*Noquisi* (Day Starr)
Fri, 22 Dec 2000 13:47:14 -0800
Different Native nations dealt with slaves in different ways, and in some cases the treatment was abusive and cruel. All "prisoners of war" were not captured during defensive actions. Prisoners...possible slaves...were also captured during offensive raids. There were often women among them. They were brought back to our villages and their fates were decided. Sometimes captives were killed. Sometimes they were adopted into clans by the women, to replace warriors of that clan who were killed. Sometimes they were straight-up enslaved. If you were not accepted into a clan, you would be totally excluded from the life of the village. Your place in every ceremony, every social event, every political gathering; was connected to your clan membership. No clan, no place for you. Worst of all, the protection of your clan, the knowledge than a harm done to you would be avenged, kept the crime rate virtually non-existent. There could be no protection or justice for a slave. Slavery was rare for the Cherokees before contact with Whites, the general decision was to kill or adopt captives, or to take the women on as a "wife". But no Native would want to become a slave, and males were socialized from childhood to bravely accept a "warrior's" death in that situation. *Noquisi* "J.D.K. Chipps" wrote: > > OK, just for the sake of discussion, here's a sceneario: > > Another nation invades your land, and you fight them. You overpower > them and win. Now what do you do with the survivors? > > Slavery was the most humane way to deal with captured warriors and > invading people. Sometimes it even lead to becoming a member of the > conquering nation. > > The alternative, I suppose, would be to kill them, which is the > "abhorent practice" to me. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Wish to Leave? See <http://www.dickshovel.com/mailinglist.html>. > Message Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/first_nations%40home.ease.lsoft.com/index.html> -- Back To The Blanket: A Cherokee/Native American Journal http://www.angelfire.com/biz/BackToTheBlanket Heroine Mu Gui-Ying http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/7111 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wish to Leave? See <http://www.dickshovel.com/mailinglist.html>. Message Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/first_nations%40home.ease.lsoft.com/index.html>