Post-Slave Progress

Here’s a fun thought experiment/question:

You’re a slave in the early 1800s, and your African enemy warlord is selling you to European slave traders. The warlord is going to let you pick which slave ship you would get on. Which slave ship would you want to choose: One headed for Argentina, Brazil, Caribbean, Mexico, or the United States?

Naturally, you wouldn’t know what the future holds so you can’t answer that question with any significance.

DISCLAIMER: It should go without saying that this is not intended to endorse slavery! It is merely a comparison of various countries and their treatment of black slaves, since the countries are NOT alike.

Now that slavery is in our rear-view mirror, here are some important factoids about the aftermath of slavery in each of the aforementioned countries. In particular, these factoids address several pertinent issues regarding human flourishing: how long did that country have black slaves, and how well did blacks progress in the aftermath of slavery? The bottom line here is assessed in terms of human flourishing (population and relative wealth).

• Brazil:
  First African slave: 1538
  Slavery ended: 1888 (Duration: 350 years)
  First Black elected officials: 1910
  Black slaves brought: 5,500,000
  Black population today: 20,000,000 (3.6x increase)

• Caribbean:
  First African slave: 1517
  Slavery ended: 1834 (Duration: 317 years)
  First Black elected officials: 1840.
  Black slaves brought: 4,500,000
  Black population today: 23,600,000 (5.2x increase)

• Argentina:
  First African slave: 1588
  Slavery ended: 1853 (Duration: 265 years)
  (NO elected black officials).
  Black slaves brought: 250,000
  Black population today: less than 75,000 (0.3x Decrease)

• Mexico:
  First African slave: approx 1550
  Slavery ended: 1829 (Duration: 279 years)
  First Black elected officials: 1829 (only one, and none since).
  Black slaves brought: 200,000
  Black population today: 1,500,000 (7.5x increase)

• USA/Colonies:
  First African slave: 1619
  Slavery ended: 1865 (Duration: 246 years)
  First Black elected officials: 1778, with over 1,500 office holders in the Senate, House and state governments from 1865-1877.
  First college for blacks established in 1837 (none of the other countries have colleges specifically for blacks)
  Black slaves brought: 388,000
  Black population today: 51,000,000 (131x increase)

SUMMARY: The USA had black slaves for the fewest number of years (246). The USA also had the largest growth in black population (started with 388,000 black slaves, and grew to a population of 51 million, larger than all other Western countries. That’s an increase of 131 times. No other country comes close to that kind of flourishing. Brazil had more black slaves brought to its shores (5M), but the black population in Brazil today stands at 20M, a 4x increase, and is still less than 1/2 the total black population of the USA. Simply put, black people flourished more in the USA than in all other Western countries. Indeed – if you took the GDP of USA’s black population and measured it as a country, the combined wealth of the 51 million black citizens in the USA would make it the 18th richest country in the world. It would rank far ahead of every African country. South Africa, with a population of 63 million is ranked 39th richest country in the world. Egypt (pop. 181M) is ranked 44th, and Nigeria (pop. 236M) is 51st. As far as slavery in Africa, the British forcibly ended slavery in South Africa in 1833. They tried the same in Nigeria, but like most African countries, slavery didn’t end in Nigeria till almost World War 2, almost 80 years after the USA ended slavery.

So, going back to the original question: If you knew the future, you would have picked the slave ship headed for the USA. Hands down. Since slavery was rampant in Africa, your own life may or may not have been better if you stayed in Africa. But the life of your great-grandchildren would be better in the USA than if you’d gone to Argentina, Brazil, Caribbean, or Mexico. And their lives would have been significantly better than if you’d stayed in Africa.

By the way, check out this chart for the volume of African slaves shipped by various European countries. Most people have no idea that when compared to other slave-holding countries in the New World, the USA barely participated in slavery.