1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910459959603321

Titolo

To plead our own cause [[electronic resource] ] : personal stories by today's slaves / / edited by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, : Cornell University Press, 2008

ISBN

0-8014-7438-8

0-8014-5832-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (272 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

BalesKevin

TroddZoe

Disciplina

306.3/62

Soggetti

Slavery

Human trafficking

Forced labor

Prostitution

Slavery - History - 21st century

Slaves

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : the long Juneteenth -- Sights and scenes : modern slave experiences -- Ain't I a woman? female slaves and the dynamics of gender -- The turning point : liberation from bondage -- Not yet realized : the problem of freedom -- The severed chain : freedom after bondage.

Sommario/riassunto

Boys strapped to carpet looms in India, women trafficked into sex slavery across Europe, children born into bondage in Mauritania, and migrants imprisoned at gunpoint in the United States are just a few of the many forms slavery takes in the twenty-first century. There are twenty-seven million slaves alive today, more than at any point in history, and they are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica.To Plead Our Own Cause contains ninety-five narratives by slaves and former slaves from around the globe. Told in the words of slaves themselves, the narratives movingly and eloquently chronicle the horrors of contemporary slavery, the process of becoming free, and the



challenges faced by former slaves as they build a life in freedom. An editors' introduction lays out the historical, economic, and political background to modern slavery, the literary tradition of the slave narrative, and a variety of ways we can all help end slavery today.Halting the contemporary slave trade is one of the great human-rights issues of our time. But just as slavery is not over, neither is the will to achieve freedom, "plead" the cause of liberation, and advocate abolition. Putting the slave's voice back at the heart of the abolitionist movement, To Plead Our Own Cause gives occasion for both action and hope.