Native
American and Indian Slaves
 The
Indians practiced a form of slavery before African slavery began
in North America. A number of the Indian slaves lived of Indian
society; sometimes Indian slaves were exchanged with other tribes
for peace gestures, or they were exchanged for their own members.
During a raid, when warriors were killed, enslaved captives were
adopted to replace them. In order for the Indians to keep their
captives, they cut off one of their feet so that they would not
run away; other tribes had their captives held hostage so they
could get paid. Indian slavery changed tremendously when the Europeans
arrived in North America. The Indians realized that the British
settlers were taking Indians for forced labor in tobacco, rice,
and indigo. Once that started to happen the Indians started to
sell their war captives to the whites. The whites then started
to enslave Indians for export to a West Indian island known as
the “Sugar Island” because there was a enormous demand
for labor in the West Indies. |