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slavery
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History & Society
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Recent News
Jul. 27, 2023, 7:12 PM ET (AP)
Citigroup says some predecessor companies likely saw indirect financial benefits from slavery
Jul. 5, 2023, 12:10 PM ET (AP)
France's Supreme Court rejects groups' request for slavery reparations in case from Martinique
Jul. 1, 2023, 3:51 PM ET (AP)
King of the Netherlands apologizes for country's role in slavery on 150th anniversary of abolition
Top Questions
What is slavery?
Should statues of slaveholders be taken down?
Should the federal government pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved people?
slavery, condition in which one human being was owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, or chattel, and was deprived of most of the rights ordinarily held by free persons. There is no consensus on what a slave was or on how the institution of slavery should be defined. Nevertheless, there is general agreement among historians, anthropologists, economists, sociologists, and others who study slavery that most of the following characteristics should be present in order to term a person a slave. The slave was a species of property; thus, he belonged to someone else. In some ...(100 of 16450 words)