The Truth About Slavery You Never Knew

What was the first country to ban slavery?

Tony Martin Explains Slavery History & Trade Ships

Tony Martin (1942–2013) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born scholar and professor of Africana Studies who taught at Wellesley College in Massachusetts from 1973 until his retirement in 2007, spanning 34 years at the institution.

Britain Banned Slavery First: America Followed in 1865, the first 2 countries in the world to ban slavery.

England (as part of the United Kingdom) played a leading role in the abolition of slavery within its empire through the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which received royal assent on August 28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834. This legislation outlawed slavery across most of the British Empire, freeing approximately 800,000 enslaved people in colonies such as the Caribbean, South Africa, and Mauritius via a system of compensated emancipation—where the government paid slave owners rather than the enslaved. While Britain had earlier banned the slave trade in 1807 and court rulings like the 1772 Somerset case had declared slavery unsupported by English common law in Britain itself, the 1833 Act marked the full abolition of chattel slavery in its overseas territories (with a transitional “apprenticeship” period ending in 1838). This made Britain one of the first major powers to comprehensively end slavery in its imperial holdings during the early 19th century, influenced by decades of abolitionist campaigning led by figures like William Wilberforce and driven by moral, economic, and political pressures.

The United States & Slavery History

The United States followed later, with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery nationwide. Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865 (proclaimed on December 18), it declared that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime… shall exist within the United States.” This came after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed slaves in Confederate states during the Civil War, but the amendment ensured permanent, universal abolition across the entire country, including border states where slavery had persisted. While some northern U.S. states had begun gradual emancipation in the late 18th century and the U.S. banned the international slave trade in 1808, full national abolition required the Civil War’s resolution and the 13th Amendment—making the U.S. second to Britain among major Western powers in comprehensively ending slavery through constitutional or legislative means on a national/imperial scale, though earlier actions occurred in places like Haiti (1804) and parts of Latin America.

Tony Martin Explains the Atlantic Slave Trade and Funding

How Jews Financed Expensive Slave Ships, Per Tony Martin.

Tony Martin’s Book: Jews Built the Slave Trade Fleet. Tony Martin (A Black college professor) wrote a slave history book in 1993, The Jewish Onslaught: Despatches from the Wellesley Battlefront, serves as a personal account and defense against the backlash he faced as a professor at Wellesley College showing proof and evidence based material on Jewish involvement in the transatlantic slave trade into his African American history courses.

Tony Martin Explains The Jewish Funding of Slave Trade Ships.

Tony Martin (1942–2013) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born scholar and professor of Africana Studies who taught at Wellesley College in Massachusetts from 1973 until his retirement in 2007, spanning 34 years at the… pic.twitter.com/HNUSwMAgYx

— America 24 News (@America24news_) February 14, 2026

The controversy stemmed from his use of The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, a work published by the Nation of Islam that compiles historical evidence, often from Jewish sources, alleging significant Jewish participation in the enslavement of Africans. Martin’s book frames this as part of a broader “Jewish onslaught” against Black scholars and leaders who challenge narratives of Black-Jewish alliances, while emphasizing the documented roles Jews played in various facets of the trade, including financing and operations across the Americas and Caribbean.

In the book, Martin highlights how Jews funded the slave trade through investments in major entities like the Dutch West India Company, a multinational corporation heavily involved in financing slave voyages and prosecuting the trade. He cites historical accounts showing Jews as key financiers who owned ships, manned them with Jewish crews, and commanded voyages to Africa to procure enslaved people. For instance, Martin references Jewish historians like Seymour B. Liebman, who noted that in the Caribbean, “the ships were not only owned by Jews, but were manned by Jewish crews and sailed under the command of Jewish captains,” implying substantial financial commitments to equip and operate these vessels for the expensive and risky transatlantic journeys. Martin further elaborates on specific figures and regions, such as Aaron Lopez, described as a “slaveship owner extraordinaire” in Newport, Rhode Island, where Jews dominated related industries like rum distilleries tied to the slave economy. He argues that this funding extended to every aspect of the trade, from auction blocks to reselling enslaved Africans at profit, drawing on evidence that Jews were the largest ship chandlers in the Caribbean, supplying and outfitting vessels for slave transport. These claims, Martin asserts, are supported by Jewish encyclopedias and scholars, positioning Jewish financial backing as a critical enabler of the trade’s scale and profitability despite their small population numbers.

RIP Tony Martin (Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at Wellesley)

Tony Martin joined as an associate professor Wellesley College in Massachusetts and became a founding member and chair of the college’s Africana Studies Department, achieving tenure in 1975 and promotion to full professor in 1979. A prolific author of over ten books and numerous articles, particularly on Marcus Garvey, Pan-Africanism, and African-Caribbean history, Martin was a dedicated Garveyite and influential figure in Black studies, though his work sometimes sparked controversy. He passed away and died in January 2013 in Trinidad at age 70, and is remembered as Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at Wellesley.

Christians, Europeans and Whites Enslaved:

At one point in history, all races, colors, and religions were enslaved.

Atlantic Jihad refers to the historical phenomenon of Barbary pirate raids and Islamic naval warfare across the Atlantic and Mediterranean from the 16th to early 19th centuries, when North African states like Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli—under Ottoman influence—launched corsair expeditions that captured European ships, enslaved Christian sailors and coastal villagers, and extended jihadist maritime activities far beyond traditional Muslim territories into the Atlantic Ocean, reaching as far as Iceland and Ireland.

This era, sometimes dramatized in documentaries like Atlantic Jihad (2003), highlighted a lesser-known chapter of white slavery and cross-cultural conflict, where Muslim corsairs justified their operations as defensive or expansive jihad against Christian powers amid Europe’s internal divisions. Though the practice declined after military interventions like the Barbary Wars (1801–1815), the video underscores how jihad concepts adapted to naval and economic warfare in the early modern Atlantic world.

Best Examples of something like this might be in:

The brutal enslavement of Uhtred in The Last Kingdom’s second season stands as one of the series’ most harrowing arcs, beginning with the shocking betrayal by King Guthred, who sells him into bondage to the ruthless Danish slaver Sverri in exchange for political gain. Chained to the oars alongside his loyal companion Halig and the sharp-tongued Irish slave Finan, Uhtred endures a grueling year of relentless toil on the treacherous northern seas. Starvation gnaws at their bodies, whips tear into their flesh for the slightest infraction, and the endless rhythm of rowing under Sverri’s cruel command strips away their dignity, reducing proud warriors to broken men fighting merely to survive the freezing cold and brutal labor. This period tests Uhtred’s unyielding spirit like never before, forging unbreakable bonds with his fellow slaves while highlighting the depths of human depravity and the fragility of loyalty in a world ruled by power and betrayal.The arc reaches its heartbreaking climax in a scene of devastating cruelty when, after a desperate but failed escape attempt that leaves Halig gravely wounded, Sverri exacts savage punishment by binding the loyal Halig to the prow of the ship as the vessel cuts through icy waves. Forced to row onward while his friend suffers, Uhtred watches in helpless agony as the sea relentlessly crashes over Halig, drowning him slowly amid screams that fade into silence. This moment shatters Uhtred, compounding the physical scars with profound emotional trauma—the death of a faithful ally who chose to share his fate rather than abandon him serves as a stark reminder of the cost of trust and the lingering shadows of Guthred’s treachery. It is a pivotal turning point that leaves Uhtred haunted, his pride eroded and his resolve tempered by grief, setting the stage for his eventual liberation and the vengeful justice that follows.

Viking Slavery: Europeans Enslaved in Brutal Scandinavian Raid

Viking Slavery: Europeans Enslaved in Brutal Scandinavian Raid By Danes (an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark)

(The Last Kingdom, Netflix 2023)

Learn more: https://t.co/5OiZmN9kWr pic.twitter.com/k4u6ZKBA0N

— America 24 News (@America24news_) February 15, 2026

The Harsh Reality of Viking Slavery.

During the Viking Age (roughly 793–1066 CE), slavery formed a cornerstone of Scandinavian society and economy, with enslaved individuals known as thralls occupying the lowest rung in a rigid three-tiered social hierarchy alongside freemen and nobles. Thralls—primarily Europeans captured during raids on the British Isles, Ireland, continental Europe, and Eastern regions (including Slavs, whose name influenced the very word “slave”)—were acquired as prisoners of war, through debt bondage, criminal punishment, or birth into servitude. They performed grueling labor such as farming, herding, household tasks, fence-building, and turf-cutting, often enduring harsh treatment with minimal rights: they owned nothing, inherited nothing, and could be beaten, maimed, or killed without legal recourse comparable to freemen. Vikings actively traded thralls at major centers like Hedeby and Bolghar, selling them across vast networks to the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, and beyond, generating immense wealth that fueled further raids and expansion. While some thralls could rarely earn or be granted freedom (manumission), and conditions varied by owner, the system was integral to Viking prosperity until Christianity’s spread gradually contributed to its decline.

The Hidden History of Slavery in Imperial China

China’s Long Dark Past, that still continues today. Just in new forms.

What Is CCP Elite Capture? and What is China’s (CCP) Secret Organ Harvest: Millions Imprisoned for Profit

Slavery in China dates back to ancient times, beginning prominently in the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) and continuing through the Zhou and subsequent dynasties, where war captives, criminals, debtors, and sometimes sold children or family members became slaves (known as núlì or nubi). Sources of enslavement included warfare (often targeting non-Chinese groups), punishment, self-sale due to poverty, kidnapping, and inheritance of slave status, though slaves typically formed a small percentage of the population compared to free peasants. The institution evolved over millennia: it expanded in periods like the Qin to Tang dynasties, declined somewhat during the Song economic boom, saw increases under Mongol (Yuan) and Manchu (Qing) rule with bondsmen and retainers, and included limited imports of exotic slaves (such as Africans via Arab traders in the Tang-Song eras). Efforts to limit or reform it appeared sporadically, but slavery persisted in various forms—domestic, penal, and hereditary—until the Qing dynasty nominally abolished it in 1910, though practices lingered informally until around 1949 with the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Unlike chattel slavery in the Americas, Chinese slavery was rarely race-based on a large scale and often blended with debt bondage or servitude, yet it involved severe coercion, ownership, and hereditary debasement.

China’s Hidden Modern Slavery Scandal in 2026

It seems it never stopped since 1600, and Chinese slavery still exists today.

In 2026, China continues to engage in widespread state-imposed forced labor, particularly targeting Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tibetan, and other ethnic minorities, as documented in recent UN reports and investigations. Under programs framed as “poverty alleviation through labour transfer,” individuals—often from rural areas or following detention in facilities previously known as re-education camps—are coercively relocated to factories and farms in Xinjiang and across other provinces, facing threats of punishment, family separation, surveillance, and restricted freedom to refuse or leave work. UN experts in January 2026 expressed alarm over persistent patterns of this exploitation, noting that labor transfers have escalated beyond earlier projections (e.g., millions of instances targeted in prior five-year plans), tainting global supply chains in sectors like cotton, textiles, electronics, critical minerals (such as titanium and magnesium), and solar panels. Estimates from organizations like Walk Free indicate millions living in modern slavery conditions in China, with forced labor intertwined with broader human rights abuses including arbitrary detention, indoctrination, and cultural suppression—practices that international bodies describe as potentially amounting to enslavement or crimes against humanity, despite Chinese government denials and claims of voluntary vocational training.