Slavery, Slave Trade and Colonization

 

SLAVERY AND SLAVE TRADE

Slavery is a practice of one man holding another or others under servitude. It is an ignoble institution practiced all over the world since the existence of mankind. Everybody wants to be a Lord and no one wants to be a slave, yet it was a practice that has spanned the existence of man on earth. The tendency for the strong to dominate the weak, the rich to control the poor underscores the existence of slavery and sundry servitude. Amongst all enclaves, all races, peoples, generations or religions, the haves have the have-nots at their beck and calls.

            Within the microcosm of the society, servitude exists. A typical example is a social peer group system where there are the high and the low. The high subjects the low to create a distinct level between the two, notwithstanding they may be age mates existing at one time or the other in the same and particular vicinity.

Slaves are meant to run errands for their master, answer calls and speak when called upon to do so. A slave maintains a particular posture and conducts before his master which failure attracts one punishment or the other depending on the gravity of the misconduct.

It is demeaning to wear the toga of a slave – the bound and the free born cannot operate on the same pedestrian no matter how defiant he may want to be. Even in a revolution, slave-defiance is seen odd, even amongst protesting slaves.

In every society, the situation is the same. Amongst all generations, class is a visible characteristic of human being. Sociologically speaking, kings, nobles – the highly place have a different platform while the down-trodden is pegged to the bottom-class where he belongs to, unapologetically. Even in animal kingdom, some animals standout and in most cases prey on others. This accounts for the shivers when the hound passes by.

In Africa, as much as in any other race of the world, facts abound to show stratification in social order called class. There was primordial lordship. Some were seen as superior to others. Some were royalties – princes and princesses, while others were their hoers of wood and fetchers of water.

The story of the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt is clear evidence that one race or individuals from one time to the other could be subservient, can I say slaves to the other. The same illustration points to the fact of racial subjugation, nation to nation domination or enslavement. It also points to the facts that brothers could sell their brothers as the sons of Jacob did to their brother-Joseph, to the Midianites, faraway strangers.

There is no doubt that mere phobia can lead to such dastardly things. Envy could be one of the worst characteristics of mankind. It is with us, as much as it was with our ancestors. Avarice too, is as evil as the above mentioned, for which irreconcilable harms have been recorded, meted out by a brother or from one brother to another.

In Europe, America and any other place, slavery abound and denying the existence of it is akin to man denying the air he breaths. If you don’t agree to its existence because you are not a slave, you agree to its existence for the master or the slaver you are.

Tyranny is the hallmark of slavery, inhumanity, its signpost while the unfeeling heart, the vehicle that conveys thresh-floor or site labour. Slavery is evil, enjoyed by the enslaver and bemoaned by the very slave for he wears the shoe and can tell how and where it pains.

For a master to know how slavery hurts, I recommend he denies himself food for a whole day, goes out to work either in the sun or rain as under compulsion until the sun sets or the dusk without pay or cheerful words. Slavery is savage, yet the companion of the impunity and loathsome or enemy to the godly. Slave labour is that which is performed without food, without water but with whip if you are tired and wanted to stretch your neck.

The Israelites made the Egyptian bricks day in day out under the strict supervision of the Egyptian bond-masters in the sun, in the rain, round the clock. Slave labour could be likened to two oxen yoked together in the farm for the purpose of tilling the soil. That’s the equivalence of the labour the slaves were exacted. Unfortunately, such slave that labored so much, if his body ached would receive no medical attention and must be forced to the farm the next day, even if he was at the breaking point or not. Oxen that threshed the floor were better for they were not totally muzzled, for the law forbade that “muzzle not the animal that thresh the floor” - the scripture says. For the slaves, it says “slaves always obey your masters”.

In another vein, the children of Israel were captured and taken to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. They were humiliated by the day, suffered beyond description and their God mocked. They were forbidden to worship their God apart from the golden calf made by Nebuchadnezzar. They were made to go through hardship that would make Egyptian masters learners in the game of dehumanizing slave treatment, to the extent that Shedrack, Meshack and Abednego - three Hebrew men, were thrown into a lake of fire or a burning furnace which the Egyptian slave master never envisaged or would ever contemplate, such was the position of slaves as at the time.

In house slavery, domesticated servitude abound in Europe with Kings and nobles placing excruciating weight of slavery upon the commoners of their kingdoms. It is not proper to proceed on the topic – slavery in Europe because it is the subject of our discussion in the next chapter on Feudalism in Europe.

Permit me to digress to a recent type of slavery which happened in South Africa called Apartheid. In discussing slavery in Medieval Europe and other jurisdictions like America, bringing the recent Apartheid South Africa does not tally but let us sing the ancient and modern hymn.

There was a system of slavery in South Africa which saw the aboriginal black Southern Africa, though in majority, sweating under the bondage of minority few whites. The modern day governmental slavery evoked global consternation, which lasted for centuries before the voices of freedom prevailed. The blacks in South Africa were brutalized and killed with impunity. It was such that the government machineries were used, unlike in other jurisdictions where the individually owned slaves were burnt without their masters being answerable to anybody but to their consciences, which they never had. The case of South Africa is the slavery system with an admixture of colonialism which this treatise never applied itself to initially but it is inevitable to drive home some points that battle to surface and be acknowledge without such recourse.

A lot were killed and others clamped into unspecified jail terms. Nelson Madela happened to fall into the group that was jailed without specified number of years. There was this scenario that a black man seen close to where black men were forbidden to be, was pursued, caught and clubbed to death. Every society had one story of enslavement or the other to tell.

In Asia, there was high level of the rich enslaving the poor or one race, one group of people or individuals exacting one type of servitude or the other from another. The class distinction in some places was to the effect that a certain class of people were denied suffrage, even if when they were magnanimous permitted to be seen at all. We heard that all human being were created equal in dignity and right, that everybody is equal before the law, but for sure not the noble and slave alike.

Slaveholding could be said to be as old as human society. The slaves had always been around to serve the Lords since the origin of mankind. The issue of slavery and free born was in the front burner that even the Holy Bible made many illustrations with it though Christ said in his teachings that was no difference between the slave and the free born or between the Jews and the Gentiles. The statement recognizes the fact of the existence of it though in consolation says everyone is a free born.

The issue sounded placatory but its genuiness is underscored by the fact it came from Christ with whom everything is possible. I don’t sound as supporting slavery but preparing the ground to give it its deserved position as satanic which it actually is.

In Asia, caste system was the order of the day. Social stratification was well pronounced. Take India for instance only very few could be termed “free born”. The institution of slavery was such that only a handful controlled the destiny of others. Majority lived to serve a few under the mandate of slavery. Majority lived to eat the crumbs from their master’s table, yet they worked like jackal to produce the very food they were starved of.

In ancient India, level of poverty was very high because few rich could not allow the majority come out of their state of dust licking poverty or penury so that they could not escape servitude. Not only were individuals enslaved, tribes enslave other tribes and racial domination was self evident. The ancient tribes of the subcontinent of India were head and neck into tribal dominance as a so called superior tribe enslaved the others. It was also well pronounced in both Pakistan and Bangladeshi constituent’s tribes.

Further up, still in the continent of Asia, it was said that slavery reached its apogeal recognition as part of the custom of the people, Japanese sold also their brothers and sisters to Europeans as kings entered into treaties and traded their citizens for either economic reasons or to gain protection as suzerainty also became part of their international policies.

Slavery was a major feature of pre and immediate middle age, not only in Europe but across the world. Slavery in Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Rome, Spain, Belgium and almost every kingdom of Europe reached frenzy within the medieval period and belligerency was an offence a united action must quell.

Before and during the time Christ was born, slave disobedience was deemed deadly offence. Even disobedience of vassal kingdom against a suzerain is a front that must not be tolerate. This accounted for the reason the Jews wanted to setup Jesus Christ when they claimed he was opposing the authority of Caesar when they claimed he called himself King instead of Caesar. When he was hanged an epitaph was also hung which read “Christ, the King of the Jews”.

Slavery – both internal and external was an evil that existed continue to under different guises, changing its face from generation to generation, from a civilization to another. As long as human continues to be human and the quest for an individual, race, tribe or nation continues to show superior slavery has come to stay, till eternity.

The mad rush for acquisition in the evolving would worsen the situation foe slavery. One man can acquire the entire world and mankind would be at his beck and call, to the extent that when a man would make babies and a family would be decided by another man who makes himself a Lord. The current birth control policy is a living example. Having slavery as a treatise in this chapter, it is appropriate to working to have trade which is another leg of this chapter – slavery and slave trade. Slavery and slave trade are Siamese twin, one leads to the other and both are as inseparable as Siamese twin I already called them. Slave trade is the commercial transaction between two persons and the subject matter of the transaction is human being as a chattel, merchandise and central factor in the negotiation. My candid questions is, is there anything like slave trade now or at any other time? When this topic is raised as an issue, everybody’s mind goes to Africa whereas Africa was never involved in such ignoble deal with the white men as he alleged in his propaganda that Africans sold their brothers and sisters to the white man as slaves. It is now a settled matter that Africa was invaded and her sons and daughters captured and whisked away into the land of the white men either in Europe or America.

When slave trade is raised as an issue the actual meaning of it reflects the transaction between the pirates that involved African villages especially those on the coastlines, captured and whisks away their sons and daughters who journeyed weeks and months till they landed coastal slave fortes in the white man’s land. The slaves kept in slave houses were moved to the then slave markets for disposal. Some plantations were also constituted into slave markets where it would be closest to the end user – slave plantation owners and masters. The transaction between the pirates or slave merchants as middle men and the plantation owners who were the ultimate owners and users could be what the exactly termed slave trade. I have always imagined how such markets – slave markets would work like until I stumbled in some graphic expressions of the slave markets in London, Liverpool, Lisbon, Shore of the Caribbean’s, Jamestown, Florida, Virginia slave markets etc. the scenario reminded me of cattle markets in our present communities, it was awful, orchid and unbelievable humanity was so abused at a time in the history of mankind.

Perhaps the scenario was the major reason God destroyed the world of Noah, which was greater than the inhumanity of slavery era. He read how in the year 1619 – the first batch of African slaves were sold to the British immigrants in Jamestown to Kick start the business of buying and selling of slaves in America but the Jamestown transaction brought officialdom into the business of slave trade in America which later was done illegally between the Pirates and plantation owners.

The storey of slave trade though bizarre got official impetus at this juncture. The Jamestown slave trade in the British colony of Virginia opened floodgate for England to be flooded with African slaves which took off in 1640. Prior to this Europe had been making incursions into Africa, hunting for slaves. The ocean going Spain and Portugal were in the forefront of it. The issue of the enslavement of Africa and the puerility of slave markets in Europe and America cannot be over emphasized but let us leave this for later discussion and touch how Europe and the world were selling themselves before they suddenly realized that Africans were created to serve the purpose of doing the chores of the white men, before they realized that they were equally created in the image and likeness of God and would not abuse one another which they did not also see in their later enslavement of the black man; who in their reasoning could not qualify to also be created in the image and likeness of God. Slavery in Europe had its taproots in the Greek and Roman cultures. Before and during the medieval period, slavery was normal and legal. The culture of slavery was as old as mankind and Christ spoke at length against showing that as believers there was no slave no free born in the sight of God. He said there were no Jews and no Gentiles, everybody was equal before God. The followers of Christ were not oblivious of this position; hence the baptized Christian could not be enslaved. Christianity persistent doused slavery till close to twilight of serfdom or feudalism.

The Byzantine slave trade in medieval Europe accounted for the European desire for the ignoble business of buying and selling of human beings. A careful perusal of slave trading and holistic assessment of the savagery of Europe and betray their insincerity that Africans gave them her sons and daughters as if the incidence of invasion and taking human booty was strange to them. It is on record that the first English man that brought African slaves in the year 1563 captured his victims with the help John Hawkins with the help of team and crew member. As John Hawkins made his first slavery voyage in 1563, he felt the business was sweet and made two more follow up voyages, in one of which he lost his life. John Hawkins was reputed ad a notorious criminal and was the earliest English pirate on African shares, second only to Portuguese and Spaniards.

The above information is on the timing of external slave hunting vis-à-vis the information of slaves from Africa to England. As mentioned above, invasion of Africa and the removal of her citizens to Europe by the Portuguese and Spaniards dated from the time immemorial.

Prior to the year 1444 when Christopher Columbus the French explorer commissioned by the King of Spain to along with chime the first batch of African slaves to the West Indies, there were some unnoticeable incursions into Africa for slaves. It had happened for centuries before the King of Spain conned the pope into official permission for such slave hunting expeditions in Africa. The shift in interest from the Europeans enslaving themselves to enslaving Africans was born out of several reasons amongst which were religious, political, economic and social. The institution of slavery in Europe was that fueled by very long lasting empires with whose economies were slave based. The empires of Rome – Western and Central otherwise called the Holy Roman empire, the Byzantine empire of the Eastern Rome, the Othman empire were slave based economics and the emergency of religious renaissance saw the holy catholic church frowning at the institution began the journey of its bond breakout of slaveholding to free air of self actualizations.

In order to sustain the economy of Europe which was duodenary as a result of religious factors expressed in the condemnation of the institution by the Holy Catholic Church, an alternative was found in Africa hence the mad rush to buy African’s slaves in the very end of middle age.

The hundred year’s war, the Black Death, creeping in of capitalist institutes constantly joined to give deadly blows to European empires and feudalism which was the bedrock of modern slavery introduced by Emperor Charles I otherwise called Charlemagne the Great of Holy Roman empire who was significantly crowned by Pope Leox on the Christmas day of 800 – 25^th December 800 as the first recognized Emperor of Holy Roman empire that was composed of West and Central Rome.

There was a kind of free for all rights for hundred years amongst Kingdoms and empires of Europe of medieval period in search of slaves as the vassals provided the slave force that sustained the feudal European economies. Black death was the kind of epidemic that be deviled Europe of the Feudal dispensation which was a landmark incidence that spelt doom for medieval Europe that already being battered right left and centre by such factors enumerated above. Black Death crisscrossed Europe, Asia and North Africa from 1347 to 1450s. It was the most deadly epidemic, nay, pandemic for its international outthink. It took about 200 millions lives which stood it out as the world’s worst health challenge ever witnessed by mankind. The Black Death reduced the workforce in Europe and was one of the greatest reasons for the decline of European kingdoms and empires of Europe especially the Roman and Byzantine empires of middle age.

I have carefully taken time to study the Black Death pandemic and find out the origin, scope of operation and how it affected the black man. I discovered that no black man lost his life in this pandemic that was claimed to kill between seventy five to two hundred million people and found out that no black man ever lost his life. The question that kept on recurring in my mind is how was this disease associated with the black man that it was named the Black Death? My enquiring mind would ask – was this disease designed by the black man? Did it originate from black Africa of the black world? How come the coinage? No answer was actually found for why this plague that destroyed the European could be call the Black Death. A likely reason could only be found in the fact that anything bad was and still as associated with the black man. Black sheep, blackmail, black this and black that. Africa was seen and is still by the white ma as a dark continent, a continent of diseases and famine yet they scramble for, partitioned and plundered us both in material and human resources. It was called the Black Death yet it carefully avoided the enclaves of the black man, choosing whom to kill and not told whom to spare. It is a Black Death that refused to kill a single black man as the name implied. This was one of the reasons why Christianity in Europe did not consider the black man as being created in the image and likeness of God as the scripture holds out that man was created in the image and likeness of God; by extension anyone who violates fellow man violates God.

In the reasoning of ancient European Christians, God could not mean that the black man was inclusive, especially when they paint the angels of God as white and the angel of Satan black. Have you ever seen the portrait of the angel Michael as the dethroned Satan? Could you see the colour of the Satan white man and the church saw the black man have the levity with which he was end is still being treated that warranted the replacement of slavery of fellow citizens with the enslavement of African – black people which they then standard of morality did not condemn.

Further explanation of system of slavery that emerged with the emergence of Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire known as Feudalism. This is a system of administration that put powers in the hands of the kings at the apex of the ladder with the nobles directly under him enjoy some levels of autonomy over their different manorial districts. They were the Lords of the manors who give lands to the peasants for their agricultural purposes. The economy of the medieval era was agricultural or land based. The peasants or serfs do the farming on the lands they rented from the Lords who exact homage, taxes in term of money and products etc from the serfs. The serfs were in the bottom of the ladder in a feudal system. The knight manor in a feudal system. A typical manorial districts or a manor comprised of a castle, a cathedral and the facilities that make up a city like habitat with residences and large expanse of agrarian land for farming. The serfs – slaves do the farming while the bishops and priests did the church duties of praying for and nurturing the souls and spiritual needs of men in the particular manor. It was the duty of the knights who provide security as soldiers of the manorial districts. The Lord employed the services of the knights as the need of the king of soldiers arises to ward off invasion or any sort of attack on the kingdom.

Serfdom was the gamut of a feudal system, the serfs were the type of slaves that replaced the age long slaves in middle age Europe. The word serf was derived from the latin word “servus” which was translated to mean the same as slave. It had its origin in both Greek and latin to show the underlying interest of both Greece and Rome in the institution of slavery. The king was at the top of the ladder and subordinate only to the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire. Feudalism was a refined slavery system in medieval Europe after working for their masters – Lords on daily basics unlike pre-middle age when slaves produce master’s food in empty stomach themselves. When recourse was made from enslaving fellow Europeans to enslaving black people, the harsh lining of pre-medieval European slavery resurfaced. Black man became their beasts of labour. America story was a litmus test when African enslavement is on the front burner. The story of slavery in America is a story of glory, sordid and life-stifling experiences. Right from the journey on the sea to America which could better be described as horrible to the scorching sum or drench of the various plantations in the Caribbean or United States of America and even in the European plantations, the story is the same – breath – taking hardship.

Slave labour houses or plantations was described by an ex-slave and reformer in one of his emotion laden out bursts said that slavery in United States, particularly in Virginia was a gateway to the biblical hell. It was Fredrick Douglass that summed the situation of slavery as aforesaid. In one of his narratives he bemoaned the beaten he witnessed as a child of a black slave woman who was already stricken in age by a white plantation supervisor for no known provocation apart from the fact that she was not seen at the very spot she was expected to be seen. She may have stepped an inch away to answer the call of nature. In his tear laden narrative he said that the aged auntie’s blood splashed the door and other objects nearby and her wound was never bound after all. The story about the aged slave woman slave was so pathetic and an unforgettable reminder for slavery in the United States. A similar situation may account suicide cases amongst slaves. They will call to mind the incidence the greatest slave mass suicide in human history described as Igbo landing in black America mythology. The story of Igbo landing was the story of some slaves of Igbo extraction who took over the vessel that was taking them to a slave labour site killed and threw the two crew members in the water and force the vessel to land at Dumber Greek in St. Simon’s Island, Glyn Georgia. The best story teller would definitely lack words to describe the situation of slavery in America and the Scenario is better imagined.

Canada was reputed to be the least in the enslavement of black people but could not be exculpated in the entire crime of slavery and slave trade. The different is that they enslaved most of their people unlike the other jurisdictions that believed that white skin is immunity from 18^th and 19^th century slavery.

 

CHRISTIANITY, WORLD RELIGIONS AND SLAVERY

            We have dwelt almost extensively on slavery as a topic of the opening chapter but relating slavery to world religions and institutions would be a worthy follow up to the previous chapter on the central theme – slavery and slave trade.

It is obvious that every religion on the face value preaches sanctity or inviolability of human person as no one is expected to subjugate another or put human a situation of servitude. The gushiness of slavery can never be over emphasized yet generations after generations condemned it in the open and practiced it when in a position to nail it coffin finally, especially religious institutions. No religion openly supported slavery, especially Christian religion but everybody could read how it supported the heinous crime of slavery tacitly – through action and inaction of the institutions of Christianity.

In this effort of reviewing impact of religion on the institution of slave in middle age, pre and post middle age Europe and beyond, it is expedient to mention certain religions and civilizations that would make worthy case studies. In doing this, I would limit these treaties to world major religions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. In doing this also recourse should be had on the religion less civilizations we should classify as Atheism. We should be mindful of the fact that the world has all along been polarized between the Theism and Atheism. The theists behave in the existence of God while the Atheists don’t. In between the two are those who are not sure whether God exists or not – known and called the Agnostic.

The above mentioned could be seen in either Europe or Asian continents. African traditional religion behaved and still believes in the existence of one supreme God – the Omnipotent, Omnipresence and Omniscience without whom nothing created was actually created. This was a race taunted as not being created in the image and likeness of God by the slave – mongering medieval Christian morality shifted from enslaving fellow Christians of Europe to the enslavement of Africans – black men and women of the era. I would start with slavery in Hinduism.

Slavery in Hinduism: Hindus religion is one of the earliest religions known to mankind. It is a religion that frowns at violence and inhumanity but slavery thrived under Hinduism. Slave gifts were accepted by the leaders, yet in letters the religion forbade the institutions. The institutions of slavery thrive within the Indian Hindu enclave for some obvious reasons which ranged hostage taking after wars, personal submission as a result of poverty religious obligation of subservience to superiors, need for farm and factory hands in  an Indian Hindu society where there was a yawning gap between the rich and the poor. The idea of slavery in a Hindu Indian society of later years or end of middle age was reinforced by the introduction of black slaves from Africa by the Portuguese who also bought Indian slaves and sent to the West Indies and Europe.

Hinduism could not pretend to know slavery for centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese that bought the first black slaves to the subcontinent of India. Slavery was a practice indigenous to the early Hindus as Hindus faithful practiced local slavery thousands of years before the Portuguese brought the first African slaves to India. Prior to the episode, debts were being settled with slaves as those who could not redeem their indebtedness submitted themselves for slavery. War captives were also enslaved orally under the Hindu Indian dispensation. The poor also willingly submitted themselves to slavery in the houses of the rich so that they would be taken care of. The bottom line in Hindu religion was that you should not buy slaves with money but you must accept the gift of slaves and voluntary submission to enslavement being born to a slave woman made one a slave and judicial pronouncement. The Hindu belief that a sinner would come back in his next world to suffer as a part of retributive justice made the enslave Hindu or his master to behave that the person’s enslavement or suffering was in obedience to the law of karma which presupposed he must pay in this whether sins of his or her former life in the past life.

The ancient Hindu belief and practice made Hindu slaves to see his or her suffering as a purification process without which he or she must be repeating his journey to this earth in this ground, slaves were not sympathized with. The unfeeling disposition of masters of slaves towards them makes a double speak of the non violent belief towards another in Hinduism.

The idea of taking slaves of war captives negated this non violent belief ad nothing is as violent as war itself and capitalizing on such violence to enslave was a complete vitiation of the main tenet of Hinduism as it relates to the institution of slavery. Buying slaves and taking hostage of victims of war which in the main violated the person hood of the slaves slavery, undeniably was a medieval Hindu practice.

Slavery in Buddhism: Buddhism as an Indian religion is and was similar to Hinduism as both were conterminous. People became slaves on the account of their being captured in war, parents giving out or selling their children in line with the pronouncement of the law etc admitting the fact of a human being not allowed to sell another human which Hindu proponents denied. It is trite law under Hinduism as much as in Buddhism that even parents were legally allowed to sell their children. Denying this fact is the height of religious hypocrisy which Buddhism exposed as practiced in ancient India both by Hinduism and Buddhism. Slavery was an integral ancient Indian Hindu and Buddhist religious enslaves of pre and post medieval period.

A slave master was at liberty to use his female slave sexually as part of her slave obligation and the Hindu and Buddhist laws respectively allowed it but present civilization may have tinkered this practice. The running was one of the most dastardly religious evils associated with ancient Hindu and Buddhist religious practices which evil reared its ugly head in other religious practices of the time. A slave master in this evil practice, if he was a Hindu of Buddhists risked the chance of being purified in Karma to meet up with the essence of the practice of not coming back as many times as possible. As Buddha complete his cycle as the first human to attain such spiritual height, it behaved any adherent to do good to be purified and complete his life cycle.

For the purpose of this work, the known difference between Hinduism and Buddhism can be subsumed in the fact that their slave holding laws are and were the same during the medieval period that is currently in issue. Any other difference between the two religions seriously could not be counted here. Buddha successfully founded a religion whose tenets on slave holding replicated Hindu slavery laws on slavery and slave holding in ancient India, being originally a Hindu himself.

Slavery in Islam: Islam religions founded by Prophet Mohammed. It is one of the religions that has root in Abraham, in this case Ibraham like Judaism and Christianity. It tended to support the institution of slavery but with a present outlook of a defender of the oppressed, the deprived and the enslaved. Several portions of the Quran portray emancipator disposition in favour of the slaves which no doubt shows that slavery was legal in Islam and the present stand reformations emancipator and cultivating not hypocritical ad been in some quarters.

The excuse given by the religions for its sympathy for the institutions and its practitioners was that it was the way of life of the society in the 7^th century when Islam was founded, showing it neither condemned or abolished it until the global outcry against the practice between the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Arab traders were the Muslims at the centre of slave trade. Considering the position of Arabs in the religion and what Islam should lose if the Arabs decided to withdraw from Islam and focus on slave trade and slavery, the leaders of Islam threaded with caution until the practice received a global condemnation. Pro slave legislations followed immediately as contained in the respective Muslim law codes called Fatawa in 1658 and 1707 and continues to evolves such slaves in Islamic jurisdiction, through market overt, personal submission etc based on the peculiar circumstance of the enslaved as most slaves were acquired through hostage taking in wars. Islam is erroneously known as the religion of war while the practitioners call it a religion of peace. In some cases, hostage taking could not be ascribed to war but terrorism with ISIS and Boko Haram hostage taking not because of war but baseless and unprovoked terrorizing – a situation whereby some youths protest against Western Education in a world that all road leads to that. The Ottoman Empire, Moors of Berber decent in 711AD. The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire and the conquest of part of Spain by the Moorish Empire flourished the Muslim or Islamic involvement in medieval slave trade.

Many Islamic traders emerged during the Middle Age mostly the Saudi Arabian or the Arabians ad they were called. The war mongering empires of the Arab world especially the Ottoman and the Moorish empires fed the Arab traders with slaves who were part of their booties of war. They led companies and expected took hostages they sold to Arab slave merchants who shuttled between the Arabian regions, North Africa, Europe and in some cases Asia. Slavery thrived amongst Islamic kingdoms, empires and nations before the captors began to become captives at the point of modern civilizations and technology.

As the scampering for slaves by the Europeans through the African shores in the South through the Atlantic, the Arabs were making their incursions through the Sahara Dessert. While the Europeans capture and export to Europe and America, the Arabs who invaded through the Sahara Desert took their victims through the Sahara to the North Africa and later to Saudi Arabia and European slave markets. It is correct and self evident to assert that while the Trans-Atlantic European evil mission was going on, with its deadly middle passage, the Arab slave caravans were moving Northwards through the Sahara Desert to North Africa, Arabia and Europe, all simultaneously for which ancient black nations could not fight their assailants enough. It wasn’t that African Kings were so weak but because their fighting strength was divided and disputed. This was the story of Islam, slavery and slave trade of the medieval era.

Slavery in Judaism: Judaism, like most religions could not deny the existence of slavery or its practice. Slavery seemed inseparable from the religion of Judaism as slavery was part of the block laying stage. A lot was written or said in Judaism to show its abhorrence of the practice of man selling a fellow man. Slavery was associated with inhumanity as humanity was debased when one place another under servitude and deplorable condition because he was the master and other his slave. From the foundational stage, this anomaly was not stressed especially when father Abraham who founded the religion was a slave holder. In the story of Abraham, his wife Rebecca and Hagar – their slave woman is evidential. What ensued when Rebecca maltreated and drove her away into the desert without a destination to suffer speaks volumes of how Judaism which Abraham founded regarded a slave. The fact that Abraham had compassion on her was not enough. To also show that it seemed a divine conspiracy God when he asked Abraham to listen to his wife and throw away Hagar and her son Ishmael not withstanding that the child was Abrahams own blood. The full story is that when Abraham and his wife Sarah could not conceive and they were already old, Rebecca told her husband to go into his maid Hagar so that she could give her (Sarah) a son. This was how Hagar – the slave woman gave birth to Ishmael. God Himself said He would not fulfill his covenant of making him father of all nations through fruit of a slave woman but a son he could call his own – through his own wife. This was how Ishmael was born through the obedience of Abraham's slave woman, Hagar. Through no fault of hers yet she was suffered for being a slave woman. At the end of the day, God actualized his covenant with Abraham and Sarah conceived a very old age and gave birth to Isaac. Though God later helped Hagar and her son, she had taken the pang and had drunk the bitter water of a slave.

It could not be reasoned that God hates the slaves or particularly hated Hagar, but it was so to demonstrate the respect with which he clothed the institution of marriage and the need for husbands to obey their wives. It demonstrated the need for spouse obedience not disregard and diadem to the so called slaves. Each time the children of God went astray by way of idolatry, God punished them by sending them into slave in foreign lands, if God used slavery in the hands of enemies to punish His chosen people, it follows that God knew slavery as evil and possessing evil mark or stigma. Slavery stigmatizes enslave the present world where there seems to be liberty, though in most cases as paper tiger to justify the fact there is yet liberty which had for so long been expected and continues to be a mirage. There was slavery from the foundation of Judaism and the Jews hoped and still hope for a messiah.

Slavery in Christianity: Christianity met slavery as an order of the day from its foundation. The scriptures speak volumes of slavery in ancient Jewish culture and also report the Israelites as been enslaved from one time to the other. The children of Israel were in Egypt under the excruciating weight of slavery. The book of Genesis, precisely chapter 37 and 39, reports the children of Jacobs as having sold their brothers out of envy, and when famine hit them they traced him to Egypt where he was then a governor. They sojourned with him but he died, the Pharaoh who never knew Joseph enslaved them. The scripture also has it that Abraham was a slaver himself. The story of Abraham’s (Sarah) maid and slave – Hagar as recorded in Gen. 16:1-16 and 21:21” an instant case of Abraham’s slaveholding.

Judaism as the religion founded by Abraham did not frown at it as a taboo rather it advocated their submissiveness to their masters. Christ the son of God came and abolished slavery by pronouncing that everybody is equal before his father – no slaves, no freeborn in the presence of God; neither is there Jews and the Gentiles according to the scriptures. It was the Jewish understanding that if one was not a Jew, he was a Gentile. Jews segregated against the non Jews they called the Gentiles of the time Jesus Christ was born and his mission was a turning point in the Jews perception of non Jews.

On the Pentecost day in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit descended on the Jews and the Gentiles alike to confirm the fact that the veil of demarcation had been torn and the things that used not to happen started happening. The mission of Christ was to reconcile man to God and provide level playing field humanity. The scripture clearly stated that we can only be for enslaved to sin and if anyone believes, he is redeemed from that sin and its bondage and sorrow. From inception, Christianity abhors slavery, hence the scripture “don’t be equally yoked with the unbelievers” this scripture shows that unbelief enslaves a man. It shows that it is the unbelievers that suffer from the yoke of slavery.

The yoked animals are such like the Oxen that have something that join them on the necks suck used for farming. Slaves could be likened to such labour and burden animals not for human beings and believers who were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. The bible is replete with scriptures that condemn slavery, especially the repurchased, who were deemed redeemed by the Pascal role of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The role of Christianity in medieval Europe vis avis slavery and slave trade left a lot to be desired as the church seemed veered out of the norms of the religions which were predicated on bound moral cleavages and inviolability of human person by another, as it avoided stepping on toes of the practitioners of the ignoble business of the medieval Europe. Christianity gave an official support to slavery and slave trade when Pope Gelasius permitted the Jews to import non Christian’s slaves to Italy when a Jewish friend of the Pope and a Jewish merchant made such request in 492AD

Also between 6^th and 7^th centuries Pope Gregory the Great issued a ban on importing of slave or keeping slaves in Italy by the Jews who were the major slave merchants of the time that could move between Christian and Muslim areas between 9^th and 10^th centuries. These Jewish merchants castrated their slaves so that they could sell them at higher prices. The Vikings avoided Christian slaves as they terrorized Europe for slaves in keeping with the Papal order against the enslavement of Christians, instead they concentrated on slaves.

Venice which was the epicenter of slaves trade equally adhered to the order of non enslavement of Christians as the Venetian slave merchants crisscross Europe and Aisa. In keeping with the Christian spirit against the evil trade, Williams the conqueror of England banned the exportations of slaves from England and limited the participation of England in slavery.

At about 1240, Christians held crusades in Muslim states, captured and sold them as slaves in Marseilles France. Knights of Malta also staged attacks on Muslim settlement, took them hostages as Port of Malta became notable slave port and centre within the area of Europe. Pope Benedict XIV also banned the sale of slaves to Egyptian states in 1741, just as Pope Zacchary banned the sale of Christian slaves to Muslims from the year 741.

Pascal order to stop selling slaves to Egypt was repeated in 1317, 1323, 1329, 1338 and 1425. The repetition of this order shows that they were not obeyed strictly. The reason for the issuance of the order was that the slaves sold to Egyptian states might join Egypt in battles against their former Christian masters. The above was the effort of Christianity to curtail slavery and slave trade in the medieval Europe. In furtherance of this a group of humanitarians came together in the spirit of Christianity to fight against slavery and slave trade. They were called the abolitionist. Another group of Christians also called the society of friends. They approached Abolitionism radically and were persecuted in England and most of them relocated to United States of America.

We’ve seen how Christianity supported slavery and slave trade and how Christianity fought against slave trade. We’ve also seen how Christianity aided the white man, especially in Europe to enslave the black man. Christianity could hardly be exculpated in the conspiracy of the world in colonizing Africa.

Berlin conference of 1884 and 1885 and the subsequent treaty saw the black man bearing further subjugated in form of sharing of Africa amongst European nations for colonization. Christianity could definitely could not be exculpated from the evils of slavery and colonizing.

Christianity could be said to have done well for humanity except some hiccups here and there, especially where it condemned the black man. The church was everywhere fighting slavery and colonialism – in some cases appropriating and re-probating, doing a double speak on issues that concerned the actual freedom of the black man from slavery and colonization.

Christianity was seen prevaricating when the issue of the black man being a part of human beings that were created in the image and likeness of God. The ancient Christianity, before and in the 19^th century had no answer to that questions, yet we battle to be counted in heaven. The baptized Christians were later in the odds to be treated as brethren either pretentiously or in reality; there was a silvering in the sky.

The claim that Christianity laid the foundation for the replacement of slavery in Europe of Europeans with the enslavement of Africans by European slave merchants was investigated and found to be true. We shall dwell further on this issue to get down to the nitty-gritty of it to blame whom to blame and defend whom to defend. The church definitely has an apology to give as much as the entire world owes the black man reparation for the injustice of slavery, slave trade and colonialism.

The legislative details of the involvement of the church in the enslavement of African could be X-rayed in the forthcoming chapter devoted to the subject matter.

Slavery in the contemporary world: Slavery was said to have been abolished but careful observation of what is going on in the world of today shows that there is still slavery with us till today. Though slavery has been abolished in the entire world through global instruments and institutions even as they were localized as constitutional issues in different nations of the world, it presently flourishes to the shame of world leaders and organizations like United Nations and its organs.

Right from the year 1833 that it was abolished in British colonies and 1863 that Abraham Lincoln liberated everybody in United States of America, everyone became a freeborn irrespective of color or race. Seeing that slavery persists, the countries of the world met to establish global understanding towards the eradication of slavery in our modern and most recent societies. Slavery still exists in different forms in our daily activities which must be stamped out. We see fellow human being in our thoughts and actions that impact on our immediate societies negatively. Modern day slavery range from human trafficking, forced labour, servitude, child labour etc.

United Nations 1926 slavery convention defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all the power of attacking to the right of ownership are exercised”. The League of Nations 1926 slavery convention was followed up in 1956 of another United Nations slavery convention strictly set out to abolish slavery and anything that had the toga of it. This was a treaty known as the United Nations supplementary convention of 1956 aimed at the abolition of slavery, slave trade, institutions and practices similar to slavery. This was adopted and signed by the attendee nations.

Amendment to this convention was done by day way of protocols done at UN headquarters in New Yoke in 1953 which bases the supplementary slavery convention was arrived at. United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and Slavery Acts emerged to handle the issues of slavery and rights abuses. The emerged International Labour Organizations to guard against forced labour, servitude etc. United Nations Actions Against Slavery was a follow up. All these United Nations laws were localized in the constitutions of member states but they face enforcement problems. The violating individuals, groups and organizations usually evolve evasive mechanisms which governments grapple with. The issue of Boko Haram and ISIS are instances where those held hostage helplessly wallow in servitude in their respective hostage camps. The issue of the young school girls abducted by members of Boko Haram for years could not be rescued. They were within the range of thirteen and were forced to become premature mothers. The Chibok girls definitely have grown into madams and mothers at an age their parents still pampered and nursed or guarded their virginity.

The girls of poor backgrounds sent out by their masters and mistresses into prostitution are another set of slaves. Some were sent overseas for prostitution in the guise of securing jobs as house helps for them. Children of school age who are on the road hawking wares present a pitiable sight in our societies.

Modern slavery has different dimensions sometimes with a thin line between them and mere servant or house help. The bottom line is the attitude towards them that denies them the choice to reason otherwise. In some areas in Africa, some are still enslaved to deities. These slaves are seen moving within the groves of the deities while others are left to wander in the deserts in a hermitic lifestyle. In the modern age of civilization, there are sign posts of slavery even amongst the nations of the world that preach against it. In Europe and America, the off springs of the slave masters show that trait while the off springs of the former slaves still have that bitterness which psychologically is a demonstration of the oppressed mentality which the world must address if slavery would be a thing of the past.

                                                            PAPAL BILLS

There are a lot of accusations and counter accusations between one religion and the other about complicities in the evil of slavery and slave trade that developed the world during and before the middle and afterwards the Renaissance in Europe, America and the entire world. Mankind witnessed a rat race of a chaotic world. Humanity kept in a bad shape – a far cry from what the Almighty God created it to be. The world was beset with a gruesome was against itself. Slavery, slave trade were the three some of the adversities that recreated the world and the question has been where did the world go wrong? Answering this question in relation to obvious anomalies of the ancient and modern world, every ones attention goes to the hydra- headed issues that revolve around human beings making fellow human being objectives of trade and world personifying a garden of love and freedom where the Almighty God placed, located and founded man to enjoy himself in fullness.

In search of where we went wrong we came up with the rhetoric like what is happening to our beautiful world? Is God still hearing our prayers? Rhetoric’s! Yes rhetoric because we do not need any answer for we know where the issues lie. One that requires coming out of his problem would definitely eschew prevarications. Do we pretend not to know when the answers are fastened to our waists belts that hold our trousers and tightly as my wife’s bra that seems her daily companion and other appurtenances of her woman quiver that stock her beauty arrows.

The world knows how it violated itself and definitely be shedding crocodile’s tears if we say we do not know we presently cry. Mankind violated itself and would not expect all to be the same again. The world is at a crossroad because those that God placed in charge of its roped it and left it bear. They were our spiritual leaders and those we referred as next to God before us. Religious group point accusing fingers at each other blames upon blames expose their conspiracy or who did what to rape this world to comatose and beat humanity to stupor.

In my little way of creating a window into the medieval world where all crimes against humanity were committed, racial bringandry carried out to the detriment of the black man whose homesteads were plundered human capital, in sons and daughters that were whisked away to the white man’s land, irreplaceable. We lost all in human resources and they came back with colonialism to finish what was left in their plundering impurity and brazen subjugation.

When I asked again, accusing fingers pointed at the church and the church leaders in turn pointed at Islam, Pagans and other religions. In the immediate past chapter, I tried to see slavery in the perspective of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. My observation was highly expository leading invariably to a further investigation on a topic that became the subject of this chapter. Since the opinion of the church is required. It follows that the activities of the Popes on the issue of slavery, slave trade and colonization, it behooves us to have empathy into the wording of the respective bulls by different Popes at different stages of our societal development. Bulls were used by Popes to express their views on major issues of human interests. Encyclicals became additional means of disseminating information by the Papacy. A Papal Bull is defined as a public decree, letters or charters issued by the Pope. It was called a Bull because of the leaden seal that was appended to it end of the order for authority. The document derived from the “bulla” the official seal appended to the end of the document. The Pope has from one time or the other used Papal Bulls to direct the affairs of the world through the medieval Europe and beyond.

It has been a common phenomenon to blame the Pope on any sensitive issues of the world, especially in situations where Christian morality was at stake like the issues of slavery, slave trade and colonization, which it was argued that the Pope would have done better to circumvent. As the Popes were being blamed, the Catholic Church as well was also blamed.

I have always taken exception to the incessant blame of the Catholic Church or the Pope whenever the issue of Christian morality is in contention, especially the acts of the church in medieval Europe when Christianity was intact before the unfortunate interruption of the body of Christ, against his prayer to his father on the last supper. We can remember that Christ pleaded with his father to make his church remain in unity. The interruption, reformation so-called could not exonerate any Christian from blame in matters that pertain to the early church. The act of the ancient church, good or bad is a common heritage and not ascribable to any denomination of Christianity. I am in essence saying that Christianity would receive a knock or applause if the Papal Bulls we are about to examine are found wanting or landable.

I am trying in the organic principles here since the action of the Pope or the action of the Catholic Church could not be separated from the action of early Christianity and invariably the action of the body of Christ – the church in eternity. As the action of the Pope is not different from the action of the Catholic Church, so is the action of the ancient catholic church not different from the actions of Christianity only non Christians could be exculpated from the short comings of the leadership of Christianity – no exculpation for any Christian or Christian denomination.

Back to basics, without much digression may I grave the indulgence of the esteemed reader to join me to beam our search light on some of the Papa Bulls to understand further the roles of the church – its actions and inactions towards redeeming mankind from slavery as may be revealed in the Papal Bulls that were the official opinions of the church within the ancient period of slavery, slave trade and colonization.

It may be necessary to touch all the Papal bulls issued by various Pope during the period in question. It may be absolutely correct to x-ray the Bulls whose contents are in tandem with the subject matter or central theme of this book which is the role of the church during slavery, slave trade and colonization.

Papal Bull of 1452 titled Dum Diverses. This was a decree issued by Pope Nicholas V authorizing the king of Portugal Alfonzo to conquer the Saracens – the Muslims and certain Pagan Africans and consign them to perpetual servitude. This Bull could be seen as the official authority to the frequent raiding and carting away of some Africans to Portugal and Spain before this order. The presence of African slaves in Spain and Portugal was recorded to span beyond the 14^th century but precisely in 1444 some black slaves were spotted around the Iberian Peninsula.

The first batch of slaves sent to the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. Pope Nicholas V. was conned by the king of Portugal in 1452 to issue them the authority to go to Africa to invade and convert them to Christianity. The Pope jumps at this and signed an authority to Portugal that would forever remain indelible in the mind of Africa and Africans was the license that perpetuated them in servitude. The agony – weeping and wailing as the captured Africans were whisked away across the Atlantic Ocean to the in known world of slavery was blamable on the Papal authority of Poe Nicholas V., notwithstanding that the Portuguese pirate had been poking on the coastal inhabitants of Africa.

Based on this authority given to Portugal, other European nations joined the evils with their consciences seared because the order came from the oracle and custodian of human morality, the Papacy. Because this authority said they would conquer colonies and enslave, they officially came with their deceitful bride and cross and at the same time guns and whips. The Papal Bull of 1452 issued by Pope Nicholas V. was humiliating, depriving and dehumanizing.

Papal Bull of 1493: This bull was titled bull inter-caterer or bull of donation issued by Pope Alexander VI to Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert and enslave the Americas. The permission given to Spain and Portugal emboldened them to commit the mayhem the committed in the continent of America against the indigenous people of the continent. This Papal Bull came in the nature of the one issued to Spain in 1452 to wallop Africa. The two Bulls work great harm against the Africans who were already victims of the former, 1452, were already away from Africa into slavery in Spain and Portugal, who by virtue of the bull of 1493 were marched down to the new world. The two bulls, as draconian as they were would not have come from the bosom that bore the crucifix. They were issued by different Popes and the black man was the worst for the two. The Papal Bull that deprived the indigenous Americans their land and right of self determination was condemnable.

Other European nations joined the bandwagon and reduced the American continent to theatre of war. The irony of this white on black toga of slavery saw the same indigenous Americans who were colonized alongside the black people turned round to prose the second grade colonists to the Negroes and another was of freedom yet to be fought by the black man in the hands of the white Americans after the original American war of independence.

The black man became the symbol of slavery and became scatter on every face of the earth virtue of Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1493, issued unapologetically by Pope Nicholas V and Pope Alexander VI. This unsought was carried out by the church without batting an eyelid. The black man was scattered all over the world as the oil bean seeds would scatter by virtue of the Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1493.

Papal Bull of 1455 titled Romanus Pontifex was issued by Pope Nicholas V. it aimed at affirming his earlier position on slavery as contained in the Bull of 1452. The Papal Bull of 1455 was Pope Nicholas V’s indignation to the contempt with which his bill of 1452 was received which was an absolute demonstration of tyranny. He could not care about what harm his Bull of 1452 caused to the innocent people in Africa, in defiance of public resentment he issued another Bull three years – Bull of 1455. After went into untold hardship and servitude on the account of 1452 and 1455 bull of Pope Nicholas V.

Pope Nicholas V. is without equivocation one of the most notorious Popes if not elsewhere, in Africa. The agonies and woes in Africa of today, is to a large extent owed to Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1455 and to Pope Nicholas V. himself. The implication is that Africa was not in the contemplation of Christianity even as full humans to whom mercy of God should also extend to. They said they were to convert and colonize Africans. Did they think Africa never believed in God? Did they think that Africa never worship the one and only God the Almighty God? If the Pope wanted Africa to be converted to Christianity, must it be by way of violence? Waging war to colonize and convert Africa or enslave her did not make Christianity friendly and compassionate.

The above is the implication of Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1455 and even of 1493 that was equally issued by Pope Alexander VI to colonize, convert and enslave the continent of America and her peoples. Christ came into the world with an absolute intention to redeem mankind, but those who came after could not be said to have appreciated or know about his message of having come for everyone including Africans – with apology to the original apostles headed by Peter and the remnants of all later day Christians that worship God in truth and in spirit. There was no excuse and could never be for the carnage on Africa by the white men ably permitted by the Papacy. Know that we are now Christians in Africa, what excuse can Christianity give for the humiliation of our African ancestors by the church? Subtle diplomacy rather than conquest could be most appropriate to get Africans to behave. The message of Christ was a good one and could be a good market if decorum was employed.

Papal Bull of 1494 was issued by Pope Alexander VI dividing the world into two – East and West. East belonging to Portugal while bestowing the West to Spain. The world so bad that it was the world of Spain and Portugal in the eye of the Papacy but Europe as a whole did not take it that way and rushed in what I call the survival of the fittest.

The world was in a rat race until League of Nation came in to stem the tide much later. This continued for centuries this body called League of Nations was born. The church ruled the world with its choice kingdoms as Papal bull were chinned out as popes liked. This Bull added insult to injury as far as Africa concerned. For several centuries the church never cared and never showed regrets for the devastation meted out to the black man by the Papacy of Pope Nicholas V. for over six centuries, it was only the sympathy of Pope John Paul II in the year 1985 that Africa ever received from Christianity that violated the black man to the marrow, insulted his ancestry and never gave a hoot.

Papal Bull of 1537 – The Papal Bull of 1537 was a Bull issued by Pope Paul III titled Sublimes Deus, disagreeing with the Papal Bull of 1493 known as Papal Bull of Donation or Bull inter caetera. The Bull of 1537 was a radical but honest demonstration of true heart of Christ. The Bull that empowered Spain and Portugal to colonized, convert and enslave the continent of America and the indigenous people thereof was inhuman, reckless and inexplicable especially as it emanated from the highest vicarage of Christ or a supposed throne of grace on earth. The Bull of 1537 aimed at mitigating the injustice of the church against the Americas and their people.

If Pope Paul III did not do what he by way of Papal Bull of 1537, the church and the Papal authority would be seen as bully and savage. A lot of Americans that still remain this incidence would be referred to this bull. For the purpose of better understanding it is pertinent to layout the Bull of 1537 in the book for everyone to see the spirit of sincerity, courage and atonement exhibited by Pope Paul III as he undertake to do the apology. I will not spend much time explaining this Bull since it would be there for everyone to see, read and make deductions – res ipsa loquitun.

All I have to add is – Pope Paul III wherever you are, may it be well with your soul.

Papal Bull of excommunication of 1570. This was a Bull issued by Pope Pius V declaring Queen Elizabeth I of England a heretic. This Bull was titled Regnans in excelsis. This Bull excommunicated Queen Elizabeth and deprived her of her right to rule. The then urged faithful and subjects to withdraw loyalty to her as a Queen of England. The Pope by the Bull mandated her subjects not to accord her any respected.

The Pope also called for her dethronement many attempts were made on the life of the Queen from different angle since after the issuance of the Bull. To show how far a Bull could go, it would surprise anyone to know that the Pope could stay in Rome and order the unseating of a whole Queen of England.

Papal Bull of 1520 titled Exsurge meaning Arise Oh Lord was issued by Pope X. This Bull was meant to call Martin Luther to order. By this Pope Leox expected Luther to show regrets and recant his ninety five theses in which he castigated the Pope and the Catholic Church, instead he went ahead to burn the copy of the Bull to insult the Pope further thereby during the entire Catholic world. The Pope and the entire Catholic Church were infuriated by the action and the Pope issued him with a decree of excommunication as well as ordering his prosecution. He went into hiding as the man – hunt thickens up.

Papal Bull of excommunication 1521 – This is a Papal Bull of excommunication issued against Martin Luther after he tore a copy of the Papal Bull to defy Pope Leox. This was a follow up Bull to the Bull of 1520 issued against Martin Luther when he defied the Bull of 1520, insulting the Pope and the entire Catholic world. This Bull was titled Bull Luther. Martin Luther went to his grave with the stigma of the excommunication though the Lutherans – those who believed in his ideology survived up till today and became the faithful of the Lutheran church or Lutherism.

Papal Bull of 1054 – This was a Papal Bull of excommunication issued by Pope Leox IX against the Patriarch of the cathedral at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. This was as a result of the difference or misunderstanding the Catholic Church in Rome and the Byzantine Orthodox Church in Constantinople. The misunderstanding grew wider creating both a leadership problem and difference in understanding of some belief system. The Orthodox East frequently disagree with the Papal authority for which the Papal legate or envoy set out on the 16^th of July 1054 during the divine liturgical celebration to serve the Patriarch Michael straight to the high as the Papal envoy Hubert was disregarded, he went alter of the cathedral and laid the copy of the Papal Bull excommunicating the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cartularies.

The excommunication of 1054 divided Christianity into two – The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, thereby Polarizing Christianity into two largest denominations of Christianity.

Papal Bull of 1484 titled Sumirs desiderates issued by Pope Innocent VIII regarding the prevalent witchcraft of the time. The Pope took it upon himself to lead a war against activities. He issued the Bull to confirm the existence of witchcraft and on one occasion sent jury to Germany to prosecute one of the leaders of the strange practice who was also a Plato man – a believer in the teaching of Plato, the Greek philosopher.

The Pope went to the extent of declaring war on cats as he perceived cats were the medium of witchcraft practice. He particularly hated black cats and wiped them out of Rom. When Pope Sixtus VIII succeeded him, he reiterated the position against witchcraft by issuing another Bull to strengthen the Bull of 1484. The Bull was in full titled Summis desiderates effect buss.

Papal Bull of 1425 issued by Pope Martin V made it abominable for any Christian slave dealer that sold or dealt with the Muslims and made ban Jews from selling Christians to Muslims and made them to wear badges for easy identification. Pope Martin reasoned that Christians slaves sold would later join the army to fight their former masters. The stipulated excommunication for any Christian slave dealer who sold slaves to Muslims or to any non Christian slave dealer. The Bull called it an anathema to sell Christian slaves to Muslim. Anathema is a term that denotes abomination in catholic lexicon.

    Papa Bull of 1234 titled Rachel Suum Videns. This was a bull by which Pope Gregory the great called for a fresh crusade to the Holy land. It was repeated in 1239. During this period, the Jews were selling Christian slaves, especially to non Christians. The Pope was highly against it and had to fight to stop the practice. The Jews operating under the permission granted them by Pope Gelasius to come to Rome for their slave trade within Rome, he also banned Jewish slave holding in Italy especially of Christians. The Pope reasoned that a Christian was a freeman, and no one could enslave a freeman.

Papal Bull of 1741 titled Immensa Pastorum Principis. This was a Papal Bull issued by Pope Benedict XIV to the Bishops in Brazil demanding that the Incans in Brazil and other dominion should be treated humanely. The Bull condemned slavery in its entirety.

Papal Bull of 1434 titled creator Omnuim. This was a Bull issued by Pope Eugene IV based on complaints and he annulled all Bulls issued before to the Portuguese to conquer those Islands. By the Bull the Pope set free another Decree the following year titled Sicut dudum.

The Bull of 1433 excommunicated anyone who enslaved Christians in the Canary Islands. He also issued another Bull in 1434 forbidding further raids.

 The Papal Bull of 1435 – This was another Bull issued by Pope Eugene IV forbidding the enslavement of local natives of the Canary Islands who have converted or were converted to Christianity. We have perused reasonable number of Papal Bulls issued by different Pope at different times with a view to ascertaining the complicity of the church or Popes in the heinous crimes of slavery, slave trade and colonialism. This exercise is so necessary for us to inculpate or exculpate the church in the issues of the monumental inhumanity that once beset this earth.

So much accusing fingers were pointed at the church over her action or inaction on a menacing attitude of the world towards the black man in particular and mankind as a whole. The evil is already done and this exercise meant to stop a deal that was carried out, spanning the period of about a thousand years but for us to fully understand what our ancestors went through in the hands of the white man and the reaction of our Christian leaders who stood in the position of our God on earth at that period of the evolution of our Christian living.

The Papal Bulls volumes of the individual Popes, the church and the entire conscience framework of the time. We have seen how Christianity through different ecclesiastical promulgations supports and empowered those who enslaved, colonized and dehumanized us touch every existence. We also read how they castrated us to render us echoic so that they could make more money when they sell us. We also have known the pains of the middle passages the clattering neck chains, the two hands and legs were chained one to another to curb us.

We’ve heard the weeping and whiling of our ancestors as their homesteads were invaded and as they were smoked out as rodents and whisked away to an unknown world. They said the Popes authorized it and we could not believe it. Behold it turned out to be true. We found out from this exercise that the very people we could run to for our protection – our religious leaders were first to give a deadly blow. They said it was through the authority of Pope we argued it, behold it was true.

A lot of information and misinformation are now clear to us. To disparage some authorities, especially Popes we were fed with some untruths that appeared like truths concerning Christianity, slavery, slave trade and colonialism. We were told that some Popes were slaveholders and sent out slave hunters to Africa as partners in the evil business. For the purpose of an unblased reporting, I carefully investigated and discovered that there were some Papal Bulls that seemed to support slave, slave trade and colonialism. I also found out that between Spain, Portugal and some Popes, there seemed a kind of synergy. I also found out that a Pope once received a gift of slaves from one of the European kings and a Pope personally purchased some slaves with his money. A Pope also granted indulgence to some European Kings that were involved in the crusade against other nations to absolve them of the sin of bloodletting. I also came across Martin Luthers allegation that Popes were selling indulgence – collecting money to grant forgiveness of sins. We were told that it was forbidden for Christians slave dealers not to sell slaves to the Muslims, Muslim states and Egypt in particular.

High handedness of the Papacy was also alleged and we could see it in the refusal of the Papacy to annul the marriage of King Henry of England. To the king that was disallowed by the Pope to divorce and pick another wife, it was absolute high handedness but to the Queen whose marriage to the king which was sought to be annealed, the action of the Pope was divine. Some other kings were against the Popes and Christianity as we have read and even according to the implications of the wordings of some of the Papal Bulls we have examined in this chapter.

Can we also excuse the Papacy on some of the allegations? Some of the allegations as we could infer from the very instances the accusers acted, were borne out of age long differences between the Popes and the proponents of Protestantism. When properly viewed, the allegations were indirect testimonies as the very reasons given that would inculpate the Papacy eloquently exculpated her.

It is proper for us to start reeling out the allegations and know which ones nailed the Papacy or the ones that were plausible and the laudable ones. We must see the two sides of the coin and dissect properly. Yes, some Popes issued certain bulls at certain times for the enslavement of Africa, America etc. some Popes issued Papal Bulls calling for crusades. In honest desire to promote Christianity permission was issued by some Popes to some nations especially Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert and enslave. These permissions were taken advantages of by the colonists and slave hunters. Christianity could as well be promoted without the use of force and the accompanying dehumanization.

Some Popes also issued some Bulls calling for crusades – holy wars against some nations and peoples with the misconstrued intention that power must meet power, especially as the holy wars were declared against some Islamic nations that were bent on annexing Christian bases in search of slaves. The Popes were of the belief that if Muslims call for Jihad to Islamize Christian enclaves that it was very appropriate for them to call for a crusade to free such Christian enclaves from Muslim enslavement for the Pope Innocent VIII that was accused of receiving one hundred slaves from King Ferdinand VIII king of the Aragons but distributed them to his cardinals and nobles in 1488. He accepted the gift because rejecting it would not be polite enough. He then distributed the slaves to his cardinals and nobles not to have them as slaves but to carter for them as they may be thrown into further Jeopardy if thrown to the street. Pope Zacchary wad accused of purchasing slaves but the true situation is that some slaves merchants were caught in Italy with some Christian slaves against the decree of the Pope and in order to free the slaves, Pope Zacchary paid the slave merchants from Venice the worth of the slave and set them free, which was proper before God and man. He did not buy to own them.

ALL HAVE SINNED

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This holds water with respect to the seeming global conspiracy over the issues of colonization, enslavement and the total dehumanization of the black man. An enquiry into this has opened a can of worms. Some say it is too late for the black man to react but a saying goes in my local village lexicon that when a man wakes upon his morning. We can say good morning to our Africa, to be able to start a protest for or on behalf of our ancient Africa.

All have sinned, both the religious and the otherwise. The Godly and atheists alike demonstrated that sermons were unnecessary in their business of slavery, slave trade and colonization and strongly held the belief that God in His fullness of mercy may not care so much as long as their so – called miserable black man was concerned. To them, God was for everyone but not for the black man. The foregoing accounted for why John Newton, an Anglican clergy man found it proper to combined his business as clergy with his slave raiding expeditions. That also accounted for the shifting of man enslaving another in Europe because they felt they were all created in the image and likeness of God for which they were equal before God. The unanimously agreed to enslaving Africans instead of white on white slavery that transverse Europe for ages.

Enslaving Africans was a better substitute – good before God and before man. That was why Papal Bulls after Papal Bulls came with the world giving a hoot. That was also why the Christian reformer and protestant – Martin Luther owned black slavers too. He owned six slaves as at the time of his agitation for Christian righteousness in the sixteenth century. That accounted for the unity between rival religions in Europe and the entire world united in one accord to share African slaves and African nations amongst themselves.

They told us that our ancestors were witches and wizards. They told us that they were Pagans and did not know God. They drew the image of Angel tribunal as he was dealing with the devil pinned on the ground. The colour of that demon was black and Angel Michael that was dealing with him with a sword, a white man. They told us that heaven was for saints and hell for the demon and his agents. The angels were whites and the demons blacks. The angels must destroy the demons so their ancestors came with chains and guns and destroyed our ancestors during slavery and colonization.

  They made us in this generation in Africa that the suffering we go through in Africa was as a result of our ancestral curses, because of the evils of our ancestors. They tried to turn us against our roots. They refused to admit that the present famine in Africa was due to the deprivation of our ancestors suffered in the hands of their ancestor – the European slave raiders who took away the human and natural resources of Africa. The beauty of European and American cities was built by the resources from Africa and more still by the labour f our brothers and sisters they called slave labour, yet they made us to understand that they did not so well to bequest us with a legacy of great future. They were economically, emotionally, socially and physically raped by the very white man that plundered presently accuse them. They called our ancestors primitive, how better could the people whose psyche was destroyed by the onslaught of slavery, slave trade and colonization? From the present now colonialism, we could decipher the mayhem our ancestors went through or the subjugation that made them not only to lose self esteem but direction as well.

They did not tell us that they were not worshipping a true God – the Almighty God in their own way and according to their traditions. From etymology, we learnt that the word pagan was used for the Romans by early Christians but history tells us that Pope Nicholas VI issued a Papal Bull to the Portuguese in 1452 to colonize, convert and enslave the Africans pagan. Our later deductions, as the off springs of those who were enslaved and colonized was, if Romans were first pronounced as Pagans, did it not follow that the Papal Bull to enslave and colonize the Pagans would first be issued against Rome and not Africa, especially where the Pope, as the authority issuing those Bulls resided amongst the Romans that were adjudged the Pagans in the first instance. The instant position brings to the fore the prevarication of Christianity and the politicization of the Bulls. Africans were punished for the pagan’s in the Romans and the ancient Greeks were known for all the known gods and goddesses known to history and religions are either Greek or Roman gods and goddesses. Christianity made us observe the days of these gods and goddesses as our Christian festivals, yet Africa was colonized and enslaved for the purpose of conversion to those Roman and Greek pagan festivals Christianity ordered our enslavement in 1452, 1455, 1493 etc.

The principal of discovery was enshrined in the Papal authority for which it was said that Spain discovered this, Portugal discovered was it proper to discover an area that was already in occupation? Those claims of territorial discoveries were based on the Papal endorsement of the doctrine of discover and own for the purpose of converting their so – called pagan whereas the real pagans were within their noses in Rome.

When the rush by Europeans to come down and colonize Africa heated up, which was termed the scramble, the European nations were on each other’s throat thereby created an atmosphere of chaws and arm twisting. To solve this for Europe to enjoy Africa without own blood, truce was called and the nations of Europe gathered in 1884 and 1885 in Berlin to discuss how best to share Africa without stepping on each other’s toes and the Berlin conference provided for a sharing formula as they partitioned us amongst themselves. As difficulties were imminent, the League of Nations was born to play the role of the umpire that would possess the toga of neutral or unbiased arbiter.

Before, the blame was on the church in Rome, shortly it was the political leadership of European nations that took over the exploitation when it mopped up the remained of Africa – the mineral resources that the church – controlled Europe could not harness. They arrived, after the partitioning and allocations by the League of Nations of Africa. They shared us as if they owned us, against the natural cum legal rule that no one gives what he choose not have which would have forbidden Pope Nicholas V and Pope Alexander VI ad they issued the Papal bulls of 1452 and 1492 respectively. It is said – nemoquo dat non havet – you don’t give what you do not have. This rule questions the integrity of the Popes said to have authorized Spain and Portugal to exercise territorial ownership rights as they did during slavery and colonial periods. The above was the Papal error that cost Africa a lot – a colossal or monumental loss, a situation the black man still grapples with till date. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

The church sinned; Europe and the entire world sinned against Africa. Religiously the world have sinned, economically they also sinned by the emasculation of Africa, politically colonialism and socially, the world of the white man deprived us the opportunity of growing at our pace and sphere. They took us away into slavery. They colonized us and took away our huge natural resources to develop their places in Europe and America. They also took away our inestimable values system and short changed it with the bizarre and horrendous lifestyles of their ancestors that the demons amongst them fearer to uphold. They took away our religion called us pagans. We joined them in their religions, mostly as Christians. When they died they were canonized as saints. When we die and exhibit the same signs that qualify them as saints.

Our graves are chained, we are exhumed and bodies burnt as demonized. They manifested evil spirits while the white men’s bodies of similar dispositions made saints and reverenced. The physical, psychological, social and economic injuries meted out to the black man by the white man untold and ever debilitating. Their muskets mounted vessels berthed on our Greeks closest to where they would catch their preys. Adults and children alike the pirates never spared children between the ranges of six and above were equally taken as father, mother and the entire household was emptied.

They cried and wailed yet ad the hawks never spared the fowls for shouting their weeping and wailing evoked no sympathy of theirs. They sinned – all sinned and came short of the glory of God. They work them through the middle passage with its horrible trappings, to unveil yet another horror on the slave plantations. That was the horrible situation of the black man in the chains and pains of slavery and slave trade. They sinned – all, and have some short of the glory of God. At the plantations or slave houses, the master took the female slaves on sex spree. To dehumanize them, the not so beautiful females’ slaves were brought out for their master’s dog as a sort of entertainment. To take the entertainment by her, they brought the slaves out male and female and order a sex bout. The scenario accounted for a lot of births at the plantations or slave houses without ascertainable paternity. They have sinned, all and have come short of the glory of God.

They worked and worked very hard but when it was the time for the masters’ entertainment, they would be brought out bare – I mean the female slaves and taken to the corner of the plantation for pounding without seeking for consent or approval. Such was the sordid and dehumanizing situation of the slaves. As the sodomy went on, the male slaves received whips on their backs to tell them to be baby and pay no attention to what was going on. The suffering at the plantations could be better imagined. A dying female would be raped until she breathed her last. No sympathy, no respect. All you were – a slave and must receive the slave’s portion. No court would be there to give you a legal right. You were a chattel and at the disposal of your owner. They heartlessly burn iron on their backs to brand them, no matter how it pained. All have, indeed sinned and come short of the glory of God.

They came down again, not as the pirates that came to capture and whisk away our brothers and sisters into slavery but as chartered citizens and companies of any of the European nations and America for purpose of official colonial administrations. They scattered to different mandate territories and colonies. The writers Igbo nation belonged to area that metamorphosed into what is presently called Nigeria, which was one the portions allotted to Britain by League of Nations. Lord Fredrick Laggard wore the captain’s band as the Governor General of Nigeria which came into being in 1914 after the amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates.

Tubman Giddied headed the royal Niger Company that ruled as a chartered company of Britain. It was like this in Ghana, in Southern Rhodesia, Zambia, and Sierra Leone etc. where Lilli Rhodes, I am smith Arden Clark etc also wore the captain’s bands as the Governor’s General, representing their different European countries. They came lived with us and took our oil and other minerals no longer as thieves they were but ad owners. They no longer filter but took them as of right. They milked us and siphoned every to their home countries as our colonists. Britain held sway in Nigeria lie in many of their colonies while France, Belgium etc were busy milking their allotted nations as their colonial master. The stories told of the white invaders when they were afar to a more debilitation when they came to live with us. Taking all that belonged to us as though they were theirs. To add insult to injury, they engaged us in doing the packing for them so that it would be our hands that would rock the cradle for them. Rocking the cradle in this usage is not of babies but my choice of expression of how the colonial masters made us use our hands to load their boots in a manner that demonstrated impurity, in a manner that depicted voicelessness and subjectivity. Not rocking the cradles as a sign of baby – mother love but as a sign of master and voiceless subject or cow milked at the discretion of the owner. They ruled us, just as the overlords in any feudal jurisdiction in Europe of medieval period. The colonial police dealt with us at a point in time when we started to frown over the dehumanization meted out to us.

All over Africa, revolution started building up persistent bullying with defiance and the desire to die or live with human dignity in the land we called our own. When they received the signal that the flag of their authority was about to fly at half marts, they met and agreed that come sense would be deployed to stem the tide, they began discussion with the local people for an indirect rule system. They selected some people they made warrant chiefs to replace the traditional rulers whom they believed were giving them headaches. In selecting them, they went for the worst elements in the society. The reason was to give Africans their own brothers who could sting them at the instance colonial masters.

The warrant chiefs were the notorious men of the society and they went to work on behalf of the white man against their brothers. They collected taxes and with the help of the colonial police enforced the white man’s draconian laws maiming and sending the offenders to jail at will. Such was the evil machination of Britain in her African colonies; especially other African nations went through their own ordeals respectively. The decision of the colonial masters to sting us with our own bad eggs did not deter the people, rather their quest for self determination increased. The universal Negro convention held in New York in 1920 called for converted effort by the entire black world to emancipate itself from colonial rules. This was convened by the Jamaica born Negro activist – Marcus Garvey who could be termed the father of modern day black activism. When in the New York convention of 1920 founded the association known as the UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (UNIA). He called for the emancipation of nations of Africa and indeed the black world who were still sweating under the weight of colonization.

This was happening when Negroes in America had survived the Negro war of independence. We may be reminded that after the Negroes helped in the America war of independence that saw United State of America as a free sovereign nation that the black people were subjected to another round of subjugation in a country they jointly secured its freedom from Britain in 1776. They girded their lions to fight again. With the help of the Negro loving and Godly Abraham Lincoln the 16^th president of United States of America, the black man was finally set free in 1863 after the epoch making freedom speech of the old Abe as the Negroes fondly called him. The whites, who did not like him for setting the black man free, assassinated him in 1865. All have sinned – they sinned and came short of the glory of God. Abraham Lincoln went down in history as a martyr for the cause of the freedom of the black man. It was said by a French philosopher Montesquieu that the tree of freedom does not grow until watered with the blood of compatriots. Old Abe died for the tree of the freedom of the black man in United States of America to grow. Negroes in America and the black men all over the world owes a lot to Abraham Lincoln. The man died for the black man in United States of America to have relevance.

Educated African elites arrived to look the colonialist in the face and asked them to leave us alone. The European colonists could not resist the insistence of the local Africans to be left alone. They knew their game was up and decided to plant hiccups and design impediments that could destroy them if the independence was granted. They built tribal dichotomies and oligarchies that would worsen political situations in Africa, such that would make the black man regret the exit of the white man and his colonial administration. This situation existed in a post colonial Africa which has been grappled with for ages. They have sinned – all, and come short of the glory of God.

They told us in their propaganda that our ancestors practiced witchcraft. They also told us that our ancestors were cannibals, forgetting that we shall ask ourselves “whose language has the words” witchcraft and cannibals? The words are English words and if they – their ancestors never practiced witchcraft or cannibalism, how did they come about the words in their lexicon? They set us against our ancestors, working very hard to justify the onslaught on Africa, working very hard to embellish the inhumanity, they meted out to our forefathers. If cannot dig deeper to question why because our local adage says “if a child begins to question what happened to his father, what happened to his father will happen to him”. This is most correct when the evil man is still alive, strong and still having the tendency to do more. The evil ancestors of the white man definitely would have handed over the evil baton to their other evil off springs and as such the white man’s evil onslaught is not yet averted. In our other local saying we have this “let no one celebrate having escaped the jail walls of their world when the white man – the colonists have not gone back to their land, presupposing that our ancestors lived in perpetual fear of the white man’s – colonialists unprovoked imprisonment. They built special prisons with no air or light inlets, they type only meant not for living human beings. Our lives mattered not to them and many of us – our ancestors worth not, ten to their one sick dog. We were degraded and humiliated in our ancestors that were used as guinea pigs in colonial laboratories and our ancestors that were served to the crocodiles – in the white man’s artificial water front’s that provided them with the scenery that reminded them of nature and its wonders when the animal joyously dismember their preys.

The scenario shows the white man valued animals more than the black man. They called them pets because they loved the animals, priced them highly for which they were fed with the bodies of our ancestors. They sinned, all and came short of the glory of God. They sinned against our ancestors and continue to sin against us in our current dehumanization.

They called our ancestors the cave men. They told their children that we live on top of trees to justify the black monkeys they called us in our ancestors. They lied to their children about Africa but most have visited and discovered the lies of early white men – white men with dirty dark minds. They sinned and came short of the glory of God. The global bodies meant to make life easier for humanity were at the same time targeted towards hold down of the black man.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Heart Organization (WHO) world this and world that were supported to be at the disposal of the nations of the world, yet they are racist and meant not to allow the black man to grow or come out of his primordial state. At a point in history the black man said no to all this rubbish and continues to say so, said into slavery and colonization. He has personally conquered slavery and banished colonization from his world. There is no more colonies unless the colonies for himself. Muzzles are for animals and no more for a human being. Colonies are for the carriers of infectious diseases and not for a healthy black man. Black and white alike can now be quarantined. Covid-19 is an example, though was discovered to be a Plandemic and not pandemic. The beauty of everything is that we can now say to some of these rubbish and the usual chains would no longer hold us. They still struggle to make us the worst for pandemic they created by themselves. It is borderless but less severe in to tropical climates like ours, yet they make us bear the brunt. They could not call it a black as they did when the medieval Europe was almost wiped out between 1340 to 1353 and they termed the diseases Black Death to link it as usual to the black man. They have sinned, all and come short of the glory of God. It was a global bubonic plague that killed no black man, yet called Black Death. It was associated with a kind of face mask just like corona virus.

Just like the Black Death that killed no black man, the world is working hard to align corona virus to Africa, yet the merciful God – the Almighty God, greatly reduces the impact on us, save for the nonexistent figures of its victims. I say nonexistent figures because we still doubt its existence in Africa. We see it as a grand global political gimmick and economic opportunism. Head or tail, they continue to be victims and not the black man.

In the formative stage of the European family, precisely English, the never do-well members of any family was called the black sheep. Surprisingly the white son of a white family was named the black sheep, not the white sheep he was supposed to be. He was a black sheep because he was odd and not doing well. The one doing well was called the chip of the old block was that disdainful? The chip off the old block was the son of the family that was the family’s pride against the loath some black sheep. They also called us black – black devils etc. To disparage the black man, they came up with new words to boost the English vocabulary; such words like black mass, black magic, black devil, black demon etc.

It is obvious that the white man, is from his primordial ooze a hater of the black man if due consideration is given to the import of the above listed words that eminently for part of the English lexicon, one would no longer question why the white man was quick in enslaving and colonizing the black man without a Plata of remorse or sympathy. They called our ancestors black devils. They also called them black demons. My simple understanding of a demon or devil, if I would take both to mean the same is the person or spirit that possesses powers to do mischief. It follows from the definition that every black man, in this grow page assessment is evil and could only do evil. The assessment is regrettable.

In the course finding out more about this assessment of the white man, I came across the pictorial expression of the demon or devil, it was a picture of a dreadful unearthly evoking creature with horns and fangs that could frighten the bravest. It was really unfortunate that a black man the Almighty God created in his fullness would be so assessed. A black man is neither demonic nor devilish. It is only a javelined mind of the white man that could be so hateful assesses a black man as such. In further scornfulness, he called the spirit endowment of the black man the black magic. They had also called this power black witchcraft while they possessed the white witchcraft that is deployed for benevolence while the black witchcraft is for tormenting and executing malice. One thing did they not know. They did not know that a black man has no magic but God ordained powers. The black man had neither white or black witchcraft nor any type of magic but spirit of God in action in line with His promise in Joel chapter 2 verse 28 and Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 verse 17 – where He said “I shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young ones see vision. This promise of God is in abundance in Africa and among the black people which they misconstrued as magic and evil. This is one of the hidden things that should only be revealed to the chosen people of God in Africa. The story of the Almighty God has come to stay in Africa to vindicate the black man. Our men of God go about doing exploits as promised by God Almighty.

Amongst the Christians there is this coinage called black mass. Can mass be black? Black mass is said to be said when an officiating priest wears black during the saying of mass. This happen in special case to vent the anger of the church. This practice has projected catholic as evil. I investigated the practice and found it not to be an official practice of the church but projected by Protestants and Satanist. I searched for any possible Papal Bull authorizing that but could not find any. The closest answer to my curiosity was contained in the Papal Bull of 1452 in which Pope Nicholas V authorized an attack on the Saracens (Muslims) and the so called African pagans for fetish practices. If Pope Nicholas punished some people for such he would not authorized such fetishness. The black mass is said to be said by inverting the crucifix and anything used in service to invoke satanic powers to unleash attack on would be victims. This obviously not an official Catholic practice but do not rule out such practice amongst some priests but ignorantly to show one anger or the other trying to protect the image of the church which turns out to be more damaging to the image of the church it was meant to protect. What baffles me is why it could be called black mass in the first place? Whether it was designed by the Satanists or the protestants, why must black be associated with it? This is an effort to disparage further the image of the black man as being evil. Black hate has reached a crescendo amongst the white men and it is a reason for concern.

In my own view about the origin of the black mass which the Catholic is being taunted for, is that could have come about after the forced conversion to the so called pagans of Africa and the Saracens – Muslims. They would have come with their practices or injected this to ridicule the religion of Christianity and its Pope that tended to punish them for worshipping their God their own way. Forced convert is the worst thing that can happen to any religion for conversion should be on free volition. This forced conversion took place after the Papal Bull of 1452. Another forced conversion was done in 1493 when Pope Alexander VI issued another Papal Bull that forced the indigenous America – Indians to be colonized, converted and enslaved.

A people who were converted by enslavement and colonization had no option that to worship as a forced converts. The Americans and Africa were the places the forced conversion should take place vide Papal Bull of 1452 and 1493. It is on record that the first incidence of black mass was performed amongst African Americans of slavery era and definitely could not be called a catholic practice but the most honourable thing the Catholic Church could do is to officially abolish it because it remains a catholic practice whether officially or otherwise. I once witnessed it in my country when it was evoked against a serving state governor in response to the allegation that the governor caned a catholic priest which was later found out to be false but a political gimmick to dislodge the governor from seat by the political opponents which the church was not aware of at the time of organizing the black mass.

The image of the black man must be saved at all costs now. What any other person calls you does not matter but looking like what that person calls you matters and matters so much. Black is beautiful we say, may we be beautiful in all ramifications. The black man may have endured the pains of slavery and colonialism but should reject the mental enslavement they are currently projecting towards us. Colonialism may have come and gone and he survived the deadly impact, may we not drown in the ocean of new colonialism which will seem self - infliction – the wound that follows one to the grave.

I can hear you ask – how can the black man survive with the huddles placed on his path to survival? Huddles are meant to be crossed. Jesse Owen crossed the white man’s huddles during the 1936 Olympics games before the very eyes of the black hating Adolf Hitler of Germany. He jumped beyond human expectation and hard a clear winning. He ran with the speed beyond human comprehension and the judges pranks could not worth because it was a clear victory. The black man went home with four gold medals to the astonishment of book makers and racists judges who could not help but pronounce him a surfer human and great Olympian of all time. The message of Jesse Owen remains a clear message to all black people that racism can only gold you down when you have not prepared enough. Every black man would take home Jesse Owen message of  wining four gold medals in summer Olympic games of 1936 and forced the Guest of Honour, the black hating Adolf Hitler to leave the Berlin stadium before the end of the day because the black man spoilt his day.

Let’s do it the Jesse Owen way, let’s jump beyond hurdles and our legs run beyond the judges imagination. Do not wait for the world to recognize you as a black man, exit that recognition. The world that held the ancestors of the black man would still not allow his offspring’s to excel. They have sinned, all and have come short of the glory of God. Free your selves now. You and you only can free yourselves. The time is now. The time to take the bull by the horn. The time to take up the gauntlet and achieve that which seemed impossible for the black man. This is the time for the black man to recover the years the locusts have eaten in their lives. This is our chance, this is our time and the black man is unstoppable by the grace of the Almighty God – the God of the black man that neither sleeps nor slumbers.

 ABOLITIONISM

Abolitionism is a movement in late 18^th and 19^th centuries. It was all about the effort of some humanists who came together to fight against the institution of slavery and slave trade in England, Europe, America and the rest of the world. It was an antislavery agitation that sought to stamp out servitude and human merchandise. It started as a Christian feeling that man created in the image and likeness of God was not meant to be treated by another man as mere chattel, only equated to donkeys and other animals of labour. The inhumanity of slavery and the excruciating pain thereof kindled the flame of protests to put a stop to the savage system across the world, particularly in Europe of middle age, pre and post middle age dispensations too.

Abolition society became a very strong movement with committed Christians and humanitarians leading the way. The leadership of Christianity did not much as the church seemed bought over the enslaving kings, emperors and Lords of the period were themselves and slaves whose business interest wrestle with morality.

Prior to the abolitionist struggles, the Papacy lent it support to slavery through official permission to Portugal and Spain to colonize, convert and enslave certain classes of people and races.

The rave of antislavery surprisingly was spear headed and led by some white men whose spirits of Christianity led a fountain of kindness that dropped to sweep away the ugly droppings of the evil practice of slavery and slave trade that beset the ancient world, and held captive the psyche of those that would have been to appropriate to order a stop to the madness of the time.

While the church was busy playing the Christian politics with slavery and slave trade, the elements found it expedient to bridge the gap, fill the vacuum and hold brief for the Almighty God whose representatives on earth were busy enjoying the tango dance with sons of Lucifer they were sent to the world to save humanity from their grip.

The abolitionists were God sent and emergence timeouts and interventionist, holding the sectaries only God could see. History can agree with me that there was a time the church abdicated its Christian responsibility and enmeshed itself in earthly politics that Christ never envisaged when he said that his kingdom was not of the world and entreated his followers not to be conformed to the world. Be in the world and not of the world.

So the humanitarians took over the responsibility and God was with them throughout the struggle to wrench freedom from the grip and the jaws of the lions, which was an impossible task, yet accomplished.

The struggle started in the British parliament with William Wilberforce leading the way. Outside the British parliament were notable abolitionists like Granville Sharp Thomas Clarkson, Anthony Benezet, John Brown, Dauda Equano, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Beckley, and the Quakers etc. At the top echidna were those that paid the supreme price for the abolitionist project like the then prime minister of British .. Perceval former American president Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Gabriel Prosser etc.

I would be failing in recognizing hard work if I don’t mention Lord Justice Mansfield who gave the resounding judge in James Somerset vs Stuart that gave freedom to the black man and set the ball rolling complete abolition of slavery and slave trade across the world. Mention must also be made of the roles of people like John Mercer Langston, William Lloyd Garrison, Dr. W.E.B Dubois, Robert Purvis, Elizabeth freeman, Benyamin Lay.

James Somerset – the runaway slave boy etc. the roll call of abolitions is endless. I am sorry not to mention the roles of many abolitionists especially those that lost their lives unnoticed in the course of abolitionism ad they performed in obscurity.

The irony of abolitionism is that it was mainly white against white at the beginning, by this I try to portray the good Godly white men fighting against their evil and inhuman brothers, before some of freed black people joined. While we cry over the injustice of the white man, we must remember the benevolence and sacrifices of other white abolitionist that fought to stamp out slavery especially those that lost their lives in the war to abolish slavery and slave trade. Having mentioned some of the names of the abolitionists, it seems proper to me to highlight their roles in few words so that the readers could agree with me that they are worth mentioned in a treatise of this nature. Since history will always remember the heroes past, history will not forget my desires to mention some evil ones here.

The Roll call:

v  Frederick Douglas:

Frederick Douglas was an African American born into slavery in the year 1818. His parentage was shrouded in mystery, can I say, uncertain slave that he had a faint idea of his mother from whom he was wrenched one month or more after he was born. He confessed his mother came to him secretly at night about five times in her lifetime. The story was that after his birth, his mother was allowed to nurse him for about one month before she was transferred to another plantation of the same master, which was the practice in slave sites or plantations and the younger or newly born child was left into care of elderly female slave who was weak to participate in slave chores in the plantation. Such was the agony of the new born Frederick who had no ascertainable paternity, yet separated from his mother at a time an average child would enjoy curdling and warmth of the mother’s body and the bonding breast milk of his mother. He grew up in the agony of slavery and parental guidance. His mother he knew as Harriet Bailey was one of the young female victims of rape by the slave masters, just the situation Elizabeth Keckley was born into.

At a young age he bottled out of the camp – Lloyd’s farm and escaped into freedom. He joined abolitionism while engaging in other activities that could improve his life. He changed his name often to conceal his real identity to avoid nearest and consequent re-enslavement. He became so famous in both New York and Massachusetts as the national leader of the abolitionist movement. He was a writer, an orator, rights activist, social reformer, abolitionist and a states man.

He was an ally to great abolitionists like Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, John Brown, Elizabeth Keckley, Harriet Tubman etc. He wrote several antislavery books some of which were, Escape from slavery, the slaves, Life and times of Frederick Douglass etc. His first attempt to escape was in 1833 but could not succeed. Five years later he succeeded and fled that farm of Lloyd’s House of Bondage in Talbot country in Maryland. His activism crisscrossed Britain and America. He died in Washington DC in the year 1895.

v  Elizabeth Abeth Freeman

Elizabeth Abeth Freeman was born at about 1744 in Claverack, New York as a slave girl. She was resold to a man in Massachusetts who later gave her away to her daughter and husband on the eve of their marriage. She lived with the family of John and Hannah Ashley in Massachusetts with her sister Lizzie and an incidence happened when a group of leaders were in the home of Ashley’s to draft the constitution of their immediate settlement … and cited the constitution of Massachusetts to the hearing of Elizabeth, then known as Bet or Mumbet which was a declaration for human beings and it stuck into her head. Later Bet was maltreated by the wife of his master – Hannah; she went to court using one of the lawyers that were in their house for the meeting known as Theodore Sedgwick. She won the case of Brom and Bet vs Ashley and gained her freedom from slavery as the first black woman to achieve such a feat in 1781. Her victory laid the foundation for further slave to win their freedom in Massachusetts supreme judicial courts afterwards. See also Quock (Kwaku) Walker vs.

            She died in December 1892 and buried at Sedgwick family cemetery in Massachusetts. She adopted freeman as her surname to suggest her status after the judgment of the America. She was free and indeed a freeman (free woman) close to the victory of Elizabeth key Greristered in 1656 only with a slight difference.

v  Henry Dundas

Henry Dundas was a member of British House of Assembly of commons. He was notable for prolonging slavery in British for fifteen (15) more years when the effort William Wilberforce bent Britain towards the abolition of slavery and slave trade in Britain and her colonies, when he treacherously introduced the principle of gradual disengagement which slave holders brought into to continue their slavery and slave trade. For his role he was a friend of the slave holders and an enemy of anyone that was opposed to the evil trade and ugly institution of slavery.

He was born on 28^th of April 1742 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and died on 28^th May 1811 in Edinburgh United Kingdom. He was the first viscount Melville and called Lord Melville. He was a Scottish advocate and politician. He was a close ally of the British Prime Minister – William Pitt and the most influential politician in Scotland Britain with myriads friend war like Prime Minister William Pitt.

While William Wilberforce will forever be in the heart of everyone who cares about liberty from slavery, inhumanity and injustice, his name could not be erased from the black book of the world for his treachery and inhumanity.

v  Philis Wheatley

Philis Wheatley was an African girl of about eighty years old captured in one of the West African coastal towns by the slave traders, put in a ship and taken into America just like Olauda Equano. She was born at about 1753. When she landed into America, she was sold to the Wheatley’s of Boston, Massachusetts. She had the opportunity of education and attended Harvard University and had become a known Poet at the age of twenty (20) years.

She was the first African American woman to write and publish work of poetry. Her poems were based on religion, slavery and contemporary issue. She was also the third woman in America to be noted for poetry and published works. Her first published work that brought her to prominence was published in 1773. She would have hailed from Igbo land like Olauda Equano – both having the same trait and historical facts. She died on 5^th December 1784 and married John Peters.

v  Prime Minister – Spencer Receival

He was assassinated by John Bellingham in 1812 (11^th of May) a slave merchant who blamed his economic situation on the Prime Ministers pronouncement abolishing slavery, which he behaved put him into debt. He was convicted by a British court and sentenced to death by hanging.

He was born on 11^th November 1762. He was shot at the lobby of the house of common on 11^th 1812. The murder of Prime Minister Spencer Perceival almost tampered the spirit of abolitionism which he strongly supported but life and the struggle went on after dastardly act of 1812. Spencer Perceival was one of the martyrs of abolitionism and would be remembered in the light of John Brown, Abraham Lincoln etc.

v  Anthony Benezet

Anthony Benezet was an America abolitionist born in France as Antoine Benezet. He was an abolitionist and educator; he held his activities in Philadelphia, Pennsy Ivania, USA. He founded the organization called Pennsy Ivania Abolition Society. He was a Quaker, a social reformer, a teacher and writer. He was born on 31^st of January 1713 in Saint Quentin, France. His family moved from France to England and from England to America in 1731 in Philadelphia. As a teacher, he taught the Quaker’s children, taught black children and founded a school for them. He was engaged in tutorials.

He had a big influence on Thomas Clarkson as an associate. He was a Huguenot from protestant Christian back at birth. He was the leader of Philadelphia antislavery protest by the Quakers known as Philadelphia Quakers Revolt of 1750that stamped out slavery in Philadelphia.

Though Quakers protects against slavery started around 1682 in German town, Pennsylvania and spread beyond but the 1750 Philadelphia Quakers protest was ground breaking. He was a member of Society of Friends an association of Quakers that brought Christian compassion into the slavery war believing that everybody was created free by God. This reasoning was coming at a time Christianity was fully backing slavery and slave trade.

v  Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was an ex-slave who was born into slavery but escaped in 1849. She was an abolitionist who devoted her time to rescuing slaves. She founded homes – hideouts for slaves she rescued known as the underground rail road. She rescued several friends, relations and families from slavery. She was a nurse, a suffragist, a spy, civil rights activist, civil war scout recruiting black people for the civil war. She worked hard to achieve that women would also have voting rights like the men. She was born Araninta Rose in Dorchester country Maryland in March 1822 and died on 10^th of March 1913. She worked for the union army during the civil war as an armed spy as a mobilizer of Negroes for the government of Lincoln. She was married and remarried and was survived by a female child who was an adoptive child. She was the contemporary of Frederick Douglas and several other abolitionists. She helped John brown to organize a blood attack on the Harpers Ferry.

v  William Lloyd Garrison

He was a white abolitionist. He was a journalist and author of several antislavery books and a publisher of a newspaper called the Liberation. Garrison was a suffragist. He was born on 10^th December 1805 at Newbury Port Massachusetts USA and died on 24^th May, 1879 in New York USA. He took a remarkable action of burning the American constitution, alluding that the evil of America started from the root – the law.

In the very first edition of his newspaper – The Liberation he remarked – “I do not wish to think or speak or write in moderation. I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch and I will not be heard. I will be a harsh as the truth and as compromising ad justice.

Our country is the world – our country men are mankind with reasonable men, I will reason, with humane men I will plead but with neither tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waster arguments where they will certainly be lost. His parents were English immigrants to US and his father a merchant sailor abandoned his family when he – William Lloyd Garrison was only three years old. He was a reformer and social critic. He was a contemporary of Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman mention truth sojourner etc in abolitionism. Sojourner truth was an escaped slave who escaped with her daughter and died in 1826-8 to recover her son thereby laying with her for similar suite by slave women.

William Lloyd Garrison brought his journalistic prowess at the disposal of other antislave activists and the realm abolitionism in general.

v  Bryan Tyson

Bryan Tyson: Anti abolitionism in a book supported the institution of slavery in both North and South Carolina and mounted a serious campaign to convince Abraham Lincoln to support the confederacy and reproof the union that wanted the abolition of slavery. He said it is morally and religiously right to enslave the black man.  He claimed that it would work great harm to the economy and government of Abraham Lincoln with huge social implications. He rejected the belief that God created everybody equal, even with the black man. He was born in 1830 and died in 1909 in North Carolina USA.

He was a former Quaker who fell out with the Quakers Association for his negative stand against the Christian ideals of the society of friends – an association of Quakers determined to abolish slavery and slave trade institution of slavery in the Southern States, religiously and Morally considered in connection with our sectional trouble – Bryan Tyson.

v  Lord Mansfield

Lord Mansfield was an English judge of the Queen’s Bench who gave legal bite to the struggle of some group of people like William Wilberforce who tirelessly fought to end the institution of slavery in England. His landmark decision in the case of a runaway slave boy – James Somerset, set free all black men held under slavery in England. From his decision the English Parliament through the effort of Wilberforce. The likes of Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson etc in the abolitionist society galvanized support for Wilberforce as he made the representation on the floor of the Parliament including the supportive statement of Romily – the British solicitor General in his recap of the effort of William Wilberforce on the floor of the Parliament. He would be remembered for a lot of things but mostly for his antislavery ruling that rocked the boat of slave holding in England, her colonies and the entire world by extension. He was born in the year 1705 2^nd March and died in 1793 (2^nd March 1705 – 1793).

v  Olauda Equano

Within this framework we must admit that there grand fathers of the war against slavery. In the light of this book we must not fail to mention that there were these who stood as the patron saints of slave freedom in Britain, America and elsewhere where there was need to free black man from the damnable servitude fate at a time exposed him to.

While we mention William Wilberforce, John Brown (American earliest martyr), Lord Justice Mansfield, Thomas Clarkson and his brother John, Granville Sharp to mention but a few. No one could forget the prominent role played by Olauda Equano – an Igbo boy of eleven years old that survive the terror and hardship of middle passage into America to become an Iroko tree of black freedom from slavery in United States of America, Britain and the entire world especially the world of the black man. He was a native African, captured and sold into slavery at the age of ten but purchased his freedom in 1766 after working as a sailor with his British master who was himself a sailor. He was born in about 1745 and lived all his life as Gustav Vassa as a slave.

He was a writer abolitionist merchant and sailor. He died in the year 1797 in Middlesex England. He was sold and resold as a slave boy as soon as he landed in the Caribbean until he got into the lands of his sailor master from whom he purchased his freedom.

v  John Mercer Langston

He was an African American abolitionist, politician, Lawyer, educationist, activist, diplomat; he was the first Dean of the Law School at Howard University. He was born on 14^th December, 1829 in Virginia – United States of America and died on 15^th November, 1897 in Washington DC. He was a member of the American congress. He authored several freedom books as an anti slavery activist.

v  Robert Purvis

He was an African committed to the abolition of slavery in America. He was born on the 4^th day of August in the year 1810 at Charleston, South Carolina and died on the 15^th day of April 1898 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother was an African American and his father a white European Scottish American father who was a wealthy cotton merchant. He was a prosperous cotton former himself. He was a reformer and a radical activist and abolitionist. He was an African American.

v  John Brown

John Brown was an American abolitionist and a martyr. Though a white man, he sacrificed everything to stop slavery and servitude in the American society of his time and beyond. He was an abolitionist in the mould of Abraham Lincoln who also sacrificed his life to see an America of liberty and fairness to all and sundry without discrimination on the ground of race and station in life.

He approached abolitionism in a radical and violent style ad he reasoned that the pro slavery American society would hear only a violent voice against slavery instead of rhetoric – speech making, petitions and persuasive appeals. He was condemned to die by hanging by an American court force bloody attack Harriet Tubman on 3^rd December, 1859. He was born on 9^th May 1800. Loved the Negroes so much he relocated family to a Negroes. He was highly religious and believed God sent him settlement before death.

v  Thomas Clarkson

Thomas Clarkson was one of those that led the war against slave trade and slavery in Britain. He was part of the team that sponsored the anti slavery bill in the British Parliament. He was an abolitionist in the ally of Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce etc. He was born in Wisbeth Island of Ely Cambridge in United Kingdom on 28^th of March 1760 and died on 26^th September 1846 at Play ford, United Kingdom. He studied in Cambridge University amongst other institutions. He was an elder brother to John Clarkson who also was an abolitionist and both were in the Abolitionist society with the likes of Wilberforce, Olauda Equano, Granville Sharp, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison John Brown, Sojouner Truth, Moses Brown, Benjamin Rush, Anthony Bennezzet, Ralph Sanford Elizabeth Freeman Benjamin Lay etc (17^th century abolitionists).

v  William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was born in Kingston, upon Hall, Yorkshire Britain. He was born in the year 1759 (24^th August) and died on 29^th July 1833 in London. He was a humanitarian, politician, and philanthropist. He was a leader of the anti slavery movement in the British Parliament Gen. 21:4 God did not oppose Abrahams enslavement of his maid and supported him to put away Hagia and Ishmael. Can slaves be on horsebacks while princes go barefooted? Obedience to masters in the scripture.

v  Elizabeth Keckley

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was on the year February 1818 as a slave in Dinwiddie court house, Dinwiddie, Virginia, United States. He was a successful seamstress and a close friend of the wife of Abraham Lincoln – Mary Todds Lincoln. She founded the CONTRABAN ASSOCIATION under which auspices she carried out her Negro activism – helping to free slaves, provided them accommodation, job and sundry humanitarian assistance. She purchased her freedom from slavery and that of the son in 1855 through the proceeds of her lucrative business as a renowned seamstress with the clientele of the society ladies in Washington DC. She died in May 1907. She was a seamstress activist, author, a philanthropist, above all a personal friend of Mrs. Mary Tobbs Lincoln, wife of the sixteen president of America – himself an abolitionist.

She was survived by an only son. Her personal parents was not ascertainable like Frederick Douglas and other children born into slavery where the real mother was separated from the child a month or two after birth and they consequently adopt the name of their owner as surnames.

v  Gabriel Prosser

Was a literally blacksmith who planned a revolution in 1800 at Richmond. The massive black revolution was leaked and he was declared wanted alongside other black activists and a staging price of $250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Us Dollars) placed on him. He was later caught and condemned to death by hanging. Executed with him were twenty five other Negro activists he earned. He was born in 1776 – the year of American independence in Henrico court, Richmond Virginia and was executed on the 10^th of October, 1800. He was actually born on the Tobacco farm of Thomas Prosser his slave master which shows that Prosser was not his surname and he was so identified. His master – Prosser died two years earlier leaving the farm to his son about the same age with Gabriel and that gave Gabriel the opportunity to plot the revolution using the farm it could also be that the son of his master was the one that leaked the plan of the revolution which was assess as massive and blood if successful. He was twenty four when he led the march of armed fifty slaves in Richmond, Virginia. His ultimate ambition was to create an independent black state in Virginia.

v  Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

Dr. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois otherwise known as Dr. WEB Du Bois was an American Sociologist, Socialist, Pan Africanist, historian, civil right activist, author and writer. He was in the forefront of the war against racial discrimination and champion of Negro rights. He wrote several books to challenge the weld treatment of Negroes in the American society where the black skin was contemptuous. He highlighted the equality of all human beings and had to prove that of all races black women stood out as the best bred and stood as example to women of all races in America, notwithstanding the hardship she had to contend with. He was known for his books titled – The souls of the black folks, Black Reconstruction, the crisis. He was educated at the prestigious Harvard University in 1895 and Humboldt University of Berlin between 1892 to 1894 etc. he was born on 23^rd February 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts United states and died on 27^th day of August 1963 in Accra Ghana. He was disenchanted with the unrepentant hateful attitude of the white man – himself a white man and pitted his tent amongst the black folks hence changing his nationality from United States of America to Ghana. He died a Ghanaian in 1963 and was buried in Accra Ghana as the height of his solidarity with Africa and the black man.

He was an ally of great Pan Africanist the number one of whom was Dr. Kwame Nkrumah – the first president of Ghana. He could aptly be described as a black man in white’s man skin. He was born a full bred white America but close to die a black man. He was also a close friend of Dr. Booker T. Washington, another Pan Africanist, Ida B. Wells, Marcus God veils etc. He found several rights organizations including NIAGARA MOVEMENT, NAACP. He broke up with Booker T. Washington who was a moderate Pan Africanist and adviser to several presidents of America.

 

NEGRO ACTIVISM AND ABOLITIONISM COMPARED AND CONTRASTED

Black activism is the struggle of the black man to reposition himself for global relevance after his survival of slavery and its brother colonialism. It was a rave that took off in the continent of America and spread across the world where there was black presence. The objective of this movement in the main was to rebut the Western propaganda against the black man to say no to the recurrence of the evils of slavery, slave trade and colonialism and redeem African nations still struggle to rid itself foreign rule by rendering all possible assistance to achievement that goal.

There were some keens of black movement, those who struggle individually or collectively to see that the black man nations across the world redeemed themselves from the impediments placed on the path of the black towards itself realization. It would be extremely difficult to list the entire black activists in a single chapter in a book like this, but few names dropped her to remind us of the deluge of personalities from America and Africa who played major roles in the struggle for the black man’s self determination. Marcus, Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Malcolm X, John Johnson Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Julius Nyerere, Dr. Joseph Kaunda etc. The above named black activists were part of the freedom fighters that were the bedrock of the Pan Africanist movement that were in most cases called the Negro activists or black activists depending on the choice of words or the jurisdiction from where they operated though with African emancipation as the focal point. There were local traditional rulers who tent their weights to the cause of the freedom of the black foreign domination – imperialism or colonialism. She must remember Asante hence of Ashanti Ghana, then Gold coast, Oba Overemi of Bini Jaja of Opobo, Nana of Itsekiri, Kano orji of Arochukwu etc. The traditional rulers on different events fought the white men’s encroachment and assault on their kingdoms respectively. Most of them were either dethroned and exiled or even killed.

The incidences that followed the white man’s annexation of some kingdoms were resisted by gallant warlike traditional rulers in Africa though the superior fighting fireworks of the whit man prevailed and Africa watched her sons and daughters carted away into slavery and of later years when they came back as colonialist, subjugated as the conquered and colonized peoples.

The Pan Africanist both home and in disporal could be bracketed into two – modern and ancient. The modern Pan Africanist are those black men and women who still struggle to rid Africa or dark men across the world of known impediments, physical or psychological that still holds the black man from achieving his goals or that thing that rubs him of his self esteem. There are plenty unsung heroes realm, can I say those whose Pan Africanist spirits are get yet to be observed. In the second group and the known Pan Africanist, the grandfathers and grandmothers of the African struggle both at home African in dispora. Those in this category are those our history books reecho their words and names from generation to generation those who designed the platform upon which the modern generation black activists operation. As said earlier, history books in Africa, America or any other place there is black concentration are replete with such names. Every generation of black man would have heard of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jnr, Jesse Jackson etc. The roll call would not leave out those sports men and women that make statement for the black race through their sporting skills like Jesse Owen, Pele Mohammed Ali etc. They demonstrated their skills to tell the white man that there is something special in the black skin. They forced the racists to rethink about their assumption that there is nothing good about the black man. I would like to remember somebody like Michal Jackson that took the Pop world by surprised though not a known cover of the black skin or the black race. For these who made their statements for the black man with their musical skills, we must remember all the reggae musicians across the world especially Bob Nestar Marley and the Wailers. Eddy Grent, Peter Tosh, Burning spear U – Roy, Yellow man and several others too numerous to remember and put down in this small piece. There are several black men and women who demonstrated love and respect for their black skin in their different fields of human endeavors apart from the above listed. If no small importance was the role played by Opral Winphrey – a female black television presenter who walked a white man out of her programme because he maligned the black race while speaking as a special guest on her show. She would not resist the black spirit in her when such occasion arose on that fateful day. With that singular, Oprah Winphrey booked her name into the hall of fame as such black activist and Pan Africanist of evergreen memory.   

John Jackson, like Marcus Garvey and the numerous Negro activists who championed the cause of the black man through their private publishing firms, established the EBONY Magazine, which he used as he lived to make cases for the black race. The choice of the name of magazine alone speaks volumes of his black activism. We cannot go on and on listing because it is endless.

Another group of people that played a role that laid the foundation for the later agitation of the black man for self determination and the relevance were the ABOLITIONISTS. This group was only interested in abolishing the evil trade in human beings known as slave trade. This group was initially peopled with white humanists who believed that the black man was also a human being and deserves some respect as such and never to be maltreated and subjected to have any kind of dehumanity.

Abolitionist movement was a movement between the 17^th and 20^th centuries when white people felt that it was wrong to treat the black man the way he was treated. This initial feeling when a Pope issued a Papal decree against the enslavement of human being by another human being. You can recall that it was through a seminar decree by Pope Nicholas V that Africa was enslaved and colonized. Pope Nicholas in 1452 authorized Portugal to enslave and colonized Africa.

In a similar vein, Pope Alexander VI issued another decree authorizing Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert and enslave the continent of America in 1493. It could be said that the said dehumanization of Africa took its root in the Papal permission to Portugal to so behave. There was slavery in Europe before and during the medieval period which gave way some elements started against it for its inhumanity. There came a twist that replaces the enslavement of fellow Europeans with the enslavement of Africa. The proposal was presented to the pope – Pope Nicholas V who perhaps did not understand what the entire packages being presented to him by the king of Portugal – Alfonsop which means the Pope was tricked into making the authorization.

Three years later, in 1455, another Papal bull was issued to show it was not by accident that Muslims (Saracens) and the pagan Africans must be conquered and enslaved. For Christianity to be planted, a situation that turned out to be a permission to Portugal to plant slavery instead of Christianity, for which it was still believed that Portugal was a self serving mission and not for Christianity sake. Even when it was also ordered that baptized Christians could not be enslaved, Africans were still enslaved for which there growing resentment in Europe of slavery and slave trade by some humanitarians as a backup of which some puritan Christians came together and founded Abolitionist movement.

William Wilberforce was known as the father of abolitionism but there were others before him who actually propelled him into action to bring political coloration into it as Wilberforce was a member of the British Parliament. John Newton was one of the earliest abolitionists who encouraged William Wilberforce and his group of abolitionists. Remember John Newton was that energy man, hymn composer, slave ship captain. The popular hymn called AMAZING GRACE. Though a good Christian but not know he was a sinner by getting involved in the slave raids on Africa coast. He was part of the European Christians who did not know that enslaving Africans was a sin. Those who did not know that Africans are equally created in the image and likeness of God as they were not thought human enough. On one of his voyages, a storm beset them in the high sea which was so turbulence that he thought he could not make it alive to share, but the Almighty God saved him and he vowed never to get involved in the ignoble trade. He wrote the song to appreciate the saving grace of God that a wretched sinner like him enjoyed. Get a copy of the hymn for the detailed wording of the hymn – AMAZING GRACE.

In the group of William Wilberforce were the likes of Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp, Olauda Equino, Romilly, Frederick Douglas, John Brown, Prosser, Robert Purvis, Elizabeth Keckley etc. of special note is Spencer supremacists because of his anti slavery posture, Abraham Lincoln – the assassinated 16^th president of United States of America, john Bull – condemned to death by hanging America because of his bloody attack on a ferry in furtherance of his abolitionist spirit, Prosser – a young slave boy that staged a coup to establish black only state in the United States of America who was condemned with 150 other slaves youths to die by hanging. Abolitionists did a wonderful work to see that slavery was finally put to rest above the world. I am very sorry I don’t have to mention all the dramatis personae in this chapter as some of them mentioned fully in the preceding chapter appropriately titled to give pride of place or honour to whom honour was due. I crave the indulgence of our heroes the abolitionists whom my failing memory could not allow me to remember or those whom for space constraints could not be noted here, I assure them that sooner or later they receive their own ovations as the heroes they were and would continue to be wherever and whenever situation calls for that. I lay a wreath in their cenotaph as the great heroes and heroines or our great black race.

As the heroes and the stallions you fought, wounded and host your lives to make those statements that stood the test of time. There were Prime Ministers in Britain but Spencer Perceival stood out as a martyr Prime Minister for justice.

There were presidents in America but Abraham Lincoln stood out as that president Martyred for racial equality, that president martyred freedom and live of humanity and martyred also to realize the American catchword – God’s own country where the holy fear of God is in practice.

America and Europe were the theatres of both black activism and abolitionism. It would be a worthwhile exercise. Comparing black activism and abolition of slave trade and slavery is like comparing Siamese twin. The Siamese twin looked alike almost in all ramifications that they even conjoined for love of one another. As I said earlier, it would make a worthy exercise dissecting them for the purposes of the journey of discovery or better still as an academic exercise.

Black activism and abolitionism are two movements that targeted the freedom of the black man from servitude and imperialism. They came at two different periods each holding out the zeal or desire to do good before God and before man when the world was made free of man or race on another as superior or inferior whereas before God they were created equal in dignity and right.

The proponents of the two movements operated at the cost of their own blood as some lost their lives in the course of doing that6 which they chose to achieve their desired objective, to say they paid supreme prices for their avowals as either black activists or as abolitionists.

Going to jail was a daily occurrence as a Negro activist or as an abolitionist. They were framed up and put to jail to bridle their dexterity or foolhardiness. They were both categorized as outlaws in their respective societies for trying to upturn what seemed traditional practices – enslaving the black man or colonizing his race.

They shared the attributes as the best brains and people of means that would not be acting for selfish ambitions. They used their private press, money, position or other personal possessions for this purpose. In some cases losing their businesses and other possession as sacrifices for their chosen cause or causes (walk activism or abolitionism, in some cases both). As said earlier lose their lives as well.

Abolitionism and black activism operated in the form of a relay race as one seemed to have handed the baton over to the other. Abolitionists were of older generation in the struggle that bear the abortion of slavery, slave trade before those who came out to fight for an additional welfare for the black man. Both fought for universal suffrage and loved to be called the suffragists. The suffragists may either be part of the abolitionists or the Negro activists who sought for equal voting rights.

Christianity played a prominent role in the two. While the abolitionists received the initial prompting from Christianity as the entire humanists that gathered to form the abolitionists society were Christians who wanted a European cum world society where freedom from servitude prevailed, the black activists themselves were Christians who also wanted an atmosphere of love and human dignity as well for the black man and black nations across the world. Because the proponents of abolitionism were emboldened in the first place by the Papal Bull issued by Pope John III condemning the former bulls that authorized enslavement by previous Pope on which the enslavers acted to commit the mayhem through slavery, slave trade and colonization. The same Christian spirit emboldened such Pastors like Martin King Jnr, Jesse Jackson etc who were central in black activism. In the same vein churches and other Christian organizations lent their voices to both abolitionism and Negro activism. The role of the Quaker’s Society of Friends fell into such Christian Organizations effort mentioned above. The Papal Bulls of 1741 mentioned above which was issued by Pope Paul III put a stop to a lot of Christian conspiracies in the oppression, enslavement and colonization by Europe and once more restored Christianity as religion that named the name of God.

In an effort to contract the two, that is bringing out the difference as there is bond to those things that differentiate abolitionism and black activism, it is proper we peruse the two once again to pick or single out those areas of divergence in the stand point of the two, which maybe few. The first area of divergence between the two is that the abolitionists were mainly white me who were only interested in stopping slavery and slave trade that may not have time for extraneous activities of the black or Negro activists.

The abolitionists were humanitarians and acted strictly on humanitarian grounds while the black activists may have added political motivations in their activism. Black activists being ranged from education, employment, health, political positioning of the black man etc.

Abolitionist developed as an act of sympathy for the black man which flowed from the case of James Somerset, a runaway slave boy whose travail in slavery evoked the concern of Williams Wilberforce and others like Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp etc who took up the gauntlet to fight against slavery while the black activist were in the struggle for self redemption as they were all black people whose destinies – black and they abolitionists society was made up of people of all races – black and white while the block activists were only black men.

The Abolitionists hung their boots and sheeted their swords when slavery and slave trade were abolished while that period became very important to the black activists as they must march on to do for themselves what no other peoples and people could not do for them, as the black men they were. Black activism picked the baton from abolitionists and marched forward with some black abolitionists, who then were getting old and weak to operate with the same enthusiasm and energy they showed in their early abolitionists’ days. In most cases they were consulted for their fatherly advice that sustained the young activists. So much work was there for the Negro activists in term of encouraging the black folks to acquire education at all costs. They also fought against colour bars in the society. They struggled to abolish racial discrimination in schools against the black man who was not allowed to attend the same schools attended by white children of their age. To achieve the Negro education at all costs, the black leaders established schools of equivalent status to make sure black children received sound education. Primary, secondary and universities were established to feed the academic needs of black children in all the black settlements.

As pointed out earlier, UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (UNIA) founded by Marcus Garvey and his fellow black leaders made it a priority to spot out any area of Negro interest and apply their weights to them. Thus was in the main, the gamut of black activism in the continent of America and beyond. The right to vote and be voted for which Luther to elude the black man an America was seriously addressed, taking as an elixir the opportunity created by Abraham Lincoln when he declared liberty in every sphere of life in America an inalienable right that attached to any American as soon as he or she was born.

Black Africans also enjoyed the scholarship grants of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, through which they studied overseas, came down to Africa to exact self determination from colonial masters which the black activists up spearheaded themselves. Africa and the entire black world would always be grateful to those Pan Africanist who had this worthwhile reasoning.

They did not stop at that, they put programmes in place that reoriented the black man towards being the black skin as veritable instead of rejection, dejection and hopelessness.

The acronym – black is beautiful became a catchword for every black man and woman all over the world. African pride was the crux of the Pan Africanist message which only the black activists could preach. No one expected it to part of the areas the abolitionists could care about, nevertheless their interest, redeeming the black man from the clutches of slavery, slave trade and sundry racial degradation.

There was discrimination according to colour, even in core Christian activities as black people were not supposed to attend the same church with the white showing there was also colour bar in the churches and only the black activists could force themselves into being allowed into churches reserved for white men, of course the bible says we are one before God. To avoid being disgraced out of colour bar churches, black Christian denominations emerged to take care of the spiritual needs of the black man. Could this disunity be expected even amongst the said children of God? As if there is colour bar in heaven? In heaven, as in the presence of God, there is no colour bars. Everyone is as radiant as the angels, with HALLELUYA as the only heavenly language. Only the black activists would achieve the right mindset for the black man and not the abolitionists.

No matter how much the abolitionists wanted the black man to be freed from slavery; they would not want to shortchange their white race because everything that affected the white race affected them fundamentally. Only the black man could fight frontally to defend himself and not the white abolitionists, with the exceptional cases of the few that paid the supreme price in furtherance of their abolitionist spirits.

 The abolitionists have come and gone while the black activists still struggle till date, as long as the very injustice of the white man against the black persists, as long as the black skin is still treated with disdain. The celebrated case of George Floyd is an instant example. The same Floyds case showed as that there are white people who still swear the cloak of abolitionism. Some world citizens do not mind colour or Greed but believe that a human being is a human no matter the colour of his skin, the language he speaks or from which angle he worships his God. Some white men shouted in favour of the murdered Floyd but a lot of black activists followed him to his burial ground and continued to fight his cause thereafter.

Negro brotherhood is still alive and was shown to be so in the case of George Floyd. There are certain things self determination as a black man could help us achieve that which no one can do for us except the black man himself. Everyone saw in Berlin, Germany how sheer determination helped Jesse Owen to wallop the world of sports, especially white men when he coasted home with four gold medals to the astonishment of the racists especially Adolf Hitler who was the special Guest of Honour at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

That was sheer black activism that disgraced the black haters or those who believed that the black man was good for nothing. Only the black man can free his own mind. The chains of the hands and legs had been broken with the help of the abolitionists but the chains of our own minds we must break by our own selves. The reggae master – Bob Marley said that none but ourselves shall free our own minds. The remnant chains of the mind must go, for the total freedom of the black man.

May we not forget the Jamaican born Pa Dudley Thompson whose man heart’s desire was to be counted, when the roll call shall be taken. He worked hard as a Pan Africanist and closed his eyes in death thinking of the black man. Though, Jamaican born, he lived the major part of his life in Africa. In the year 2009 when I made my last telephone conversation with him while he was in New York, he relished his African experience and wish he comes back to the world again wearing his black skin.

In another vein, the world’s heavy weight champion changed his name from Cassus Clay to Mohammed Ali to protest Western influence and Christianity to demonstrate his Pan Africanism. This could be called a radical Pan Africanism just as another changed from Malcolm X to El Shabaz. In the art of self preservation, only the black man can defend himself and the general black interest. Self preservation is instinctual only a person can do it for himself even without knowing when he indulges in it. Everybody demonstrates high instinctual response any moment, any day. Even babies exhibit such innate response any moment the situation demands it. The black man can only do it for himself and no one can – white abolitionists could not, only the black activists could and they rose to the occasion when the situation was detrimental to black interests and would continue to do so.

Black activism is a continuous exercise and all black people all over the world are enjoined to take up the gauntlet and defend the ideals of the black race. The ancient black people across the black world suffered and laid the foundation upon which we must be an enviable future for the black man, such that Frederick Douglas, Marcus Garvey, Olauda Equiano, Malcoln X and others would look back from their graves and team up and say that’s my people. There is a clarion call going on asking the black people all over the world to unite. Even the Black Asians who had never identified themselves with their fellow black people single ages to do so now. Maybe the black Asians had not been reckoned with in the past, they are now invited on board the vessel of black activism. Wherever you are, as a black man you are hereby called upon to show your black colour, show your faces and be counted. You can identify as an individual, you can also identify as a group. Your black skin is your invitation card.

Let’s unite – lets come together to discuss the black man. The black man seems to have arrived – black has occupied the Pentagon. Barak Obama – a black African has become the president of United States. It is no longer asking for suffrage, the black man can vote and be voted for in this Luis. But it is not yet Uluru. A lot needs to be done by the black activists. No one can relent. When Jesse Jackson came out for the position of the president of United States of America, it was laughable he appeared funny but by that act a statement was made, a signal was sent that a black man can brave it. Barrack Obama an African from followed suit and became the president of United State. Try all positions. There is no harm in trying. There is no success without venture. Let every black man raise his beautiful head and show his handsome face in all positions. You can never tell who could be the next Barak Obama.

Africans are taking more position and using more political laurets in US, you can never tell when it will be you. Black activists are still working. Join hands to lift up the black skin. Join hands to sing black is beautiful. Join hands to lift the EBONY strive to be the rejects stone that becomes the chief corner stone. Join hands to lift him up where and when he falls and fails. Join hands to provide him hope in his despair. Join hands to say with one voice and one accord – we can. Yes we can. The black activists are working and we now have the first black woman president of the World Trade Organization (W.T.O) f4rom the trading tribe of Nigeria (Igbo) her name is Dr. ngozi Okonjo – Iweala. She is to manage the world trade organization, to say she will manage the world business. Wait and see what will happen. We shall soon say – the black man has it. The black man that was called a good for nothing. We shall not relent maybe a black man would be the chairman of the United Nations Security Council – a black African nation to be in charge of the world security. The black activists are working. We are working hard. God hear our prayers.

 

THE BLACK MAN – THE WHIP, THE CHAIR AND THE PAIN

This chapter titled as above could not be specially raising different issues from what has been raised in preceding chapters of this book and my other books on the inhumanity out to the black man but a recap. The bleeding heart of Africa owing to the ugly past of slavery and colonialism cannot be over emphasized.

The world could not claim obvious of the hideous and devilish acts it perpetrated and perpetuated against the black man. History has not recorded any global conspiracy and inhumanity against race of the world or mankind that could equate the anguish of slavery and colonialism. The Hitler Germany genocide on the Jews was a baby’s slap when you compare the scenario presented by the sordid history of slave trade, especially when the former lasted for a very short period. There is no basis for comparison. The           essence of this raises the issue of a continuing injury to the black man.

This is quagmire humanity or mankind must come out of the world would be said to have attained civilization. The question, which is the crux of this chapter is “how can the situation of the black man, has arrested development which is the backdrop of slave trade and colonialism be mitigated? Could there be a globally orchestrated effort to pull the black man out of the pit he was clutched by Europe, America and the entire world?

To show that what happened to the black man was a global wickedness, I must point out that at the period of this Trans Atlantic slave trade, the Arab were also committing their own onslaught in what  was termed Trans Sahara Slave Hunt through numerous Saharan Slave Caravans through the Sahara desert route from Africa to Saudi Arabia. The black Africans captured by the Arab slave hunters were chained and whip driven through the torturous journey from Western Sudan, through North Africa to Saudi Arabia.

The European slave raiders came from the Atlantic Coasts, the Arab slave raiders came from the Sahara Desert both with their heinous selfish slave grabbing – Instincts. Ironically both came with foreign religion each projecting the love of God. The European Christianity preached Christ and the Almighty God while Arabs preached Islam, Mohammed and his Allah. They came with these religions to embellish the monumental crime they committed against the black man, the excruciating pains they meted out to Africa and the immitigable they plunged her into.

Christian Europe told us they knew the true God, Muslim Arab told us that their Allah was our only hope. How could we not doubt all these when they made us pass through hell on earth? How could we believe the heaven they promised us when they made us pass through hell on earth?

They were cheats – they cheated us, they were bullies – they bullied us. How could we fear another Satan in hell when the Satans that made us pass through hell on earth are still here with us, though preaching salvation? Perhaps saving us from the hell fire they dumped us into on this earth or the hell fire thereafter. The best assurance to the black man of salvation thereafter is to mitigate the present hell fire they have placed the black man. I am not bounding atheistic, for we believe and behaved in the Almighty God in Africa, neither am I against for I was brought up as a Christian and a true believer but bemoaning the past, present or the anticipated Satanism meted out to the black man by the entire world. While our holy books enjoin us to forgive, the same holy book would tell them to mitigate their injustice by way of restitution, hence African’s call for REPARATIONS.

 The League of Nations met in Germany at the instance Otto Bismark – the German chancellor between 1884 and 1885 and officially divided Africa amongst European nations and that started the European journey of colonization of Africa. Prior to the latest development, Africa had been invaded by European nations in search of slaves. It is on record that Pope Nicholas VI ordered the European enslavement of Africa in the year 1452 through a Papal Bull. The permission was issued to the king of Portugal to conquer, convert and enslave the black people of Africa adjudged to be pagans and the Saracens (the Muslim population of the area). Though the Papal permission was abused and misinterpreted which occasioned the inhumanity meted out to Africa during slave trade.

In another vein, another Papal Bull issued by Pope Alexander V to both Spain and Portugal to conquer and enslave the Americans affected the black man who was already under the painful aftermath of the Papal Bull of 1452 issued by Pope Nicholas VI constituting double jeopardy for the black man that was already enslaved and sent to plantations and labour sites in America. Such Papal Bull to conquer and enslave America was issued in 1493 which laid the foundation for mayhem in Americas called slavery which brought an untold hardship on the black people of America. The black man in America was the slave of the slaves, which became so self evidence when Americas got their independence; they in turn held the black people in chains, thereby perpetuating their servitude. I said that the black man became the slave of slaves as pertain and some European nation that experienced slaveholding did not order that the blacks in America would also be free in 1776 that United States of America became independent.

Head or tail, it was the black man that bore the pains of slavery in both Europe and America. They later protested and fought the Negro war of Independence and with the help of Abraham Lincoln secured their freedom in 1865. The Negro freedom was not to be as the black man still suffered discrimination in the land that was taunted as the land of freedom. Black man was said to be free but up till now he suffers one discrimination, deprivation had humiliation or the other. The recent case of George Floyd was a living example. He was a black man murdered by a white police man on the trump up charge or allegation that he was purchasing from a shop with a fake twenty dollar bill. Though the law later took its course and the policeman was sentenced to death by a court, it does not show that justice is there for a black man in America.

Europe from the sea, Arabs from the desert each struggle to exploit or take their best out of Africa thereby inflicted the greatest pains known to mankind on her. No one came to her rescue. The good, the bad and the ugly of the universe and of mankind joined hands to stifle life out of the black man and Africa the continent of his origin. Can the world unite as it united in Berlin in Germany between 1884 and 1885 to share Africa among themselves to solve the very problem they created, which has set Africa on edges? Can the world, especially Europe and America be sorry and start doing something to pay back Africa? The quantum of damage done to the psyche of Africa can never be imagined but the world would start paying or can I say, doing something to show they are ready to ask Africa for forgiveness? Africa was under developed by Europe when her human and material resources were stolen away to Europe and America thereby milking the continent of the black man dry, raping and leaving her bare to lick her own wound.

There is one question that busy my mind which is “when shall the black man be free of any encumbrances? When shall the black man be said to be free in the time sense of the word? Is there anything loathsome under the black skin? I know there is everything positive under the black skin. There is every reason to be happy being black which the white skin cannot boast of. Are we hated out of phobia? Is black phobia the underlying factor? There is everything great under the black skin which the non black world has been in conspiracy to dampen.

I have personally counseled the black people that feel so sad about how hateful the world appears when any issue pertains to the black man. I have always told them that if there is nothing great about the black skin, the world in one accord would not bother to dampen him. It is only a tree with worthy fruits that children cast their stones upon. The greatness of the black man has been suppressed so that the real and glorious black man would be a still birth. For sure the black man must arrive no matter the interoperations and down pressing attitude of the white man, not every white man, not the offspring and their likes of those abolitionists who put their lives at state to stop the ugly incidents of the slavery era.

We remember their whips, we remember their chains, we feel their pains and the pains continue unabated and say we are sorry” to the black man. We also remember how the least disobedience at the slave sites took the black slaves to the guillotine. Ironically this was happening at the time the white man was preaching the sanctity of human blood and inability of human life, which left thinkers ask “does black life not matter?” Was black life not matter when the Christianity condemned and still condemns killing of one by another? Did God not require the blood of Abel from Cain? Does the blood a black man not speak before God? The world outlook about the black man must change if the world would be a better place for all. The world would be as God created it to be if I should be judged not by the colour of my skin but by whom I am, and my righteousness or wrongness, not predicated on my racial disposition or inclination by them we know paradise has once again come down to the earth. The recurrent question is “when shall the black man be counted as a universal human citizen worthy of respect?, the respect he truly deserves, devoid of favourism or position he never earns.

When shall the whips that dropped and left blisters on the back of our ancestors cease to drop on our backs metaphorically or the chains that held them loose their grip on us as we look forward to the total freedom of the black man from enslavement and colonialism, then our pains would vanish and our tears wiped away forever. We look forward to the black man truly joins the global partnership for a better mankind. The litany of the European inhumanity to the black man is endless but one of the most striking is the hidden ritual the early explores – the Portuguese and Spaniards did during their sea fairing voyage of discovery. The story based on a revelation that early explores when they navigated the Atlantic Ocean and likes sacrificed a lot of black people to the sea goddesses. The story went that such early explores came to Africa, took hold of the black fishermen or any other person they could catch within the ocean view and whisk them away, not only as slaves but as objects of sacrifice with storms and frightening appearances, can I say apparitions that in most cases required human sacrifices to assuage. Being conversant with such events the Portuguese, Spaniards and other ancient seafarers or explorers as they loved to be called embarked on their journeys handy with black captives they could sacrifice to appease the queen of the coast. That was first dastardly thing they did against the black man, an incidence that was closely followed by slave ordeals at the slave sites. The reported scenario preceded the Middle Passage, which evident during the Trans Atlantic Slavery expeditors proper Western history had deliberately covered this scenario but nothing is hidden under the sun. it may be hidden, but temporarily, but time and chance would definitely reveal it, if not to the particular generation but to another.

The black man was indeed an object of ridiculously unbelievable sea human sacrifices. What a shame, they never sacrificed their crew members but the black captives as if the sea goddesses in a special way enjoyed the blood of the black man.

In a follow up event, they used the black man as a landmark to show they were there. In their usual practice, the early explorers would drop some number of black men in some dreadful Islands either for territorial occupation or as evidence of having been there.

Remember, one of the intendments of the Papal Bull of discovery is that you occupy and own where you discovered. This was part of the reasons Portugal and France stampeded America and the other worlds after the Papal bull of 1493 that saw the conquest, enslavement and colonization of the continent of America etc. This Papal bull, as I explained earlier closely followed the Papal Bull of 1452 that authorized the invasion, enslavement and colonization of Africa. Such ignominious past or monumental neglect of the black man by the entire world has not departed the perception of Christianity, Islam and other religious bodies have not fully accepted the black man as a joint heir in the kingdom of God.

The Christianity has unquestionable discriminated against the black man in the leadership of churches like Catholic, Anglican etc until the black man, silence protest, savioured or rediscovered himself in PENTICOSTALISM. No black man has ever been a Pope, yet there are many in the College of Cardinals from where Popes are selected. Have you ever asked why no black man had leaded the Church of England as its Archbishop – such that stays in Canterbury? Islam is not left out as Mecca will not till the end of the world have a black man that controls the Islamic world. They still see the black man as that slave that was driven away in slave caravan through the desert to Saudi Arabia or the black man whom a Papal order says should be conquered and enslaved as a pagan.

If there is no equality between the black and white in the house of God, where will the dictum “everybody is equal in the presence of God be practiced? The religious organizations believe in George Orwell’s claim in his book ANIMAL FARM that all animals are equal but some are more equal that the others. I do not mean to affect your facts or urge you to make a detour from your religious vows. I urge good not to relent in looking unto God for He is the author and finisher of your faith. Black man must survive.

To the world body, it is time to think REPARATION. It is time not to think continuing the injury of the black man. It is time for global atonement for the primordial’s the black – a time to say to Africa and her black sons and daughters that you are sorry for the wickedness of our ancestors who dehumanized dispossessed and undeveloped you in our ancestors. It is time to cry publicly to God for forgiveness. It is time to stoop and drop your tears on the feet of every black man whom the actions of your ancestors against their ancestor have had grave consequences on their psyche and proper growth – socially, economically etc.

The world would act fast to blot out the bitterness in the heart of the black man. Having rummaged a volume in search of the true story behind slavery, slave trade and colonialism and much talked about Papal conspiracy in the ordeal of the black man hereunder draw our conclusion. In our voyage of discovery, we also perused documents to ascertain the veracity of the similar incidences in the continent of America Vis - a Vis colonization and enslavement aboriginal peoples of the continent. Both histories seemed close but for the fact that one race suffered more than the others in events that unfolded as a result of the dastardly implication of slavery and colonialism.

Yes, we saw the veracity of the story of Papal involvement in the enslavement of Africa and the Americas but could not holistically agree with the accusers of the Papal because from my unbiased influence based on the documents from the correctives, it wasn’t really the pope but the avaricious Europe. I agree that everything revolved the papal bulls of 1452 and 1493. In the bull of 1452 it is self evident that Pope Nicholas V issued permission to Portugal and her Monarch – king Alfonso to enslave, convert and colonize the Muslim Africans (the Saracens) in a disputed area and the so-called pagans of Africa. The essence was to convert them to Christianity but the Portuguese took it so far, just like the Papal Bull of 1493 by Pope Alexander VI also issued permission Spain and Portugal to colonize, enslave and convert the Americans which was also abused, not merely misinterpreted. The exoneration of the Papacy became obvious especially when another Pope – Paul III in 1741 issued a counter bull repudiating the former on the grounds that it was wrong to colonize and enslave people – removing the right of the indigenous people to their land. He apologized to the aboriginal Americans, the Indians and others who suffered similar fate elsewhere.

From continued actions of Christianity in lading abolitionist struggles and pronouncements, the birth of abolitionism became obvious to cushion the ugly effect. The church continued to show remorse and apology up to 1985 when Pope John Paul II widely apologized to Africa for slavery and colonization, which was a pointer to the church continued remorse.

If Pope Nicholas V and Alexander VI issues the bulls to authorize slavery and colonialism and Europe yield and held unto them, why did Europe not withdraw in 1741 when Pope Paul III issued a counter bull? The kings and peoples of Europe would take the blames for their a variance and inventively. Even amongst the enslaved wickedness abound. While America was celebrating her independence, the whites were plotting a continued enslavement of the black man who paid his due in the American war of independence, who was also promised freedom as a result of such involvement in the war. The black man had to fight another war to be free. United States gained her independence in 1776 and the black man fought again to be free in United States and with the help of Abraham Lincoln became independent at last, in 1863 almost a century Britain granted them Independence. What a dog – eating dog attitude, slavery, slave trade and colonialism were evil and roundly condemnable.

It is the black man that is still the worst for it and us in Africa on behalf of every black man demand for reparation for the heinous crime of slavery and colonization.

Join the African Reparations Movement – Join us to make a case for the black man.

Follow our links to find how.

 

PERIOD OF UNCHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY

Christianity surely played a significant role in the abolition of slave trade as most of the abolitionists’ humanitarians had Christian backgrounds, notwithstanding the fact that Papal primogeniture was the basis of global slave trade. During the era that could be summed up as the era of Papal recklessness, a lot of things were credited to the Popes which were imprint able which bored a hole in the principles of Papal infallibility.

Crusades organized and executed by the Popes as part of the unchristian Christianity. Those reckless excesses of Popes during the Middle age in Europe where the Almighty Popes conquered and subjected the human race all in the names of God. As said earlier such excesses could be excused because those Popes felt they were doing them for God as those actions were generally taken in the guise of promoting or spreading the word of God and the teaching of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. It is obvious that medieval European Christians in particular veered away from the standard Christian principles into mundane activities like world politics and manorial conquests perhaps thinking they were enthroning the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven in line with “Our Lord’s prayer” I earlier called this misconception IGNORANCE on the part of the Medieval Pope who they thought they were doing them for God, more so when so Popes were not actually called into the Vineyard of God.

Some Popes ascended the Papacy as a matter of inheritance, not through the ordination of the Almighty God. The examples of such Pope were the Pope in his twenties who also ordained an eleven year old as a Bishop. That scenario was the height of Papal recklessness, especially when the kid Pope was reportedly a drunk and whoremonger, who incidentally was said to loses his life when he was attacked by a husband who caught him red handed with his wife. He was adjudged the most notorious Pope ever lived. Such a Pope definitely was a faraway from the known Christian principles as laid down by Christ himself. What can anyone expect of the eleven years old boy he ordained as Bishop? Age and inexperience joined hands to rob them of expected Christian wisdom, care bar and decorum.

This chapter UNCHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY gets its eloquence in this and similar situations. Church lands were said to be allotted to mistresses by the Pope thereby setting immorality on the front burns. The reason for going this far is to show what unchristian Christianity could do and excuse core Christian principles from the excesses of medieval Christianity or exculpate followers of Christ from slavery and colonialism and blame them on idiotic idiosyncrasies of respective Pope: invariably casting further doubts on the sanctimonious Papal infallibility. If some Popes could behave like this, without recourse to morality and the gamut of Christian principles what excuse can anyone or people expect from the church for the Papal Bulls that authorized the invasion, enslavement and colonization of African, America and peoples of the world by Europe’s particularly Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1493.

Because peoples or races were pummeled into accepting the then strange religion, they did so as conquered peoples, nursing grudges that one day they would be free and be able to drop the garb of the stranger religion. The religion of their oppressors to quickly recline to the religions of their forefathers – the religions of their births. This accounted for the earlier loathsomeness or resistance to the early missionaries especially those that came to Africa and Asia. As a backup of the asphyxiating inhuman situation black people found themselves in the hands of slave hunters that were christened explorers, Africans of old who were abreast of the heartlessness of earliest invaders, the subsequent white men that came in the guise of missionaries were met with savagery by the black people of the era. Even the mosquitoes and other natural elements like the scotching sun and the attendant heat joined hands to make Africa the white man’s grave yard.

   Not deterred, the missionaries themselves did a lot of unchristian things to beat the black man into line. He succumbed and became an unwilling subject cum forced convert. The subject matter of this chapter – PERIOD OF UNCHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY could not be exhausted considering the liturgy of monumental inhumanity by the early Christianity and its leadership, beginning with the Popes and his agents – that came with the Bible in one hand and gun in the other causing blood of resistant Africans to flow as they stood the grounds to say OUR PAPA’S LAND – This is our Papa’s Land.

The subdued ancient Africans particularly, followed the white man’s religion and subsequently looked upon the fellow Africans who were still in agitation as Satanic. Those who were beaten into line had no alternatives of their own religion which was then condemned as evil. The secret infusion of local worship system with the alien Christianity brought, as it were, so much unchristianity into the Christian religion for which the world especially Africa presently suffer from what I call the Voodoo Christianity, a far cry from the laid down rule of worship by Christi himself or his immediate followers or the Apostles that were direct heirs of the Christian precepts. The wickedness of the unchristian Popes down to the colonial agents that came as missionaries left bare the intendment of Christ as handed down to his Apostles.

The Voodoo Christianity which I mentioned in the foregoing is a worrisome phenomenon in Christendom. The African native doctors found it more fashionable to transform into Pastors with African magic as the sources of their Christian powers for miracles, signs and wonders. Such unchristian Christianity is what I also call Voodoo Christianity. Come to think of it, what can anyone expect of a people whose traditional religions were submerged by alien religion which called such traditional religion practices heathen, satanic and illicit? A rude shock is that those things ancient Christianity abolished are currently the bedrock of the nascent Pentecostalism and the white or red garment churches. The above mentioned were the inevitable alternative to a people whose traditional religious practices were entrapped or subsumed.

They hide under the white man’s Christianity to practice the abolished black man’s religion, in an admixture that I earlier called unchristian Christianity or Voodoo Christianity. African religious practices are rediscovering themselves, can I say, rearing their ugly or otherwise heads in what can now see in the present Christianity, where money and quest for power hold swore instead of the usual call for salvation of souls as taught by Christ himself. Let us not forget that the topic here is UNCHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE which smeared Christianity in Africa and the world as a whole. The blame for this decadence is largely at the doorstep of medieval Popes and their European Christian foot soldiers – the missionaries.

The essence of this chapter is not to condemn Christianity but absolve her of medieval ignorant acts which could be said to be due to the overzealous desire to promote Christianity, win, can I say, conquer peoples and souls for Christ. The scripture says “on the day of ignorance, God overlooks” Based on the above scripture. Africa and the black world would have a place in their hearts to forgive the unchristian Christianity of medieval Europe encapsulated in the evils of slavery and colonization, as ordered by different Popes at different times.

It is said in Law that there is no offence without intention. Men’s race must be established before condemning anyone. As said earlier, the intentions of different Popes were to promote Christianity. The Popes or Christianity could be exculpated on the account of genuiness of purpose, only with few exceptions like the kid Popes that could be said to suffer from youthful exuberance. It would be out of place for me to condemn God anointed, even if such was self anointed. It is said that a Pope is infallible, even if the fallibility is self evident. Some Popes have apologized to both Indians and blacks over the roles of the church in slavery, slave trade and colonialism. Pope Paul and John Paul the second have at different periods genuinely condemned the church and apologized to the American – Red Indians and blacks all over the world over the unchristian roles that were at the background of the said unchristian Christianity. The wounds seem healed and a time to forgive is her ignorantly, the church did not see Africans human enough to come under the purview of human equality before God: Now that there is no Jew or Gentile in the presence of God neither is there white or black – slave or free born as we are likewise angels before God, that do His will.

This could be possible if there is no continued injury – if a black man is not hunted killed on the basis of his colour, like in the case of George Floyd and his likes all over the world. As much as we say “black life matters” we could by extension say “white life matters” as well, not minding that white life has never been under threat since the beginning of the world till date.

We have dwelt on white on black so much without acknowledging the fact the Arabs were as guilty as the whites over the heinous crimes of slavery and colonialism. It is historically noted that while the Europeans had their slavery onslaught on Africa through what was known as Trans-Atlantic slave raiding, the Arabs were simultaneously making similar incursion through the Sahara Desert. The Arabian slave raids on Africa, at the time the white man was raiding through the Coastal lines of Africa, the Arabs were raiding at the same time through the Sahara Desert in what was described as the Trans Saharan slavery raiding. The black people so caught were exported to the Arab world in caravans. Slave caravans were notably seen as the captured Africans – blacks, were marched across their Arab destinations enroot the Sahara Desert. The captors were armed with darn guns, horse whips etc. that secured the name – slave drivers to North Africa and other Arab slave markets across the world.

While we see slave raiding as the sin of the Europeans, it becomes obvious to spotlight the Trans Saharan slave raiding which Hitler too had been played down by historians Millions of black lives were also lost though the desert slave trade. While the black man struggle to forgive and forget their pains of slavery, it becomes expedient to also forgive our Arab brothers. We shall also forgive them even before their apology. We have accepted their apology even before it comes if it really comes at all.

Slavery and colonization which were variously blamed on some Popes and Christianity were all – comers deals. All the ancient religions had slavery and imperialism as norms of expansionism. Apart from the associated hegemony conquests through crusades, Jihads etc were common in religious expansionism. In Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, territorial annexation, occupation and control were the common features of religious propagation and imperial dominance.

Blaming everything about religious involvement on Christianity would be gross unkindness. Other religions harbored slavery as form of superiority complex between the kings, princes, the nobles etc and the commoners referred to as slaves. In Europe, Asia etc the institution of slavery were as old as the nations themselves. Local slavery was part of the culture of the respective people or races.

It is only argued that international slavery was made possible by the Popes that ordered the enslavement and colonization of Africa and America. Those who make this case are obvious of the fact that Islamic Jihads were fought for both slave taking and religious imperialism.

Hinduism and Buddhism have position of slaves and their masters clearly spelt out. Judaism which Christ met and was part of could also not be exculpated before Christ came with his message of freedom from slavery.

Voodoo Christianity or unchristianity practices that were the products of the intermingling of African religious practices with Christianity could not receive any special mention in other religions because they are natural features of such religions.

Plural godism, which is abominable in Christendom doesn’t matter in Hinduism where millions of gods are recognized and worshiped. Some Islamic, Judaist etc practices that have the similitude of African traditional worship system may have crept into Christianity and blamed as African Voodoo Christian practices.

In trying to discuss about unchristian Christianity, let us be careful and know that this topic is contextually related to the practices of ancient Popes and involvement of Christianity to the invasion, enslavement and colonization of Africa during the medieval period, which we, Africans are poised to forgive.

Africa was wronged in what I love to call a global conspiracy and dehumanization. All the same we are set to forgive the world and Christendom particularly but let history not repeat itself.

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