Other forms: enslaved persons
An enslaved person is someone who is forced to work without pay and treated as property. At the start of the Civil War, there were approximately four million enslaved people in the United States.
Throughout history, some humans have enslaved others, using them for free labor. In the U.S., hundreds of thousands of enslaved people were forcibly brought from Africa and the Caribbean to work on plantations. During the 250 years that slavery was legal, and long afterward, these people were referred to as slaves. In recent years, historians and journalists have shifted toward using enslaved person instead, to better highlight their humanity and emphasize the fact that the terrible condition of slavery was forced upon them.