What ended worldwide slavery?

Given the poisonous “White shaming” for “White guilt” about “White supremacy,” especially about slavery, there are some historical facts worth noting. First, all races practiced slavery on all continents from the beginning of human civilization as a “normal” human practice. So how did this “normal” practice end?

In the 18th century a critical number of enlightened people, mainly in the Western European countries of Great Britain and France, audaciously questioned the legitimacy of slavery’s historical custom. A custom, at that time, included their own countries. The acceptance and spread of their ideas set events in motion that ultimately led to slavery’s virtual eradication worldwide by the early 20th century. Britain abolished slavery there in 1807.

Those countries first interdicted the slave trade from Africa by sea and resolutely choked off the supply in the 19th century. However, Great Britain’s preeminent navy took primary responsibility (“Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade” by Suzanne Miers). They also sought to end slavery in their colonies in Africa and South/Southeast Asia. Britain’s East India Company formally abolished slavery there in 1843.

These nations were also the driving force behind the 1889-90 Brussels Conference that produced the “General Act for the Repression of African Slave Trade.” Furthermore, they led the 1926 League of Nations “Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery” that formally ended slavery as an acceptable worldwide practice.

So you can thank those White people for that monumental, historic achievement.

Bob Strong

Spokane