I had known about a little about the history of indentured servants in America but hadn't realized just how long and widespread it was, and just how horrible it actually was. The first slaves in America weren't black, they were white Englishmen. How is that not taught in our history classes? People not only sold themselves into years of servitude to pay their way to the new world, but also as a means of paying off debts. Also, it was used as a way to punish and transport convicts. These people were beaten, starved, and worked to death, often serving years past their original agreed upon time. White slaves outnumbered black slaves for years and years in America, with the slaves coming from England, Ireland and Scotland. It proved to be a highly profitable business for those involved, with transporters even resorting to kidnapping to fill cargo holds with people to work the tobacco fields. The transports from England stopped after the outbreak of the American Revolution and picked up for a short time after the end of the war, with the English government transporting the dregs of their convicts as a final revenge upon the upstart Americans. With America no longer as a dumping ground, the English then turned to Australia as a solution. All of the people proud of their early settler ancestors may want to consider the fact that those ancestors could have been sent here as a way of avoiding a death sentence.
This was an eye opening read, one that I won't soon forget.
