I found the point made in “The Shadow of Slavery” about Europeans defining Blacks as the only group fit to slavery to be very interesting. As a kid, I always associated slaves with African Americans. When I found out that wasn’t always the case, I was, to say the least, surprised. Turns out that slavery is a very old concept, and once upon a time, it used to be interracial. It seems that in the New World, slavery was always restricted to African Americans (and Native Americans). However, I think that indentured servants also counted as a form of slavery. I don’t know how significant it is, Binder and Reimer didn’t mention it, so I suppose it didn’t make a huge difference. I thought about it while reading “In the Shadow of Slavery” because I remember reading somewhere that indentured servants were almost slaves.
Adding on a little post script to what Marinna said about New York not being what it was without slaves: The same argument is made by people who argue that our economy would never be where it was if Industrial Giants hadn’t taken advantage of their workers the way they did. Similarly, the Wall of China contains the bodies of the workers who died while building it. So the question is, are people’s lives, freedoms, and happiness a price worth paying for a nation’s, or in this case, a city’s achievements? I say we ask the people whose lives, freedoms and happiness are in jeopardy.
