Slavery in the Twentieth Century

The Evolution of a Global Problem

By (author) Suzanne Miers

Publication date:

11 June 2003

Length of book:

544 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

Dimensions:

231x157mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780759103399

In her new book, well-known Africanist Suzanne Miers places modern slavery in its historical context, tracing the phenomenal development of the international anti-slavery movement over the last hundred years. She demonstrates how the problems of eradication seem greater and more intractable today than they had ever been, showing how slavery has expanded to include newer forms from 1919 to 2000, some of them crueler than the chattel slavery so familiar to the public mind. Miers describes the targets of ongoing anti-slavery campaigns, including forced labor, forced prostitution, forced marriage, the exploitation of child labor and of migrant and contract labor. She centers her story on Great Britain's efforts to suppress the slave trade since the late eighteenth century, and draws upon her extensive work in Africa, where slavery has attracted the greatest humanitarian and international attention. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in world history, slavery, race and ethnic history, international human rights, and labor in the world economy.

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Chapter 1: The Rise of the British Antislavery Movement
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Forging a Treaty Network Against the Slave Trade
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Emancipation in Theory and Practice
Chapter 5 Chapter 4: From Slavery to New Forms of Exploitation
Chapter 6 Chapter 5: New International Machinery
Chapter 7 Chapter 6: Ethiopia, The League of Nations, and Slavery
Chapter 8 Chapter 7: Slavery in Hijaz
Chapter 9 Chapter 8: The Temporary Slavery Commission and the Expanding Definition of Slavery
Chapter 10 Chapter 9: The Slavery Convention of 1926
Chapter 11 Chapter 10: The International Labor Organization and the Forced Labour Convention
Chapter 12 Chapter 11: The League of Nations and Slavery in the British Empire
Chapter 13 Chapter 12:The Problems of a Moral Foreign Policy 1925-1932
Chapter 14 Chapter 13: The Committee of Experts on Slavery
Chapter 15 Chapter 14: The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery
Chapter 16 Chapter 15: Slavery in a Changing World 1932-39: Ethiopia
Chapter 17 Chapter 16: Slavery in a Changing World: 1932-1939: Arabia, The Red Sea and Persian Gulf
Chapter 18 Chapter 17: The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery 1936-1939
Chapter 19 Chapter 18: The Slavery Question from 1939 to 1949
Chapter 20 Chapter 19: The Cold War and the Supplementary Slavery Convention of 1956
Chapter 21 Chapter 20: The End of Slavery in Arabia and the Persian Gulf 1950-1970
Chapter 22 Chapter 21: Slavery at the United Nations 1956-1966
Chapter 23 Chapter 22: The Final Struggle for a United Nations Slavery Commmittee 1966-1974
Chapter 24 Chapter 23: Epilogue: The UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Chapter 25 Chapter 24: Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Chapter 26 Chapter 25: Conclusion: The Anti-Slavery Campaign in the Twentieth Century
Chapter 27 Bibliography

Suzanne Miers writes with conviction—it would be hard to be impartial about slavery—but this book is a thoughtful, rigorous and scholarly survey of its subject. The scholarship is impeccable. As it is, this book will be the standard study of 20th century slavery and abolition.