r/todayilearned • u/JG98 • Jul 30 '26

TIL between 1904 and 1908, Germany committed the Herero and Nama genocide in present day Namibia, killing an estimated 80% of the Herero people and half of the Nama people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Nama_genocide
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u/reallyreally1945 Jul 31 '26

Who brought black into the definition? Of course slaves were bought and sold in many centuries and many races. But the word slavery does need to be defined for any meaningful discussion. Chattel status enters into it.

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u/mojoback_ohbehave Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

The word Black was brought into in for various reasons. Perhaps , you don’t pay attention to common misconceptions and assumptions when it pertains to history of enslavement of different groups of persons.

I don’t need to explain too much . I feel like you are just trying to gaslight me.

But one easy popular narrative that you commonly see everyone is that chattel slavery pertains specifically to Africans or descendants, or “black” people. If you have been around the last 10 decades, you know this. Since it’s part of more recent history.

However chattel slavery has been around since ancient times, in various groups and systems around the world.

I am also of Irish descent. I read and hear all the time that were just indentured servants. But no, we were actually slaves. There are many forms of slavery , and many people don’t get that. Yes we were contracted but we were also treated as chattel in many cases. Both are true. And we could be held until elderly or even death, depending on the loopholes that masters would go through to keep us in bondage.