The Last Known Slave Ship Has Been Found

The Last Known Slave Ship Has Been Found(nytimes.com)

32 points by aniham 7 years ago | 9 comments

x3ro 7 years ago |

If you're interested in more context around this ship and one of the slaves it brought to the US, I highly recommend "the story of the last slave" written by Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930s, and only recently published (original title: the story of the last black cargo). It's essentially a long interview with one of the people who were on the ship.

More background on the book is available in this article, including why it was only now published:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/26/why-the-extrao...

SiempreViernes 7 years ago |

I guess not finding a bell or other durable label isn't too surprising if it was burnt as a way to hide evidence.

At best one could hope for something that was left by mistake or that unexpectedly survived the fire sufficiently intact.

PlasticTank 7 years ago |

Now if we could just get a handle on modern slavery. There's currently more people enslaved than all of the slaves extracted from Africa over the 400 years of the slave trade combined.

ddebernardy 7 years ago | |

To put numbers on that statement in case anyone else ends up wondering:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century

> Estimates of the number of slaves today range from around 21 million to 46 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_trade

> According to research provided by Emory University as well as Henry Louis Gates Jr., an estimated 12.5 million slaves were transported from Africa to colonies in North and South America.

mbrumlow 7 years ago | | |

Also note, that today's 21-46 million is active, while the 12.5 million was over hundreds of years.

nzeribe 7 years ago | |

The TransAtlantic Slave Trade was a state-sponsored enterprise on an international scale. What about that don't you understand?

lucian1900 7 years ago | | |

And the modern prison system is also a state-sponsored enterprise on an international scale, particularly in the US and UK.

Slavery was never abolished in the US, only restricted.

derp_dee_derp 7 years ago | | |

are you trying to imply that modern day slavery is ok because its not state-sponsored? how about no. Slavery is wrong no matter who sponsors it.

upatricck 7 years ago | |

Can you give more information on this, links, ...?