disgustingly/more than once a dark face has been painted on American servitude charges/requests the supreme need to scrutinizingly read the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution
Yeah this article skims at the truth….
Nice read but nevertheless, the issue with German slaves was because they were Blacks of European Negro descent. Those that were unable to prove their lineage were often taken into the illegal slave trade. This was just another reason why Russia & Moravia formed the Union to end slavery.
The Judicial System was helping the illegal slave traders enslave Native European settlers of color like Franconians, Swabians, and their children which led to the Civil War. Notice I didn’t say Germany because it didn’t exist at that time. Therefore these people were Native Black Sea Germans of Blokumannland.
This has been informative, I’m Elderly now, but As a young girl I was appalled at some of the things going on with black people. Our schools need to teach the true history of how slavery was not just a southern thing. It was world wide. Thank you for this information .
Nice work, but I still think you should clarify the difference between Black, Negro and white in order to minimize confusion. The Confederates we the european vassals (Slaves) that were released into freedom on American soil. There were predominately Whites.
The Union (Russo German Anti-Slavery Party) are the European Nobles & Knights with no set ethnicity. Therefore Blacks(Schwarze), Heller (Light Skins), Weiss (multiracial white complexion) and Swabians (Native Black Germans). These are your coloreds.
Negroes & Negress: Male and Female Sub-Saharan Africans.
Excellent articles. It would be nice if this history was taught n public schools. Most history seems to be written an apparent bias. We need to hear as many opinions as possible.