Slavery is the brutal practice of forcing someone to work hard without paying them a fair wage, sometimes without paying them at all.
For hundreds of years in the United States, wealthy white landowners benefited from the institution of slavery, which forced millions of African slaves to work their entire lives on giant farms. The word slavery comes from the Latin sclava, meaning “Slavonic captive,” referring to the 9th century slavery of Slavonic people, but it came to mean anyone in captivity, not just Slavs. To be held captive and unable to pursue your own life is slavery, and it’s worth fighting against.
