What is a slave?
A slave is person who is owned by another person and is forced to work for them.
Until the abolition of slavery in 1833 a slave was considered to be the legal property, or chattel of his or her owner. Slaves were deprived of all the rights ordinarily held by free persons. Africans who were sold into enslavement, remained enslaved for their entire lifetime and their children were enslaved from birth.
What is indentured labour?
Indentured labour is where a person “agrees” to work without a salary for a specific number of years (usually seven years) before being granted his/her eventual freedom.
Historically, indenture, was a form of debt to the plantation owners who paid for the passage of migrants of all races, but especially Indian to British colonies. Indenture contracts were used to hold people captive in estates and force them to work as servants.
Indentured labourers in the British colonies were often treated as inhumanely and as cruelly as slaves were on the plantations.
The term apprenticeship was used interchangeably with indentured labour.
Typically an apprentice “agreed” to work for free for a master tradesman to learn a trade (similar to a modern internship). Unfortunately, many apprentices in the 17th century were not taught new skills and trades but were used more for their physical labour.
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