Anyone watch 'Britain's Lost Slave Owners' on the BBC recently

[Redroger]

I thought that was clear from the context!! They will indeed do anything for profit.

[eurocaribbean]

Why are do many black Americans have European surnames; e.g Washington?

My husband's family from the Caribbean have surname after the slave owner who was most likely Irish. 

Margot

[Redroger]

A point occurs to me. Some Roman slaves had shaven heads with their owner's name tatooed on their scalp.

[cristeen]

I also have early slave traders in my ancestry, Butterfields in Lancaster, one of the brothers was Mayor of Lancaster and both were respected members of society. Some of their fellow slavers were early Quakers, I have no idea how they reconciled that My aunt was horrified and deeply upset by this discovery, however, in reading around the subject, in Lancaster at least, a slave was a major status symbol and consequently were usually freed immediately after purchase and held major positions within their household. A status symbol won't cut the mustard if he/she is hidden away in the kitchen, garden or outbuildings! So it seems many actually had a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, free men and women, clothed, fed and a roof over their heads.
Please do not misunderstand, I am in no way a supporter of slavery in any form, historical or modern

[Viktoria]

We must also remember that African tribal chiefs sold their people to Arab slave traders ,who then .
sold them to European slave traders.
John Newton who wrote many hymns, including "Amazing Grace ", "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds"was a slave trader, presumably slaves were of no concern to God in John Newton`s
mind set.
My son( who likes to buy me very unusual presents )got me some slave money, not for the people themselves but what was handed over to their chiefs as barter.
It is like a torque but smaller, made of iron and was prized by the warring chiefs to use for weapon making.It was melted down.
 Originally as large as a normal neck torque but as the value of slaves decreased so the "money " became smaller.
My dad had some volumes  of   H.M.Stanley`s book"In Darkest Africa", recounting his search for
Dr. Livingstone.
The Illustrations terrified me, many showed the extreme cruelty of the tribal chiefs and the way people  walked to the coast to the "holding " prisons ,to await transport to N.America and the West Indies. They were all fastened together  in one long neck restraint  made from a split tree, so cruel and painful. Hands tied  behind their backs and iron fetters round their ankles.
It took many weeks to reach the coast where the "holding"prisons were where they waited for transportation in those dreadful ships toN.America or The West Indies.

It is hard to imagine that people could see others as sub human and treat them so badly.

Abraham Lincoln sent a message to the people of Lancashire for their fortitude in holding out against using cotton from slave owning plantations  during the American civil war.
There was great hardship as a result of course.
Different times, different standards and values but it is still baffling to say the least that people could behave so wickedly towards others, and then despise them for what they-the owners-had reduced them to.Viktoria.

[BushInn1746]

...

Scandalously, slavery is still with us, even here & now.

History may be uncomfortable, but it is important, so that the same mistakes are not made again.

However, the reality ...

The Independent
10 Aug 2017 · The enormous scale of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK has been revealed in a major official report, with hundreds cases affecting “every large town and city in the country”. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the scale of the issue is far more prevalent than ...


The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/10/modern-slavery-uk-nca-human-trafficking-prostitution

Terrible to think slavery is still with us in the UK.

Mark