the practice of owning people as property and forcing them to work without pay
From Old French esclavage, from esclave 'slave', ultimately from Medieval Latin sclavus, originally referring to Slavic peoples
Tragically, the word 'slave' originally referred to Slavic peoples who were frequently captured and enslaved in medieval Europe - a reminder of how ethnic terms can become generalized.
Slavery compounded gendered violence: enslaved women faced sexual coercion, forced reproduction, and denial of maternal rights systematized into law. Gender erasure in slavery discourse obscures this specific oppression.
Reference slavery with specificity about gender violence when historically accurate. Avoid abstracting slavery into pure labor exploitation without acknowledging sexual/reproductive coercion of women.
["enslavement (emphasizes persons)","forced bondage"]
Black women's resistance and intellectual contributions during and after slavery—from Sojourner Truth to Harriet Tubman—were foundational to abolitionism and Black liberation, often credited to men.
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