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How To Fit 282 Slaves Inside A Ship

memory.loc.gov — Illustration showing deck plans and cross sections of British slave ship Brookes.

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  • Surferess, on 05/26/2008, -90/+163Amazing, how they pictured them to all be exactly the same size. Any engineer could see the flaw in the logic here.
    • jaquestrap, on 05/26/2008, -2/+138(I don't mean to sound racist, or treat the slaves as if they were material goods) Well when they got the slaves by either capturing them or buying them as prisoners of war from native chiefs (It happened), then many times they only looked for big, tall, and strong men as slaves, and many of them would be around the same size.
      • MCA2142, on 05/26/2008, -4/+68You're not a racist. You are just describing facts, and the likely thoughts the slave traders(racists) could have had.

        We can all agree that slavery was terrible. It is however, pretty sickening to see that the slavery industry had to come to an engineering endeavor.

        Sick indeed.
        • iamjames, on 05/26/2008, -6/+2from MCA2142 "It is however, pretty sickening to see that the slavery industry had to come to an engineering endeavor."

          slavery became a business endeavour, and slaves were treated like cattle or horses since they were, essentially, seen as equipment to be used for farming. I'm sure engineers have helped design efficient methods of shipping cows and horses too.

          And really this much space isn't bad, have you guys ever seen how tight sleeping quarters are on navy vessels? They've got guys sleeping on triple stacked bunk beds:
          http://lh3.ggpht.com/fritzyho/RtkLa6K6SII/AAAAAAAA ...
          http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~cookt/images/navy/york0 ...
        • Mononuclear, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4While I agree with what you said about engineering and efficiency and that this was a business... how can you compare navy sleeping quarters with this? This is so much worse on so many levels. Navy ships are no where near as cramped as this not to mention the other things that are much worse.
      • plimpton777, on 05/26/2008, -73/+10UR A RACIST

        OBAMA 2008
      • newtonip, on 05/26/2008, -2/+30Maybe the drawing represents the average size. Since some will be bigger and others smaller, it all averages out and you have enough space for everybody.
      • 9bpm9, on 05/26/2008, -8/+24Most slaves were traded, not captured. Their own tribes leaders traded them for goods, treating their people as goods to be sold and traded, yet the world only looks at the big bad white man making them slaves as the bad person. Both sides were wrong, but people seem to ignore that.
        • roosevans, on 05/26/2008, -21/+7Slavery has been an institution from time immemorial. However there is relatively humane and inhumane slavery. English, French and Spanish slavery was relatively humane. American slavery was relatively inhumane. Hundreds of human beings *****', pissin' and dying on top of one another is indeed inhumane. No African chief or tribe ever did anything like that. Slave ships make me sick to my stomach. If reincarnation is true, I know I have been on one, as a slave. American slavery was hell and the darkest chapter in American history. But now a black man is poised to be President. Only in America!
        • mickstephenson, on 05/26/2008, -14/+19What jingoistic crap, only in America, yeah. Only in America can you speak bollocks about being a reincarnated slave and not realise how offensive that is, and then you speak like America is the most progressive country in the world, seriously?
          "Poised to become president?" Well we'll see, but considering 'liberal' is an insult in your country I wouldn't hold my breath.
        • piesforyou, on 05/26/2008, -2/+9@roosevans

          er, it's a British ship. What are you talking about?
        • Viend, on 05/26/2008, -6/+3It's because the slaves in Africa were merely involuntary servants. In Europe and the Americas, they were disposable and cheap labour.

          So yeah it WAS the big bad white man that was wrong.
        • DM01, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2Slaves. Let me shew you them.
        • BertRussell, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2I find it hilarious how some people (not saying you are one of them, 9bpm9) use "their own chiefs traded them!" as though people having their freedom crushed by the local hierarchy helps to mitigate the responsibility of the US being a slave-owning society less than 150 years ago.
      • asus2000, on 06/30/2008, -9/+5Hey, stop gnawing on my toe row 3 dude..
    • GOVStooge, on 05/26/2008, -5/+259Looks like the same formula used for economy class on airlines...
      • Wilsomatic, on 05/26/2008, -5/+92With more leg room
        • quez, on 05/26/2008, -5/+73And probably better food.
        • H0tKarl, on 05/26/2008, -18/+7Probably smells better too.
        • mindspaceindia, on 05/26/2008, -8/+61It's a British slave ship. I doubt the food will be any better.
        • a380, on 05/26/2008, -30/+8You people are idiots.
        • teh_spazz, on 05/26/2008, -2/+21You have very little sense of humor.
        • mcquitty, on 05/26/2008, -2/+18@a380,

          Ironic your username matches a model of airplane from Airbus.
      • StuTheMeatMan, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6ZING!

        That's definitely a zing joke.
    • leexy, on 05/26/2008, -3/+49THAT's the part that disturbed you?
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -0/+31Somehow I don't think they cared if they had to stuff a little bit. . .
    • KenC411, on 05/26/2008, -6/+1Look closely, some of the people are different sizes. In addition, the slaves are in beds (lying flat). Most of the beds were the same size. The diagram on the side shows beds.
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -0/+13Those are shelves, not beds. There are actual pictures of these types of ships available to see. Or watch ROOTS. No beds.
      • BetterOffEd, on 05/26/2008, -1/+13"Beds"? You're bordering on stupid there, pal...
    • CrossCanyon, on 05/26/2008, -10/+1You're right, tsk tsk . . . what does that say about education in the South? I see they couldn't get their apostrophes right way back then, either.
    • smokeymcdank, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5I wonder if they figured out that they would loose fewer to disease if they spaced them out more. I know its revolting to think of it in economic terms, but it seems like that would have been a good reason to at least give them more room.
      • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2It looks like they were trying to cram them in at every possible angle they could fit. They probably figured what they lose to disease is less than what they'd have to give up every trip by spacing them out.
      • MrNeom, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Yea, but then you had to pay for first class shipping.
    • aodbxcomlives, on 05/26/2008, -2/+0give your mother more room to take more bud ignorant fart sniffer
  • db0255, on 05/26/2008, -18/+409I definitely saw this in sixth grade. Wow. how horrible.
    • slayerab, on 05/26/2008, -4/+109We did an activity in 8th grade were our teacher had all 30 of us lay next to each other on the floor next to each other and across from each oter touching toes, then said, "Imagine all types of bodily fluids everywhere and any type of bad weather, along with people dying from guresome diseases". That really put things in perspective.
      • jaynemother, on 05/26/2008, -67/+7Your 8th grade teacher was a sick person.
        • expatcatalyst, on 05/26/2008, -0/+28Teaching reality isn't sick...
        • itsthebrod, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Yes let's repress our history instead of teaching our past mistakes and atrocities. You're a dumb person.
      • yuanzhoulu, on 05/26/2008, -27/+12well as long as you had girls on either side of you ...
        • Puffles, on 05/26/2008, -0/+12Hear that? That's the sound of the entire concept of slavery, flying directly over your head!
        • yuanzhoulu, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2you're still a slave yourself. i meant if you were in an 8th grade classroom and made to lie down next to your classmates, better it be a girl you like ...
      • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -0/+38His 8th grade teacher taught him a lesson.
      • MarioWhereRu, on 05/26/2008, -23/+1That would be pointless as most of the people of the world believe that the holocaust was the only genocide and slavery that ever happened in history.
        • CMS07, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1American Indians, Mesopotamia, everywhere had slaves. People are niave
      • KMartSheriff, on 05/26/2008, -0/+14Holy ***** I remember doing that too. Dugg for nostalgia.
        • DigxDug, on 05/26/2008, -4/+14If the main feeling you're getting from this picture is nostalgia then you're doing it wrong.
        • Netrilix, on 05/26/2008, -3/+6DigxDug: I don't know why you're being dugg down. That was the funniest comment I've read all morning.
      • im2emo4myshrt, on 05/26/2008, -2/+75My 8th grade teacher did that too! Except he made us take off our clothes...

        I wonder what ever happened to him.
      • atticus8, on 05/26/2008, -1/+8Mr. 8th Grade Teacher, I'd like you to have a seat over here.
    • Majortom90, on 05/26/2008, -3/+28Yeah, Its so terrible. How could people do this?
    • ModernChem, on 05/26/2008, -4/+33Dugg for morality
    • r0flc4k3s, on 05/26/2008, -1/+31Yeah I know, it's so old that I've seen it in a book before!
    • PsychoDeli, on 05/26/2008, -11/+24Not much has changed...just instead of doing it to people directly, we allow people to do this to themselves for our benefit. What do I mean?

      Example: All the cheap clothes that we buys is made in countries like India and China. People live and work like slaves. They sleep in terrible conditions in the factories where they have to work and just like in the slave trade days, we all think that this is acceptable.

      And, while all this is happening we are more concerned with the wellfare of chickens (gotta have them free range chickens, can't have an uncomfortable chicken!!)

      Screw the chickens and stand up to modern day slavery.
      • Azio, on 05/26/2008, -0/+3India is actually not that bad compared to China
      • DalamarArgent, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5Are you providing the chickens or do we have to find them ourselves?
      • gustasonfrever, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1Well its not really the same. Workers in sweatshops are paid (I don't care how small the amount is, they are paid) and they have the choice to leave. No one is forcing them to work in the factories, they do it so that they can survive.
        Slaves were not given a choice, they were forced to go at the point of a gun. Slaves were much worse off, how dare you compare the two situations.
      • 0biKwiet, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1It funny the number of people who whine because people in China an India are finally able to compete with them for jobs that are the offer decent wages. People whine so much about their "low paying" jobs here in the US, but thanks to the vast amounts of unskilled laborers in China and India who make orders of magnitude less, for way harder work, they really have it pretty darn good. If you have food, AC, a TV and roof over your head, you have it a hell of a lot better than the people that (essentially) made that possible.
      • bj1989, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Not just the cheap clothes...

        By the way chickens really have nothing to do with this.
    • plr4ever, on 05/26/2008, -3/+26This is truly older than the internet.
    • jackieshmackie, on 05/26/2008, -0/+7they had us all lay down like this in 8th grade to demonstrate
    • snapcase, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6Yeah saw it in the history text books back in school.... don't remember what grade though.
    • LoveAndSeagulls, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Yeah I was just thinking about the middle school days.
    • chillmandan, on 05/26/2008, -1/+6I think its funny how people comment on how horrible this was, and how terrible the people were that did this, as if we would be staunch anti-slavery advocates if we had been alive back during the trans-atlantic slave trade. Human nature is eternal, moral code however is shaped purely by the time and place that you lived.
    • Czechxican, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2haha. I was thinking the same thing. Diggers head for your book scans.
    • Gravey9, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4man that would be incredibly claustrophobic.
    • talonstriker, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Doesn't every 8th grade history textbook have this picture?
  • brad3378, on 05/26/2008, -67/+30I'd hate to be the guy stuck in the middle if somebody nearby farted.
    • bcool, on 05/26/2008, -5/+35..or vomited or shat or died...
    • PrintScrn12, on 05/26/2008, -2/+32I'd hate to be the guy in there full stop
    • Alphateam, on 05/26/2008, -2/+55I'd hate to be ANY guy on that ship.
      • Vash3001, on 05/26/2008, -0/+13I think the captain had it quite nice.
        • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6Sorry, I laughed. I couldn't help it.
    • arTech, on 05/26/2008, -17/+3I'd hate to be you. Period
    • TheRealJMX, on 05/26/2008, -14/+6This, from an Obama supporter?
      • brad3378, on 05/26/2008, -7/+2You must be referring to my new gaping obama hole icon.
        take a look at my profile to see a larger version.
      • brad3378, on 05/26/2008, -10/+2You must be referring to my new gaping obama hole icon.
        take a look at my profile to see a larger version.
      • OftEccentricity, on 05/26/2008, -3/+2HAHAH. You make me laugh. You're acting as if Obama supporters are enlightened or intelligent or something.
        • CMS07, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1And as if he doesn't speak in soundbits and lie, and change his stance on crap from one week to the next. Say hello Dems. John McCain will, unforunately, be your next president.
    • metric7, on 05/26/2008, -4/+2Must've smelled worse than a cross country car trip.
    • hmunkey, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5That is the main thing you'd be worried about? Really?
    • troyfoley, on 05/28/2008, -0/+1rollin' in my own leftover, when i rollover, i rollover on somebody else...
  • SeaweedWater, on 05/26/2008, -44/+1093I've been doing it all wrong, thanks submitter.
    • dabura, on 05/26/2008, -41/+7What? Fit them all into a bike?
    • StickWST, on 05/26/2008, -9/+31A stolen one.
    • ThickGreenPuke, on 05/26/2008, -30/+60Let me know when your next shipment arrives...I need a few
      • paigeinphilly, on 05/26/2008, -11/+2you should have been on there...then i guess it wouldnt be so damn funny.
    • debuggercll, on 05/26/2008, -31/+17It's easier to get them out because you can use a pitch fork.
      • cvxdes1, on 05/26/2008, -1/+14QC will never let that through. Think about the profit margins.
      • dogpigeoncow, on 05/26/2008, -12/+6you crossed the line buddy
    • swantonamobay, on 05/26/2008, -18/+4Well played SeaweedWater
    • MrBill79, on 05/26/2008, -5/+84Yeah, before I could only fit 281...
      • cdigioia, on 05/26/2008, -2/+24You laugh now, but adding one more slave actually dramatically increases your profit margin.

        It's a tight market, you have to be creative.
        • cdigioia, on 05/27/2008, -2/+0Who dugg me down? ***** bleeding heart liberal and they're anti-slavery *****, I betcha.
        • cdigioia, on 05/27/2008, -1/+1What with their book learnin', and being able to differentiate amongst "they're", "there", and "their"

          I'm an idiot.
    • Wiini, on 05/26/2008, -5/+51... there were 10 in a bed and one of them said, "Roll over! Roll over!"...
    • chris1012, on 05/26/2008, -4/+20how long were they in ships like that? I guess they ***** their pants and I guess anyone below the 1st floor had piss drop on them.

      How disgusting, wtf were people thinking back then?
      • lukeb1222, on 05/26/2008, -1/+29Free labor. That's what they were thinking...
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -2/+9It used to take 6 months or so to sail from Africa to the Americas I believe...
      • heavystone, on 05/26/2008, -4/+10"Back then"?
        Sadly slavery is STILL going on, but not as openly as it was.
      • analogkid01, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4They were thinking the same things that many people think now - that certain "other" people aren't due basic human rights, usually due to differences in religion or skin color.
    • drizzlelicious, on 05/26/2008, -5/+17I'm going to go to hell now for digging you up
      • vtowner, on 05/26/2008, -8/+11There is no hell. The Bible is a fairy tale.
      • boomerfan2005, on 05/30/2008, -0/+0ARE YOU ATHEISTS EVERYWHERE!!! :*(
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -2/+13I put retractable wheels on mine so I can drive it across the border too.
    • noisymime, on 05/26/2008, -1/+11The British learned early howto mix LEAN concepts with six sigma to effectively manage their shipping routes.
    • hansk, on 05/26/2008, -3/+53you can fit at least twice as many by tying them to the outer hull of the ship.
    • samscomputer2, on 05/26/2008, -1/+10i know how wrong that comment was yet i still laughed.

      im ashamed of myself
    • smpx, on 05/26/2008, -2/+10What scares me is that there are more slaves now than any other time in history. Go progress go.
    • kevinwiz, on 05/26/2008, -4/+16is that....... is that possible?...... a ... a tasteful... tasteful slavery joke?
    • norbiu, on 05/26/2008, -1/+14What?! Too soon??
      • crazycraka, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Well its been over 22.3 years, so slavery can be funny.
    • dleesgeetar, on 05/26/2008, -13/+9disturbing how many diggs your comment got
    • moomza, on 05/26/2008, -9/+3***** SLAVE SUCKS!!

      (packing my bags for hell, and you all should too)
  • n0gnuz, on 05/26/2008, -22/+138This is a very visceral reminder of the evil of slavery, which many ethnic groups have been subjected to throughout history. Someone should put together a site on the history of slavery, from the BCE period through African slavery today. The Egyptians did it. The Jews and Arabs did it. The Europeans did it. The German socialists and communists did it. It's been happening in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East for thousands of years.
    • DanThe1Man, on 05/26/2008, -13/+16"The Egyptians did it."
      The new testament of the bible said they did, but most Egyptian historians disagree with that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramid_cons ...
      • slayerab, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3I think this should be a reminder to the objectification of any human life. Racism can make rational people think ***** like this is okay. Slavery alone is not the only atrocity that proves this, look at the holocaust.
      • JimmySpaza, on 05/26/2008, -14/+27Of course, the EGYPTIAN historians would disagree. It makes them look better if Egypt never used slaves. Beware of revisionist historians.
        • BrainInAJar, on 05/26/2008, -8/+7Do we have any evidence that they did have slaves, other than the bible ( hint: the bible may not be true, it looks better if the jews were slaves that ran away instead of slackers that quit )
        • JimmySpaza, on 05/26/2008, -12/+6@BrainInAJar

          Yes.

          http://www.bibleandscience.com/archaeology/exodus. ...

          http://www.betchesed.org/biblical_and_extrabiblica ...
        • BrainInAJar, on 05/26/2008, -4/+15Anything from sources that don't have a religious agenda to push?
        • publiclurker, on 05/26/2008, -3/+6Oh, please, Trying to BS your way out of an argument with such biased sources is even lamer than just admitting you're wrong.
        • filth, on 05/26/2008, -3/+9How about the pyramids? It's just a guess on my part, but I highly doubt the workers involved were receiving a fair and equitable wage.
        • BrainInAJar, on 05/26/2008, -4/+5@filth

          You could say the same thing about modern skyscrapers, but it still doesn't provide evidence to the hypothesis that ancient egypt practiced slavery
        • JimmySpaza, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1@ BrainInAJar,

          As opposed to sources that have an anti-religion agenda to push?

          Don't dismiss something simply because it includes religion in the argument. To do so would be so...close-minded of you and expose your bias.
      • ZeroFive1, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/slaves.htm
      • vancouverbluz, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3The egyptians treated the jews very good, compared to how the jews treated the africans during the colonial slave trade. :(
        • JimmySpaza, on 05/26/2008, -3/+1Buried for taking a few hundred (thousand?) Jews who helped the slave trade and condemning an entire people.

          Exaggerate much?
        • vancouverbluz, on 05/27/2008, -2/+0I'm not condeming all jews, absolutely not, i have jewish friends, i'm but there area the colonialist jews who had their hands deep into the slave trade profit pot.
    • jaquestrap, on 05/26/2008, -10/+16Just do slaves on google search man, you will find plenty of people documenting the history of slavery, I don't think it NEEDS anymore attention. I mean, there are so many other horrible events in history that just get looked over, but Slavery is definetly not one of them. Someone instead should make a website about the NON-jews who died in the Holocaust, they always seem kinda overlooked to me (I know, some of you will say that you saw a section about them in a holocaust museum, but notice that 7/8 of the museums are always based on jewish losses, and that most of the non-jews that they mention are always gays, communists, and gypsies? What about the Polish, Lithuanians, and others?). Or maybe someone could do a site about all of the people deported to Siberia by the communists. I could name many other events that probably need a new site more than Slavery does.
      • ZeroFive1, on 05/26/2008, -2/+9Because americans have an overwhelming soft spot for Jews and not gays, maybe?

        Honestly, it's true.
        • Chronoped, on 05/26/2008, -4/+3This shouldn't be made into any sort of competition, but as far as persecution goes, the Jews have just about everyone else beat. I guess I'm biased because I am one, but hell I have to admit, we rarely change countries for reasons other than fleeing from something. Don't think america has too much of a soft spot for Jews. Anti-semitism is still very much a reality in this country, just like racism and sexism.
        • BrainInAJar, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6@Chronoped

          Not to discount what's happened to the jews... but Gypsies had it pretty bad.. Koreans too, Africans after Europeans discovered them.

          And Persians, arabs, greeks and the likes have had it pretty bad through history as well.

          Judaism did a good job of writing it all down though
        • ZenMojo, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Not to mention Socialists. Then again, as long as the Right keeps convincing us that the Nazis were Socialists and the Socialist triangles they stuck on clothes were novelty items...

          But the Gypsies got seriously slaughtered in the holocaust.
      • PsychoDeli, on 05/26/2008, -3/+6Sorry for the double post but my reply is more apt here:

        Not much has changed...just instead of doing it to people directly, we allow people to do this to themselves for our benefit. What do I mean?

        Example: All the cheap clothes that we buys is made in countries like India and China. People live and work like slaves. They sleep in terrible conditions in the factories where they have to work and just like in the slave trade days, we all think that this is acceptable.

        And, while all this is happening we are more concerned with the wellfare of chickens (gotta have them free range chickens, can't have an uncomfortable chicken!!)

        Screw the chickens and stand up to modern day slavery.
      • LeonidasStokely, on 05/26/2008, -0/+26m Jews were killed during the holocaust and 18m non-combatant Russians were killed.

        I don't know how many were killed in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, London, Porsmouth, Plymouth etc in the Blitz, Dresden (especially) in the firebombings but suffice to say that we (Europeans and Americans) killed a ***** of a lot of non-combatants in WWII.
    • Hawk2007, on 05/26/2008, -6/+42The Africans sold out their own people and do it themselves. It wasn't just an egyption, jew, european problem.

      I'll be damned if there is a single race on this planet that hasn't sold out their own people at one time or another.
      • odganarb, on 05/26/2008, -1/+11Because being of the same race is what makes people the same.
      • gryphon50, on 05/26/2008, -2/+14I doubt the Africans that sold out other Africans saw themselves as doing this to "their own people." It's more likely that they saw it as a way to destroy a nearby tribe who had been their enemy for generations, while making some money to boot.
      • Evocati, on 05/26/2008, -3/+4Not many people know that either. People always blame the slave owners only, but one can't be an owner with a trader. Just like a person can't be a drug addict without a source of drugs. Ultimately I'd say greed is to blame.
        • vancouverbluz, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1True but i would say that the colonial slave traders were more to blame than the tribal chiefs that sold their defeated ememies. Because, initially it was about defeating ones enemies and selling the defeated as slaves, but because of the colonial escallation of slavery and to have highly productive plantations all over the world, that created a huge demand which the tribal chiefs took advantage of. Here it was demand that increased the supply and colonial slave traders which cased the greatest wars to occur in africa because of the need to fulfill slave labor demands.
      • theuber1337, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Slavery and race are only relevant to each other in modern slavery. Slaves used to be prisoners, POW, or foreigners. Nationalism was the old racism.
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3SOME Africans sold each other, and SOME were captured. That just does not excuse the people doing the buying. Perhaps if Africans were had sailed to America with the slaves in tow and selling them that way, maybe that could be an argument. The "john" is still breaking the law even if the prostitute is selling her "goods".

        Something people don't consider is that the ones selling their kinsmen off likely didn't have any concept of the type of slavery they would suffer. American slavery was unique. For black slaves it was not indentured servitude, it was slavery for life and for all of your children based solely on skin color. It was complete removal of language, culture, religion, heritage, family name, choice of marriage partners or determination for ones own children, and a complete inability to assimilate if one was set free or escaped because one could never escape skin color and the negatives associated with it.
    • adam1185, on 05/26/2008, -1/+13"Someone should put together a site on the history of slavery, from the BCE period through African slavery today."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
    • ClarkNoHeart, on 05/26/2008, -6/+12The Simpsons did it.
    • KillerLettuce, on 05/26/2008, -8/+9American Southerners did it.
      • NSResponder, on 05/26/2008, -2/+11Not just the southerners. Those slave ships were built, owned, and operated by yankees, for the most part.

        -jcr
    • Dyyhpys, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3The Greeks and Romans did it as well, but they were nicer about it than this.
      Well, in some ways.
      • NSResponder, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5They generally marched their slaves over land from wherever they were captured. The fatalities for slave caravans from Africa were similar in proportion to those on the slave ships.

        -jcr
    • DarkLance, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3everyone has done it, and either way you can;t say that people are wrong or evil just because of where they live. thats for the science of geography. I bet if(when) we find some intelligent alien lifeform, they'll be doing it too. yes its bad, but so are drugs. mm'kay?
    • Vash3001, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2yeah thats exactly what we need.
      Lets remind everyone instead of forgetting it.
    • fugazied, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3It still goes on TODAY, in 'modern, civilized' western societies. There are news stories of women brought into Australia or the US or some other country as sex slaves always popping up. Its not like we can say 'oh slavery is a matter for the history books', its a constant threat even in 2008. Its just not out in the open like it once was.
      • Ortheos, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2As long as a resource is still valuable, as long as a viable market exists (in this case for human slaves), it will be utilized by the avid capitalist pig in his never ending quest for profit and by extension-his lust for unlimited power over others.
      • LeonidasStokely, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1http://www.stopthetraffik.org/language.aspx
    • mahamayhem, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1I like to do it... in fact, I'm doin' it right now...
    • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1When did the Jews ever hold slaves?
      • NSResponder, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1Jews had slaves just like everyone else who could afford them. There are laws in Leviticus about how to treat your slaves, for example.

        -jcr
    • ZenMojo, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1I guess I should be the first to point out the uniqueness of African slavery as a mass-market enterprise and how this picture of the boat shows a purely African tragedy. I should also explain the fallacy of someone saying, "Yeah, well it happened to everybody," after seeing this picture, and how, no, it did not happen to everybody.

      But I doubt the people who dugg the guy above me actually care about facts.
    • S1c0, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1Money (or rather, DEBT) is the new form of slavery. Think about it?
  • djepik, on 05/26/2008, -14/+221"Boy's"??? Lurn sum grammar 1788!!
    • HangerBaby, on 05/26/2008, -14/+2women boy's men?
      really, really weird...

      I've not heard of a women boy..
    • punkcat, on 05/26/2008, -5/+16
      you see "shewn?"



      • notoneofus, on 05/26/2008, -0/+9That was a correct spelling at the time.
      • LeonidasStokely, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4Pick up a book that wasn't written by Tom Clancy.
    • thirdcoastborn, on 05/26/2008, -16/+5these are comments not a book report. get your dick out of your ass. ***** nerd
      • lukeb1222, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5That comment is not a book report. Get you ass out of my dick. ***** nerd.
    • cvxdes1, on 05/26/2008, -15/+9What a hypocritical comment.

      You used three question marks and two exclamation points.

      The grammar, you're doing it wrong.
      • BodomX, on 05/26/2008, -0/+10Yet, you completely look over the fact is says "Lurn sum"
    • sonnybobiche, on 05/26/2008, -0/+13That was correct english at the time. As was the word "shewn" for what we today spell "shown."
      • LeonidasStokely, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Can you reference that? I think you're ***** us...
        • CMS07, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1I don't know, just look at the crap in the Declaration of Independance...
    • Habemus, on 05/26/2008, -0/+7Maybe it's short for "Boy's section"
    • Vash3001, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2"lurn"....haha
    • jfsimard79, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2No only that, but back then they used to say 'shewn' instead of 'shown' (shew, show).

      I just finished reading 'The Pilgrim's Progress (1678)' and 'shew' is in that book a lot too.
    • Dymster, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0Also "stowage"...

      You're doing it wrong!
  • history1me, on 05/26/2008, -13/+35This is a great reminder of the countless of injustices humans have done to each other. The U.S is but one of so many others.
    • Scaryclouds, on 05/26/2008, -2/+12Obviously the US has heavily involved in slavery, but this particular injustice belongs to the British. Top of the picture "Stowage of the British slave ship 'Brookes'..."
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Many ships started out in Britain, went to Africa and got slaves, sailed to America to sell them, then back to Britain to begin it all again.
        • warriormonk, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3For those of you keeping score at home, the Netherlands led all other colonial powers in slave trading. Remember the Dutch east India Company? And don't forget that the stronger African tribes were instrumental in providing slaves to the Europeans. They would attack their weaker neighbors, sell some to the Europeans and keep a few for themselves.
    • 9bpm9, on 05/26/2008, -1/+8Most of the world was involved in the African slave trade. You didn't think all of the black people in Europe went there willingly now did you?
    • NSResponder, on 05/26/2008, -2/+5To give credit where credit is due, slavery has been nearly wiped out throughout the world, because western countries became disgusted with it, and stamped it out over the objections of pretty much everybody else. England fought against the slave trade all alone for about fifty years before other European countries decided to help.

      -jcr
      • history1me, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3Slavery has not been dealt with. It's not gone. It's still very much alive.

        The term today is "Human trafficking." Anyone held in servitude against their will can be considered a "slave." There are many articles about this: slavery is not gone.

        • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4Yeah, but that describes pretty much everyone.
    • insomniac8400, on 05/26/2008, -11/+4America did not invent slavery. Americans did not start the practice of bring slaves here. But America ended slavery. Give credit where credit is due. That's why the demands of reparations are so ridiculous. This country is the reason black people aren't slaves today.
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -1/+6Oooh, that was a fantastic circular argument there, a ridiculous one, but still circular as hell.
      • Gravey9, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2I like the line "America ended slavery" haha ya in AMERICA. Did you hear America invented the wheel and cured aids too!
        • insomniac8400, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1We fought a war to end it.
        • CMS07, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1We fought a war to keep the Confederation in the Union.
          Lincoln only wanted to end slavery in Kansas.
          American history is crap, you need more than a history book.

          -cms07, USA
  • ElBeh, on 05/26/2008, -23/+9Cue the untimely black jokes.
    • Alphateam, on 05/26/2008, -8/+43How many slaves does it take to....***** it. Even I'm not that kind of heartless bastard.
      • ThickGreenPuke, on 05/26/2008, -2/+49I am a heartless bastard, so here you go...
        Why don't black people go on cruises?


        They're not falling for that trick again.
        • TdiFFRob6876, on 05/26/2008, -0/+3LMAO that's ***** up. I feel so bad digging you up but damnit I'm going to Hell
      • LeonidasStokely, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4"How many salves does it take to... ***** it?"

        One, once you go black you never go back.
      • ThickGreenPuke, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4Enough with the black jokes. When I was young, my best friend was black. But then my dad sold him.
    • dabura, on 05/26/2008, -10/+2This thread started by an ape o.0
    • crazyjake, on 05/26/2008, -1/+11too soon?
    • FeartheKnighted, on 05/26/2008, -11/+21That's totally uncalled for. Even though I may look white, I actually have a few African-Americans in my family's tree.

      And they are still hanging there

      That was bad.
  • Emnsta, on 05/26/2008, -59/+24In history, some get stepped on in the name of progress, that's it

    /Bottom, second from the right, "under the Poop"
    //Hehe
    • blackdude, on 05/26/2008, -4/+5Cool, so how about I step on you? *****. Slavery is alive and well over in East Europe, and I can tell you it definately isn't progress.
      • Ortheos, on 05/26/2008, -2/+4Since the fall of communism, the slave traders are free to trade again. Thanks capitalism.
      • duckyinc, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3They are progressing aren't they?
    • skyroket, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2"Hehe" doesn't make it right.
    • sinisterouge, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1bottom left, cross section of the poop. ewwww haha
  • baylat, on 05/26/2008, -45/+3hey, how can I bury a user?
    • dabura, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1you gotta blow his PC
    • DarkReign16, on 05/26/2008, -0/+8Here, let me show you.

      I'll use you as an example.
    • MadN, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Shovels work, if you can't get a backhoe.
  • Spike716, on 05/26/2008, -26/+14I thought there would be a picture of a giant blender.

    But I realized that I was thinking of a really bad dead baby joke...
  • ndesantis, on 05/26/2008, -21/+10that would suck to be between a fat guy and a sick guy

    • Duncster, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6Too bad there wouldn't be a fat guy or a sick guy on that boat. Sick guy would be thrown over board and the fat guy would not be put on the boat in the first place. Besides, who ever heard of a fat slave?
  • ABadPerson, on 05/26/2008, -2/+52"in the manner of galleries in churches"
    • lukeb1222, on 05/26/2008, -0/+12Irony noted.
    • blackjack75, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5This should explain why the descendants of the victims still go to the churches of the people who did this to them.
      • ABadPerson, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1In a different-sitting-position of course. :)
  • l33tpwnzord, on 05/26/2008, -20/+7looks efficient. i'll give it a try
  • Tripacer9999, on 05/26/2008, -86/+30Will someone please tell me how this is even relevant to news?
    • BrainInAJar, on 05/26/2008, -0/+29you can still buy slaves?

      Typically eastern european or east asian women for the sex trade, but slavery is far from dead
      • Pillage, on 05/26/2008, -1/+7and these Asian sex slaves, they have websites, or markets, or what?
        • hmunkey, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Pillage, they're ususally kidnapped girls, so you'd have a conscience attack and go crazy.
    • bhavinbm, on 05/26/2008, -3/+27Digg is not only about News .. if you want news, go watch CNN
    • crazyjake, on 05/26/2008, -1/+18you know... Digg has more stuff than just news...

      or you could just go to your settings and make sure you only get news.
      • stormspire, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Yep, Digg has 4chan, random "funny" stuff, XKCD, Cracked.com, propaganda and Ubuntu!

        That is way more than just news.

        • Dyyhpys, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3Dugg for propaganda.

          And, why do I keep reading news as jews...?
      • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -0/+3Digg has news?
        • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Yeah, it was news several hours ago, but is just now coming up to the front page now that nobody gives a ***** anymore.
    • d686, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2don't find it relevant? don't read it. 1200+ people thought it was worth getting dugg.
    • Insomaniac24, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5One word. History.
      • paigeinphilly, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1yeh history...but also the fodder for many insenstitive jokes as well.

        not funny.

    • Surferess, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Tripacer - This story was not classified as news. It was classified as an image. If you want only news, then stay on the news page. Some of us occasionally need SOME thing besides news.
  • thelastcivilian, on 05/26/2008, -1/+52This world has a sometimes unfortunate history, and that history is still being made. 27 million enslaved, right now, it has been estimated.
    • jrhelgeson, on 05/26/2008, -3/+5And what makes matters worse is if we ever try to bring an end to that slavery then we get accused of furthering the "American Empire". Right now we are making MASSIVE inroads into bringing food, water, medicine, education and other basic necessities to Africa. We are doing all of this through the one, single government bureaucracy that works, which is the United States Military. Nevertheless, we deploy any troops, forces or even civilians staffed at any base in these foreign lands, irrespective of the nobility of the mission, and we are accused of trying to invade them for their country's wealth... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
      • Scaryclouds, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1I suspect that most of the 27 million are from southeast Asia not Africa. Also the are other effective armed forces outside the US armed forces.
      • Kas70, on 05/26/2008, -0/+6We need to irrigate Africa and build up their infrastructure so that they can eventually feed themselves instead of throwing more rice at them.
        • gincarnated, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Not to mention when America and other countries throw all the cheap rice at them the farming undustry there suffers and people starve. If America were liberating countries that ddidn't actually have economical interest to them then no one would say those things.
      • analogkid01, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3I call *****. First, the military is good for one thing, and that's blowing ***** up - not necessarily the best solution to poverty, slavery, what have you. Members of all military branches are brainwashed to become killers, not caretakers. Secondly, we "help" countries in a paltry way in order to assuage our guilt for throwing *most* of our military might into Iraq, which has resulted in countless American and Iraqi deaths. If I were you, I'd rethink the idea that the US Military is some sort of savior, and see it for what it has become - a political and economic tool.
  • dawnraid101, on 05/26/2008, -5/+95***** being a slave.
  • slayerab, on 05/26/2008, -15/+321Its gonna be weird in 300 years when some robot submits a diagram on digg showing how cars were packed in to ships without any space or anything. Just trying to lighten the atmosphere...
    • DaviDTC, on 05/26/2008, -4/+81MrBabyRobot
    • xmizzbojanglesx, on 05/26/2008, -4/+13You made me smile through my tears, Slayer.
    • astronomical, on 05/26/2008, -14/+1Cars? Do you mean humans?
    • bozodaclown51, on 05/26/2008, -0/+57more realistically they'll be posting this slave ship diagram as a reference point for an efficient way to load up their human slave transport shuttles
      • lotu, on 05/26/2008, -1/+13Unlikely, human make relatively louse slave compared to other robots (or the non-sentient ones). Then need food, sleep, and aren't made of easily replaceable parts.
        • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0Not to nit pick but they do have the advantage of having vastly greater inteligence.... some at least. That may be changing in the future.
        • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Easily replaceable parts? They replace themselves. Just keep 'em fed and *****. That's the only thing that makes humans better than robot slaves - they multiply themselves, and they are less specialized so they can do more different tasks. The thing is that time probably doesn't mean the same to a machine, so they wouldn't need a lot of slaves shipped, they could just wait for an entire planet to populate itself since they have no concept of aging.
      • astronomical, on 05/26/2008, -4/+2Bitch stole my joke.
    • kahrytan, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3I would be more concerned about their plans to see how many humans they can stack on top of each other in a tower. Then connect wires to us and turn the human race into slaves.
    • dstz, on 05/26/2008, -5/+1What I don't get in that joke is.. the joke? cars would evolve in robots, and the robots would complain about how they were treated when they were mere stupid unconscious cars?... I'm sure that I don't have to finish my point now.
    • hmcook87, on 05/26/2008, -2/+9Back then people thought slaves had no feelings, wern't inteligent life, and so did not deserve human considerations. just like we think about cars today... makes you think dosn't it.
      • FutureGuy, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1I am pretty sure my car doesn't have any feeling, I don't think we can say the same about the so called slaves who were real humans.
  • jaquestrap, on 05/26/2008, -15/+6Haven't most people already seen this picture, I mean I have seen it everywhere, internet, history books...
    • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Yes, but not everyone has yet had an opportunity to point out that they have seen it before.
  • Zapple, on 05/26/2008, -13/+169They clearly are just doing this to save money due to the rising gas prices.
  • AlwaysAwake, on 05/26/2008, -9/+24There was no flaw in the logic. These men were chattel, property. And, as such, undeserving of humane consideration by their "masters".
  • OffPiste, on 05/26/2008, -1/+35Can you tessellate slaves?
  • Ocelot13, on 05/26/2008, -17/+10but....
    how can i fit 282 slaves into my freezer in the form of steaks and ground meat?
    thats the real question.
  • XenoSNK, on 05/26/2008, -8/+29292 actually. And you can do a lot with those 10 slaves.
  • Hawk2007, on 05/26/2008, -34/+342Slavery was such a shame. Mexicans can find a way to fit 282 of themselves in a damn honda civic.
    • drastik21, on 05/26/2008, -36/+6go have sex with your sister
    • bhavinbm, on 05/26/2008, -24/+2Intolerant attitude sucks ...
      • itsthebrod, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Exactly what, is he being intolerant of? You're intolerant of humor.
    • Potent1al, on 05/26/2008, -26/+13i think that was racist, i dunno
    • rmostag1, on 05/26/2008, -0/+33if i could thumbs-up you twice, i would. that was fantastic
    • Lockhart, on 05/26/2008, -3/+8Now that was just inappropriate!
      Dugg, though.
    • Vash3001, on 05/26/2008, -5/+8283...
    • vancouverbluz, on 05/26/2008, -5/+3hawk, that was funny! haha mexicans in a civic. YEs illegal mexicans are the new slave labor.
      • tomarocco, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1And the brilliance of it is that it is a volunteer effort!!!
  • goodkidyo, on 05/26/2008, -11/+4shewn? haha
  • Hegemony, on 05/26/2008, -11/+22That made me feel a little sick just looking at.
    • Gravey9, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1ditto and not for the fact that it was about slaves but for the fact that the storage was so small.
  • inferno10, on 05/26/2008, -6/+68Ollie Williams: "I SAW A FISH!"
  • hurricanewane, on 05/26/2008, -8/+33Not much different than the bus system in any major city.
    • Hawk2007, on 05/26/2008, -2/+6You're absolutely right. As bad as some American cities are about that, a lot of third world countries are 10x worse. Plus, the people have like zero hygiene and no deodorant so it's like a hell bus.
    • bxblox, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2One nyc subway car has about 200 people during rush hour... I wonder how big that ship is..
    • eastmanweb, on 05/26/2008, -1/+6"Not much different than the bus system in any major city."

      There is one difference: You can get off a bus.
    • Intamin, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Haha, not in Tampa. We have about 4 people on any bus at any time. I've never seen a crowded bus in the city (of course, I don't ride them...but still).

      Not that I'm proud of it, I'd rather them be full then have 50 people riding separately spewing gas. But what can you do? (Other than ride the bus yourself. ;))
  • dabura, on 05/26/2008, -15/+10am i seeing the word *British*? o.0
    dam heartless bastards
    • shedtroll, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1/me immediately calls himself Scottish...
      • BarriedaleNick, on 05/26/2008, -1/+3Actually the Scots are British...
  • DrunkenSavior, on 05/26/2008, -9/+22That's one busy pokeball...
    • bobdance, on 05/26/2008, -8/+1You sir just made me chuckle. But I buried you anyways.
  • bhavinbm, on 05/26/2008, -6/+16Most gruesome picture I have seen in a long time ...
    • yuanzhoulu, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1read up on medieval torture devices then. things like the "pear of anguish", "the brazen bull", "lead sprinkler", "foot roaster", or the "rack", for example.
      • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -1/+0Don't forget the wheel... (you don't want to know)... and many others.

        Such images did come to mind but concider the scale of the crimes against humanity.
  • epicrule34, on 05/26/2008, -10/+24What if I need to fit 283 slaves in my ship?
    • PocchieTheMan, on 05/26/2008, -2/+16Then you'll have 9 slots left, according to the pic.
    • beatleman, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2"We're gonna need a bigger boat."
    • iRelinquish, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1if your bed is big enough, sex slave
  • Seeki, on 05/26/2008, -9/+25Disgusting.
    • TheChunt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4Relax. Without considering context anything could be disgusting. Perhaps 200 years from now we will seem disgusting for eating beef.
  • dyranios2, on 05/26/2008, -11/+16Hmm yes I can see where I have been going wrong....I could ship 38% more slaves a year if I made these adjustments to my own ship.
  • cockaroachie, on 05/26/2008, -19/+7Ahhh, the good old days...
    • bhavinbm, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2How would you like to be packed into a 20X20X20 box and shipped to Middle East in a ship as a slave? Good old days can come back if you wish.
    • j1ggy, on 05/26/2008, -2/+3That was so bad I laughed. Does that make me a bad person?
  • ihazstatus, on 05/26/2008, -16/+6Thumbs up for the surprising lack of tasteless jokes so far.
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2Except for all the ones above you?
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0Still a little too sobering for many of the comments made.
  • antonio97b, on 05/26/2008, -6/+24Wouldn't it be more space efficient if you were to do alternating head to toe? Since the top body is wider than the legs. If you flip flop then it fits even snugger and you would be able to fit more slaves in.
    • lukeb1222, on 05/26/2008, -1/+17Thank God you didn't exist 250 years ago... but good engineering eye!
    • publiclurker, on 05/26/2008, -0/+10Feeding efficiency may become an issue. you don't have to do it much but you want your cargo to live long enough to sell.
    • elTito, on 05/26/2008, -1/+5I'm pretty sure they actually did that. I dimly remember seeing a diagram like this in my childhood which showed the slaves alternating head to toe.

      public: They didn't really feed them enough to make that a problem. I want to say that the trip was a few weeks, which is survivable on minimal food. Slaves were seen more as livestock than human beings.
      • antonio97b, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4No. Really? They weren't seen as people?
        • BossKey, on 05/26/2008, -1/+6Actually, it's quite traditional that if you want to gain mass support for oppressing others, you simply reframe your intended oppressed as non-human, therefore they are not deserving of human rights. Once that's accomplished, you can get others to help with your evil plan.

          This has happened over and over again through history, where a particular ethnic or other group is called sub-human until the concept takes hold in society, and at that point the oppression can begin.

          Armed forces across the world use a similar technique. In the army you will never talk about attacking "people" or "men." You always strategize, defend against, attack, seek to kill if necessary, and defeat, "the enemy." You are not allowed to refer to them as people, because then you might empathize with them and not be able to do your job.
        • antonio97b, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1I think you missed my sarcasm.
    • vancouverbluz, on 05/26/2008, -7/+1Antonio you are a real idiot you know that? I would love to take you and put you into a coffin alive, then float you out to sea for a few months. How would you feel about that? 1/3 of all the slaves died in those conditions. There is no doubt in my mind that the african slave trade was the worst of all of the slave trades throughout the history of humanity.
    • kaptainchump, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/up ...
  • u2wedge, on 05/26/2008, -4/+25we've come a long way in 220 years...
    • fearofsociety, on 05/26/2008, -2/+18And yet we still have a ways to go.
      • stilesja, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4And short time to get there. We're gonna do what they say can't be done.
    • Wedg3, on 05/26/2008, -7/+14Indeed. We now know better than calling it slavery. "Free markets" sounds way better. Economic colonisation ftw!
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2I presume that you think the murder of 100 million people by Communists was better than your speculative assumption about the nature of freemarkets.
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5Now we just go to Mexico! (j/k)
    • 8randon, on 05/26/2008, -1/+10Not really. There are more slaves now than ever before. And cheaper than ever, too. Other countries need to slam down on trafficking.

      http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2Indeed. We still have a longgg ways to go.
    • LogitechG15, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Tell that to the people working 14 hours a day in sweat shops.
    • pf101, on 05/27/2008, -1/+1Approximately 14,000 people/year are sold into slavery in the US. Approximately 400,000/year worldwide. I don't know that we've come that far.
  • elliotys, on 05/26/2008, -1/+16Thats *****.
  • RRJackson, on 05/26/2008, -17/+9"So you see, class, the result of this is why you don't want to buy vacation property in Mississippi. Or Alabama. Or Arkansas. Or Georgia. Or the Carolinas. Or Louisiana. Or..."
  • Ghoztt, on 05/26/2008, -25/+16We must never forget the atrocities that we committed.
    I hope forgiveness can be found in the hearts of the blacks, indians and all abused nations and races across Humanity.
    One Love.
    • Chronoped, on 05/26/2008, -5/+2Hmmm... Uhhh... Lessee... One love... Jamaica... Bob Marley... Cannabis...

      MAN I TOTALLY AGREE! ONE LOVE!
    • Envark, on 05/26/2008, -7/+18Speak for yourself; I never committed an atrocity.
      • buckrogers1965, on 05/26/2008, -9/+2You are financially gaining from crimes committed to enrich your ancestors. That too is a crime.
        • senatorpjt, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5I'm pretty much broke too.
        • RedReplicant, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4You idiot.
          Plenty of Americans arrived after slavery was over.
        • BetterOffEd, on 05/26/2008, -0/+4I refuse to feel guilty for simply BEING white,
        • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -3/+2Yeah ***** you, you piece of black panther trash.
    • linuxpenguin, on 05/26/2008, -1/+4I don't know what you did to upset all those people, but if it's that bad I think you're going to be in for some trouble.
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2It's much to difficult to reconcile our past. At this point it's as unnessesary to take the blame as it is to give it. I'm happy to call this period over... at least in the eyes of most of our culture.
    • Zemenar, on 05/26/2008, -9/+2You're kind of an idiot..
    • elTito, on 05/26/2008, -6/+6Hey man my family emigrated in the 1920s, so keep your self-loathing to yourself.
    • NSResponder, on 05/26/2008, -6/+6"We must never forget the atrocities that we committed."

      I wasn't there myself, but if you were, off with your head!

      -jcr
    • masterofshadows, on 05/26/2008, -1/+10I am a Native American, most of us have no ill will for anyone in america, we consider us all equals. You personally have done nothing to us, we haven't had anything personally happen to us. Its pretty much only the people living on the poor reservations that have any ill will towards anyone, and thats because they are looking for someone to blame their situation on.
    • jamwil87, on 05/26/2008, -6/+1They are called African Americans and Natives you racist *****!
      • BetterOffEd, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Uhhh... I don't think they're "natives" either. "Native Americans" might be ok, but I'd imagine that Illini, Iriqouis, Choctaw, etc. would be more appropriate.
  • Internazionale, on 05/26/2008, -29/+4***** sweet
  • cheesejaguar, on 05/26/2008, -0/+15This was definitely in my text book, sometime in high school or middle school, I can't remember.
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1I don't recall ever spending much time on this in school. I'm sure I would have remembered such an image. But then your world view tends to change for the better upon leaving the "education" system in this country.
    • helikopter, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1yeah, same here. i remember my history teacher laid on the ground, to illustrate how bad it was. it didn't have the same effect with all the legroom she had... seeing as there was nobody else on the ground near her
    • bownasterm, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1this is in the apush textbooks
    • tallarida, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0same here. yea, AP US history
  • swicklund, on 05/26/2008, -7/+18This made me nauseous.
    • gl77, on 05/26/2008, -8/+4***** off, it did not.
    • macsox, on 05/26/2008, -2/+10God, I hate to be pedantic - but it made you nauseated.

      Something that is nauseous causes nausea - it doesn't suffer from it.

      You can blame my grandmother for my giving a *****.
      • curtis87xc03, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2If you hate being pedantic, don't be.
      • hackop, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2I was thinking the same thing about nauseated vs nauseous, and I expanded the replies to the comment just to see if someone had made the correction. Go you!
      • CAPSLOCKISCOOL, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1From the merriam webster dictionary:
        http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nauseous ...
        1 : causing nausea or disgust : nauseating
        2 : affected with nausea or disgust
        — nau·seous·ly adverb
        — nau·seous·ness noun
        usage: Those who insist that nauseous can properly be used only in sense 1 and that in sense 2 it is an error for nauseated are mistaken. Current evidence shows these facts: nauseous is most frequently used to mean physically affected with nausea, usually after a linking verb such as feel or become; figurative use is quite a bit less frequent. Use of nauseous in sense 1 is much more often figurative than literal, and this use appears to be losing ground to nauseating. Nauseated is used more widely than nauseous in sense 2.
    • Hilsee, on 05/26/2008, -3/+1THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1You know it is perfectly NORMAL for some people to become physicaly sick when emotionaly moved. Everyone experiences it somewhat differantly.
      • helikopter, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2do you become grammatically foolish when emotionally moved?

        seriously, theres a check spelling link right next to the post button.
  • prophet000, on 05/26/2008, -1/+90I'm pretty sure this diagram has been in every American History textbook I've ever had.
  • kspen, on 05/26/2008, -26/+33Slavery was evil, and I would have fought against it. If the families of slaves brought to the US, if the families of the slaves had stayed in Africa, the prospect of that family achieving the quality of life the earn in the US is slim. Yes, Slavery was unconscionable, but my opinion is that, in the long run, families of past slaves are better off here, now, than if they had been kept in Africa. I am not a racist-I am Black
    • DirtyRoboto, on 05/26/2008, -1/+32" I am not a racist-I am Black"

      So you are saying that black people are not racist? ROFL!
    • kspen, on 05/26/2008, -0/+14I am only speaking for me.
    • twiztidsinz, on 05/26/2008, -3/+7proof reading ftl
    • bhavinbm, on 05/26/2008, -2/+11You have made some interesting points here. But was it worth the pain and blood of the ancestors? Is that kind of prosperity really desired?
      • buddypriefert, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0Depends on if you look at the suffering of one man for many who later follow Him.
    • outz, on 05/26/2008, -4/+16Yes, Slavery was unconscionable, but my opinion is that, in the long run, families of past slaves are better off here, now, than if they had been kept in Africa
      --

      well... we don't know what africa would be like if all the slave trading never happend... could be a whole lot better than where they're living now
      • buddypriefert, on 05/26/2008, -5/+2Err, lets see. Africa was plundered for slaves from about 1400 to 1800. A 400 year set back...okay. So, 200 years later (today), they should be up to about where other countries were around 1600 but that would assume that they were not receiving aid from other countries - which we all know they do.

        Nope - Africa would still be the hell hole it is today.
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1It would be Colonialism not the slave trade that ruined Africa - if that. Because the countries that were colonized generally have better infrastructure than those that weren't.
    • blackdude, on 05/26/2008, -4/+8I agree, black people in America are much further ahead than Africans. Some of them sold us onto the ***** ships... Slavery as a whole is disgusting though and it's sad it's going on in other places.
    • bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2008, -7/+1You have no argument. To make such a statement is to question weather or not it's worth it for a person to be born or not or other such question. Either it is or it isn't. You can't change the past, it's best to live in the present and learn from the past. Just don't speculate to make the present seem better than what it would have been otherwise. Everything is realitive.

    • NSResponder, on 05/26/2008, -1/+15"I would have fought against it."

      We can all hope so, of course. The fact is that most ordinary people had no objection to slavery until the late 1800s in the USA, and in much of the rest of the world it was rather later than that.

      -jcr
      • buckrogers1965, on 05/26/2008, -0/+5I think that most people just never thought about it, they led their own lives and ignored everything else. The same as they do now.
      • ZenMojo, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1Except for the fact that it was banned in Europe about 80 years earlier, but whatever. Keep telling yourself it's cool.
    • eclosis, on 05/26/2008, -4/+11You act as if the same people that brought slaves to America didn't rape the continent of Africa through imperialism that has left much of Africa in the horrid state that it is now... Furthermore, I'm guessing you may not know too many people from Africa because most of the one's I know tell me that Africa in real-life isn't exactly how it is on TV... Ya know, everyone poor, sick, dying... starving babies with flies all over them... Africa as a whole is a poor continent, but not everyone over there is suffering... it's all propaganda.. just like when immigrants come to the US and they think everyone is like the people they see on talk shows and movies... until you've been there, you'd never know...
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Colonialism and the slave trade are different things. There's still enough mineral wealth in Africa for everyone on the continent to be a millionaire, and the countries that were colonized are better off than say Ethiopia.

    • artemisn, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1Interesting opinion, although it is true, it is purely based on foresight. I suppose it depends on where you were at the time. For example, take today for me. My mother found a baby bird on our steps, and even though she insisted on caring for it, I already knew it wouldn't live. So we fed it some bits of worm and made it a tiny nest in a plant outside....

      It rained hard tonight. I prayed for the bird. Now if you were the bird, your opinion would obviously be different. So I suppose, the closer you were to experiencing the incident, the more hostile your opinion towards those who committed it.
    • dopplerdog, on 05/26/2008, -2/+11Would Africa be in the sorry state it's in if it hadn't been plundered by Europeans? Would America have had the capital to industrialise as it did in the 1800s without the profits from its agriculture (based on slavery)? What makes you think that the history of both America and Africa would be more-or-less the same today if slavery had never existed? You are making a meaningless claim.
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1Colonialism and slavery are much different things. Colonialism was after slavery - which the Africans themselves started.

        You obviously don't understand the horrid effect that King Cotton had on the South. It prevented them from industrializing to the extent of the North and the disparity was so great that they got beat down in the Civil War.

        But King Cotton would have reigned either way, before slavery the practice was to indenture huge numbers of white servants and make them work on your land for years for the promise of their own land. Depending on the circumstances the land may not have even been given to the indentures and a large portion of them died before they reached the end of their contract.

        The only reason that we switched to slave labor is because the indentures led a couple of rebellions over land and the lack of women.
        • ZenMojo, on 05/26/2008, -1/+2Colonialism and slavery were not two very different things. The African diaspora/genocide was a result of colonialism and the treatment of human beings as cattle, not of the mere practice of prisoners of war being treated as second-class citizens and indentured servitude.
        • Mesmorize, on 05/27/2008, -0/+1Colonialism and slavery can exist completely separately. And they did for most of the 19th and 20th century.
    • loveandrockets, on 05/26/2008, -1/+10How do you know you would have been against slavery? If you had been born into a landowner's family in the South, you would have been going against everything your society stood for.
    • zcreem, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Without the oppression and colonisation of Africa, things might have been a lot different on the continent. To connect the standard of living you have today as a benefit of nearly 200 years of oppression is mind boggling, and worthy of the Clinton's, in mis-speak.
    • Ortheos, on 05/26/2008, -2/+5"Yes, Slavery was unconscionable, but my opinion is that, in the long run, families of past slaves are better off here, now, than if they had been kept in Africa"

      And have you ever stopped to wonder WHY africa is currently so messed up? It might have something to do with those little colonial adventures certain empires (those same nations and states that enslaved black africans), engaged in at the time up until recently, drawing arbitrary borders across various nation groups and in the long run causing perpetual civil conflict among the current countries of africa, but that could just be my imagination.

      • skanton, on 05/26/2008, -1/+1I'm glad to see this argument being made by several people here. I would like to add that certain empires STILL engage in imperialism (neo-imperialism) where the would be colonies are given independence and are milked economically and monitored politically while maintaining their "independence".

        This type of imperialism is much more beneficial since the interest is not so much in owning land, controlling populations and paying the costs of maintaining such vast far away territories. The interest is economical gain and plunder.

        For more information take a closer look at US foreign policy.
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2Colonialism and slavery are not the same thing and not even marginally related.
    • xs11ax, on 05/26/2008, -3/+2looks like you need to be re-educated and cured of the many years of propaganda and brainwashing that you have gone through since the time you were born.

      economic manipulation by western nations imposed upon the so called third world has ensured that the third world countries will never get a chance remedy their situation.

      these so called third world countries are rich nations in that it has great amount of natural resources and also available work force. but western corporations are still stealing both of these resources through sweat shops. nike for example.

      slavery is alive today. instead of the slaves being taking to the slavery, the slavery has been taken to the slaves. the people working in the sweat shops are paid a pittance which is only just enough to buy them a little food and maybe have shelter in the form of a mud hut. anything more then that i.e medical needs, educattion expenses etc are far beyond their reach.

      these people are still drones who are allowed to survive, as opposed to allowed to live, in order to enhance the lives of other people who live in the vampirical westerrn nations. when you wear your sneakers, kick a football or wear a sports top chances are that it was made in a sweat shop in a third world country by a minor who is beaten daily and made to work long hours in terrible conditions and then paid a pittance for his/her troubles..

      only way to remedy this situation is to take back from the minority upper classes and give back to the majority lower classes everything that has been stolen.

      the only way is revolution.

      • DirtyRoboto, on 05/26/2008, -0/+3Africa is still one of the few places on this planet where people are still enslaved. There are a growing number of cases of children bought and sold to fishing villages to do manual labour for the rest of their life. It would seem to me that historically (sp) and currently that Africa's main resource is the human.
        The tribal aspect of life means that you defeat your rival tribe and despose of them as you will. When the major players in Europe arrived it was soon discovered that these defeated people could be exchanged for guns and powder so that the tribe could be more aggressive towards its neighbours.
        Please also remember that slaves are not a new thing but have been currency throughout history. English and German people were slaves to the Romans and it goes allot futher back then that.
      • Mesmorize, on 05/26/2008, -2/+2You need to be slapped.
      • NotedFuturist, on 05/26/2008, -2/+1"looks like you need to be re-educated and cured of the many years of propaganda and brainwashing that you have gone through since the time you were born."

        Take a look in the mirror my friend, a long look.
    • ZenMojo, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2That's kind of like saying, "Man, you better be glad you got kidnapped from Nanking and taken to Kyoto to be used as a sex slave. That place got ***** UP in World War II."
  • diggit23, on 05/26/2008, -3/+2whew, thank you for not ruining my night
    ...
  • ievanssc, on 05/26/2008, -4/+7this is in every US history textbook i've ever read

    still pretty gruesome though
  • crodulfo, on 05/26/2008, -3/+3i dont think theres a right comment to this post
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