Today provides a number of important anniversaries in the history of African slavery across more than two centuries.

On this date:

In 1619 the first African slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia.

In 1834 slavery was abolished in the British Empire by the Slavery Abolition Act.

In 1838 non-laborer slaves in the British Empire were emancipated.

In 1840 laborer slaves in the British Empire were emancipated.

Frye in conversation with David Cayley:

What man wants always is slavery or mastery.  That is, he wants mastery first, and if can’t have that he’ll settle for slavery.  (CW 24, 98)

Frye in “The Dialectic of Belief and Vision”:

Primary concerns are those common to the whole human race: concerns about food, shelter, and survival: a freedom without anarchy, a social order without slavery, a happiness without misery. (CW 3, 253)

Our earlier post on the Canadian Act Against Slavery (1793) here.