Choose one thing to read, watch, listen to, do, or engage with today. Try to mix it up each day between the categories!

READ

Indigenous Enslavement Historian Ned Blackhawk explains why we must understand Indigenous enslavement to fully understand American history. by Ned Blackhawk Learning For Justice (2019)

TransAtlantic Slave Trade The year the direct Africa to Americas slave trade was initiated by royal charter, 1518 is one of the most significant dates in the whole of human history. But, apart from this article, the anniversary has been largely forgotten. by David Keys Independent (2018)

Colonial enslavement of Native Americans included those who surrendered Study by Brown University historian finds that Native Americans who surrendered during King Philip’s War were sold into slavery, with long-lasting effects. by Gillian Kiley Brown University (2017)

Story of cities #6: how silver turned Potosí into 'the first city of capitalism' The discovery of a mountain of silver transformed this remote Incan hamlet into the economic center of Spain’s empire. But then the silver ran out … by Patrick Greenfield. The Guardian (2016)

WATCH

Did Europeans Enslave Native Americans? Here in the United States, when we think about the term "slavery" we think about the transatlantic slave trade and the institution of chattel slavery. But this wasn't the only type of enslavement that took place in the Americas and the Caribbean. PBS: Origin of Everything (2020) 13 minutes T CC

History of Potosi Two missionaries visit the people of Potosi to learn more about its past, present, and hopes for the future. Travel the Road (2021) 28 minutes T CC

LISTEN

An American Secret: The Untold Story Of Native American Enslavement By 1495, Christopher Columbus was in trouble. The riches he had imagined finding in Asia were not materializing in the New World, and the costs of his voyages were mounting. Sending indigenous people back to Europe as slaves became his solution. NPR: Hidden Brain (2017) 22 minutes T

The Other Slavery 100 years before the first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia, Europeans introduced the commercial practice of enslavement in “The New World.” And for the next 400 years, millions of Indigenous people throughout the Americas were enslaved through several forms of forced labor and bondage. Learning For Justice 71 minutes T

Estevan Rael-Gálvez, An Archive of Indigenous Slavery Long before European arrival in the Americas, Indigenous people and nations practiced enslavement. Their version of enslavement looked different from the version Christopher Columbus and his fellow Europeans practiced. Ben Franklin’s World (2023) 51 minutes

Animal tracks in winter, 2023 (photo by Claudia A. Fox Tree)

BRING IT HOME

Watch this video. Native American Slavery in New England with Margaret Ellen Newell (2022) 35 minutes

Share any parts of it that feel like appropriate conversation starters and explore these questions:

21-Day Questions

Is there anything that surprised you?
Is there anything that challenges you?
Is there anything you want to learn more about?

DO

Commit to listening to the entire podcast series This Land, which explains how a string of custody battles over Native children became a federal lawsuit that threatens everything from tribal sovereignty to civil rights. Put it on your calendar.

Commit to reading The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez (2016)

EXPLORE & REFLECT

Do one of the activities and then reflect.

21-Day Questions

How is the practice of slavery among Indigenous Peoples different from the chattel slavery system the US developed?
When did the international slave trade begin?
Why do we not learn about Indigenous people being enslaved?
It is estimated that as many as 8 million Andean Indians died in the Potosi. Research other attempted genocide numbers, how do they compare?
What are the lasting impacts of colonization on the Indigenous Peoples, including population numbers and wealth.
What about impact on the culture, including religion, language, and other traditions.

December 2, 1986 is the UN International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (including human trafficking). Consider what modern forms of slavery exist now.