The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapter 10-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

The Clandestine and Invisible Nature of Indigenous Slavery

The earliest European colonizers, most notably Christopher Columbus, began the process of enslaving Indigenous peoples. Columbus sent four ships loaded to capacity with over 500 Indigenous peoples to Europe to be auctioned off in markets throughout the Mediterranean. Left to his own devises, Columbus would have turned the Caribbean into a major slave trade hub. Yet, the Spanish monarchs, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, grew increasingly reluctant to enslave Indigenous peoples. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries several Spanish monarchs prohibited Indigenous slavery except in special cases. Spanish settlers and their descendants used these special cases as loopholes to continue Indigenous slavery. However, because these Indigenous captives were not legally slaves, they were never formally counted as such, giving the impression that there were few Indigenous slaves.

As one example, A Spanish high-level council called the Chichimec War, where the Chichimecs were fighting back against Spanish incursion on their lands, “a war by fire and blood” (89). This designation allowed Spanish soldiers and officials to capture Indigenous peoples. Once tried and found guilty of a crime, they could be sold into captivity for a specified number of years. From a legal perspective, these Indigenous peoples were not slaves but “convicts serving out their sentences” (90). For this reason, this treatment of the captured Indigenous peoples did not violate the New Laws of 1542. Reséndez argues that this was still a form of slavery since the Spanish colonists subjected the Indigenous peoples to forced labor. The labor simply happened clandestinely and is difficult to track in written records.

The Spanish settlers were not the only ones to continue practicing Indigenous slavery despite it being illegal. American settlers to the west also fully embraced this system. In Utah, a law that passed during the mid-19th century, called the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners, “allowed any white resident of Utah to hold Indians through a system of indenture for a period of up to twenty years—longer than in California or New Mexico” (273). The actual number of indentured Indigenous peoples in Utah remains unknown because many died (often from new illnesses introduced by the white colonists) within the first few months of their indentureship, leaving no paper trail. This circumstance underscores how Indigenous slavery remained invisible to so many people for so long.

Indigenous slavery, despite it being around for four centuries, is difficult to track because it was never a single institution. As the two examples demonstrate here, the other slavery was “a set of kaleidoscopic practices suited to different markets and regions” (320). The Spanish crown’s attempts to abolish Indigenous slavery gave rise to a number of related institutions, such as the selling of convict labor, encomiendas, repartimientos, and debt peonage. White settlers in the American Southwest focused heavily on debt peonage. These different institutions make it difficult to fully understand the scale of Indigenous slavery. Yet, the fact that Indigenous slavery occurred throughout the Northern Hemisphere and lasted for centuries shows that thousands were impacted by this horrific system of enslavement. While we might not know all their names, we know that the Indigenous victims of slavery “toiled, quite literally, in dark corners and behind locked doors” (5). Understanding that Indigenous slavery occurred, despite it happening clandestinely, is part of understanding the history of the US.

Staying Power and Adaptability of Indigenous Slavery

Every major colonizer in the Northern Hemisphere discussed by Reséndez attempted to abolish slavery. The Spanish crown prohibited Indigenous slavery in 1542, but the enslavement of Indigenous peoples continued. During the late 17th centuries, the Spanish monarchs tried again to free all Indigenous peoples throughout their empire. While it did have a chilling effect on European slavers, the Spanish campaign gave Indigenous peoples more power within the slave trade. Some Indigenous peoples now became the traffickers; thus, the trade continued. Mexico, after gaining independence from Spain, prohibited all forms of bondage and offered citizenship to Indigenous groups. Mexicans still needed labor for their properties and businesses, which resulted in debt peonage becoming deeply entrenched with Mexican society. The US Congress tried to end involuntary servitude with the 13th and 14th Amendments, yet the Supreme Court opted for a much narrower interpretation that excluded Indigenous peoples. Local resistance in the US also inhibited the ending of Indigenous slavery. Government officials in California tried to call out the apprenticeship system that involved Indigenous children as “virtual slavery” (306), yet this form of bondage continued to persist for decades. The fact that Indigenous slavery persisted for four hundred years, despite all these different laws, campaigns, and policies, underscores the staying power of the other slavery.

The adaptability of slavery is one of the key reasons behind its staying power. Despite the numerous prohibitions attempting to abolish it, the individuals that profited from the trade figured out how to enslave people without explicitly violating the law. This greed led to the creation of different forms of bondage, which fit the specific cultural contexts. For example, while the New Laws prohibited Indigenous slavery, they also became a stumbling block for labor in the mines. Although King Charles was committed to abolishing slavery, he also needed to protect the silver from mines in Mexico flowing into his treasury. To reconcile these two views, he came up with a work around. Officials freeing the Indigenous slaves would explain that while they were no longer subject to enslavement, “they would still be required to work for their sustenance, and, if they did not wish to work, they would be compelled to do so as long as they were paid” (71). This system, known as repartimiento, had far-reaching consequences. While the Indigenous peoples were legally free, they were still compelled to work. The Spanish created a system that met their labor needs and enslaved Indigenous peoples but did not actually violate the law.

Understanding the staying power and adaptability of Indigenous slavery is important because the other slavery remains prevalent today. The inability of countless laws to eradicate Indigenous slavery is a warning to current policy makers. The road to ending slavery is long and arduous.

Enormous Difficulties of Abolishing the Other Slavery

As Reséndez reiterates throughout the book, it is not enough to simply prohibit slavery. Rather, there needs to be people on the ground willing to enforce the laws and campaigns. A particularly poignant example of this is with the Spanish campaigns. The governor of Chile strongly opposed the monarch’s decree. He wrote a letter to the king noting that freeing Indigenous slaves would deprive owners not only of their slaves but of the money they spent to purchase them. These owners would not be able to seek compensation for their lost property from the sellers, which was part of the royal decree, since the soldiers and Indigenous allies who sold them the slaves would not have the money to pay them. Concerns of unrest were front of mind for the governor. To minimize this unrest, the governor allowed owners to keep their slaves, but decreed that they “would no longer be called ‘slaves’ but would merely be held ‘in deposit’” (143). Yet in other places of the Spanish Empire, such as Trinidad, officials were willing to carry out the monarch’s order. The ineffectiveness of the Spanish Campaign illustrates that ending slavery requires real commitment by all individuals, from government officials to slavers, involved in human trafficking. Without this commitment, it is impossible to end the other slavery.

The active participation of Indigenous peoples in the slave trade made it difficult to control and abolish too. The Navajos tried to sell the Spanish authorities several Pawnee children. The Spanish authorities initially refused, citing the Recopilación de las leyes de Indias, which had legally prohibited Indigenous slavery even when other Indigenous peoples were ransoming the slaves. To increase pressure on the Spanish authorities, the Navajos killed the children. In doing so, the Navajos forced Spanish authorities in New Mexico to break the law and purchase their slaves. Yet, the Navajos were simply filling a niche that the Spanish authorities and private citizens vacated. The white settlers also desperately needed the goods Navajos and other Indigenous groups were offering, including slaves. To further normalize diplomatic relationships with Indigenous groups who were part of the slaving enterprise, New Mexican governors held annual trading fairs. These fairs were highly choreographed events where governors would surround themselves with a guard and wear splendid clothes and meet with the Indigenous groups in their pueblos to smoke and purchase their goods, including Indigenous slaves.

Another element that makes ending the other slavery challenging is that often abolishing slavery for one group results in new or continued enslavement of another group. The 13th Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1866 are two examples. In both cases, the US Congress tried to end slavery or involuntary servitude, which would have impacted both Black people and Indigenous peoples. Yet, the Supreme Court, wary of burgeoning federal control over state power, narrowed the interpretation so that these two laws were specific to Black people individuals. Indigenous peoples trapped in bondage received no relief for many more decades.

The Indigenous experience with slavery highlights several crucial considerations that policymakers and the public must be aware of when it comes to ending the other slavery. The first is that there need to be people in the places trying to abolish slavery who are dedicated to the objective. Without these individuals, bondage practices will simply continue. The second is that there needs to be a full understanding of the slave trade, including all the actors and who has power over these actors. Finally, there needs to be careful consideration of laws and campaigns to ensure that they are not going to harm—albeit unintentionally—another group. The complex and multi-faceted nature of the other slavery make it difficult to ever truly abolish. Yet, today’s citizens owe it to all those who have endured and continue to endure this horrific practice.