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No condition is worse than that of a slave. It is by far the worst social injustice ever endured by man. A slave is taken from his home by force, shipped off to a foreign land and made to obey another person who speaks a different language, practices a different religion and follows a dissimilar culture. The only reason a slave complies is to preserve his life, which is no longer truly his own. This is because another man controls every facet of the slaves life, another man determines whether the slave lives or dies and works or rests. No one else has lived in such menial conditions, or has been subjected to fewer rights, clearly this is why the emancipation of slavery is the most important emancipation effort in history, and furthermore it was simply a problem that could not be ignored or avoided.
From its inception, the slave found himself in a convoluted position. Others in troubled situations with minimal rights, such as the condition of women at the time, still enjoyed comparative independence to that of a slave, a quasi relatively stable position within society and semi functional skills which allowed women to participate within their society, whereas the slave enjoyed almost no advantages and was faced with myriad obstacles. The status of women paled in comparison to that of a slave. Women although somewhat socially oppressed and subjugated were not slaves and still had minimal control over their own lives.
How can one emancipate the rights of women or anything similar to that when people in society are still oppressed far beyond that? Fixing the larger problem of emancipating slavery would lead to the wide spread emancipation of other efforts for it is a significantly larger problem. If society can give the lowest members of society emancipation, then it will easily emancipate those who are not as oppressed sooner than if the emancipation of smaller efforts occurred. This is because the departure between emancipating a slave compared to a woman is so great that if a slave is emancipated there should be nothing stopping the government from emancipating people, who in comparison are basically emancipated. Not only had slavery resulted in widespread death and near total physical devastation, but the departure of the slave from his homeland left him without any skills to survive outside of slavery within his new respective culture. It is true then as some would argue that the emancipation of slavery did not change the situation of slaves by anything significant for many years.
Out of a population of more than a million in America there was a majority of whites in society, the rest were slaves working under harsh conditions leading to a destructiveness of life and were viewed as unfavorable for reproduction, as to require the constant replenishment of supply by new importations from Africa. From this sporadic distribution of race also came an asymmetrical distribution of wealth and power. All of the whites were clearly set apart by rigid societal distinctions from the slaves. At the time of emancipation power and wealth were concentrated in a very large white majority, meaning there had already existed internal instability.
The freed slaves immersion into society perpetuated and exacerbated the already disproportionate concentration of wealth and power. In effect, the emancipation of the slaves left a largely uneducated slave population, which had been deliberately held in the most menial and brutal servitude, to fend for itself. The larger white majority dominated urban and administrative functions. A freedman, because of the lasting effects of slavery and its hand in the internal divisions of the people, resulted in no further movement towards stability and freedom. The system of racial discrimination served as the basis for a white-black rivalry and social stratification that figured predominately in periods of political turmoil. Change would be slow and painstaking; however this is not a valid argument for the negation of slavery being the most important emancipation effort.
Yes, the position of the freed slave did not change much from that of the true slave however he was free and the opportunity and conditions that were conducive to change were in place. The emancipation of slavery was indeed the most critical political-social injustice leading to the most important emancipation effort in history. Slavery, not only forced people into certain positions that limited freedom and will, however it was through this oppression or rather yet limitation of ones being that created a separation between social groups. It was indeed a barrier that needed to be looked at from different perspectives. Even though one might think as slavery as only injustice, it was still one of the greatest injustices and it was through this great injustice that the foundation was laid for the most important emancipation effort in history. Injustice not only goes against the rights and wills of people, but on the other hand allows for justice to prevail, but slowly and over time.
One cannot refute the fact that social barriers did exist, leading to a hierarchy of power within the social structure. However, it was through those that were able to realize and recognize this struggle as the most pertinent for emancipation that allowed for the basis of change.
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Research essay sample on Wealth And Power Social Injustice
