The Brutality, Injustice, and Institution of Slavery is Wrong in any Age
The Brutality, Injustice, and Institution of Slavery is Wrong in any Age The idea and horrendous act of one human owning another is a plague etched in history from the colonization of the New World to its abolishment during the Civil War. The exemplification being referenced is slavery. Slavery placed man-kind in a position of power where the depravity of personal liberties and rights were not only apparent but generally accepted. There was an ideology that slaves were less than human; their species classified as property and could be treated as such. Slaves were bred as selectively as animals, tamed, disciplined, transported, and exploited in the same manner. There are two individual perspectives of slavery from varying timelines, races, and backgrounds where the atrocities of slavery are parallel. They are the observations and writings of Bartolomé De Las Casas and Olaudah Equiano. Although their perceptions are from different points in time, the themes of injustice, brutality, and heinous treatment of slaves are not only realized but became a defining moment in their lives where their agenda developed into one of change, culminating into a fight for protection from inhumane treatment, equality and abolishment of this cancerous tort. The inaugural application of slavery in the New World as recalled by Bartolomé De Las Casas was presented in conjunction with Christopher Columbus’ return to Spain where seven Taino Indians were seized from the island of Guanahanî and exploited. Casas stated that this instance was “the first injustice committed in the Indies” (Baym 38). There was a period of time when Casas was absorbed with the progressive nature of exploration and occupation that he was unconscious of the moral implications regarding his participation in the exploitation of the natives after his initial voyage and settlement in Hispaniola (Baym 38). The negative moral and ethical undertones were not apparent until he became a priest and realized the
Cited: Baym, Nina and Levine, Robert. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2012 Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavass Vassa, the African Written by Himself. New York: Norton 2001. “Encomienda.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2011. Britannica Online. Web. 31 Jan. 2014 Las Casas, Bartolomé de. History of the Indies. Web. 31 Jan. 2014