Slavery. — Although the distinction between house slaves
and ordinary slaves was hardly known, the status and
prospects of slaves varied considerably in various parts of the
Awka district. In addition to the ordinary slaves, sacred
slaves were also known, who were given to an alose and lived
upon charity ; unless a female slave were also given they
were forbidden to marry. Broadly speaking, we may
distinguish three types of slavery. In the first the con-
dition is perpetual, unless the master chooses to change it.
In the second, children regain their free status after a
certain number of generations. Intermediate between these
stages may be classed that in which a slave is at liberty
to purchase his own redemption. The third, a very special
class of slaves, were those known as nwalo. They were
people, male or female, sent to Aguku to the ifzQuri
because they had broken an ns^ ani. Once a slave, always
a slave, was the rule here, and if a man was sent to the king,
his wife and property went to the king also. The king could
break down his house, and if an Nri man was not sent to
perform a sacrifice, the family of the man would touch none
of his property, even with the king's consent. The only
information that I received was that they were not allowed
to take part in any sacrifices to mw^ or alose; such
ceremonies as they did perform had to be their hereditary
ones, and not those of the family with which they were
associated.

On the whole, the lot of slaves appears to have been by no



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means a bad one, and there are many people now who are
still technically slaves, though lliey do no work for their old
masters, for after he has attained a certain age a slave was
exempt from work and rendered only tribute to his master.
His master supplied him with a wife and land, for work on
which he had one and sometimes two days in the week.
Slaves were acquired sometimes by purchase, sometimes in
war, sometimes, apparently, by a debtor voluntarily giving
himself up in order to rid himself of his debts and get a
fresh start.

Native opinion seems to be divided as to the merits of
slavery, for it is held, not without justice, that a man over-
burdened with debt, if he can, should sell himself for the
benefit of his creditors and free himself from his load. It is,
in fact, a kind of voluntary petition in bankruptcy.

As regards the status of the children of a slave, I was told
at Awka that they were treated like children of the house,
but I was also informed that they did not buy slaves,
hence, if both pieces of information are correct, it is clear
that slavery proper did not exist.

In Agolo the distinction between slaves and bought slaves
did not exist. The third generation was free, and this even
if the second generation had been sold, although it would,
of course, be difficult for such children to prove their rights.

At Adaji the children of slaves were free, and this was
also the case in Umueuku.

At Nise the children of slaves were slaves, and the only
way of freeing them was to perform a ceremony on their
father. If the master wished to marry the child of a slave
he would take a fowl and cook for the ancestors, then he
would call the girl, put chalk and water in a pot and wash
her face. By treating the man in a similar way his children
became free.

At UgwQba I got a somewhat vague account of the status
of the children of slaves which I was unable to verify. I
was told that if a slave married the daughter of another
slave, the children were divided between the father and



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the father-in-law, with the exception of the eldest son, who
appears to belong to the master.

At Mbwaku the children of slaves were slaves, but if
the master had few children of his own, he might take a
goat and sacrifice to the ancestors and declare them free.

At Agolo a slave could redeem himself. A slave legally
sold lost civil rights in his own land, he could not go back
and claim his wife and children ; such a slave would,
therefore, usually remain the client of his former master.
War slaves, on the other hand, might get leave to go home,
and if they were redeemed their civil rights were recovered.
If the wife had been given to another husband, the price
would be repaid, all children would belong to the original
husband.

At Adaji, on the other hand, no class of slave appeared to
lose civil rights, and if he redeemed himself might claim his
property and his wife.

At Nimo when a man was sold, his wife and property
went to his brother. If she had sons, she was free to go
away when they grew up ; otherwise, she passed to his
brother as his wife. She might not follow her original
husband, though he could take her with him when he went
originally.

With regard to the work done by the slave for his master
there were two rules in the Awka district.

In Agolo, Adaji, Nri, UgwQba, and Mbwaku he contributed
two days* labour, and in Nise and N(}fia three days' labour
in a four-day week. It was, however, possible for him to
pay a contribution in lieu of all, or part, of this work.

At Qbu no contribution was payable if the slave worked for
the master.

At N^fia, if he had many yams to plant, he would get two
extra days from his master, in order to allow him to plant
them. When he grew to be a rich man, however, he did no
more work for his master, but sent him good yams.

At UgwQba, where only two days a week were exacted,
a hunter would give the legs and chest of any game that he



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killed to his master. If he sacrificed a goat in any of his own
private ceremonies, the chest and two legs would also go to
his master. When a slave dug his yams, the master chose
one stick of big yams and one of small yams.

At Nise slaves were inherited by the eldest son, but the
property of a dead slave, although in theory belonging to the
master, was treated as the inheritance of the eldest son of the
slave. The same rule prevailed at Ugwc^ba.

As regards the ownership of slaves. At Agolo a somewhat
different rule prevailed to what was found elsewhere. When
slaves were bought they were given to one or other wife of
the husband, and passed on the death of the mother to her
own children by that marriage. In addition to his mother's
share, the eldest son inherited also those slaves who were
retained by the father.

At Adaji, on the other hand, in the immediate neighbour-
hood, the slaves were shared out by the children at the
conclusion of the burial ceremonies, to pay the expenses of
which some might be sold.

Adult slaves were never given to wives, though child
slaves might be, and the rule of inheritance in this latter
case was the same as that at Agolo. At Nise, on the other
hand, a few miles in the other direction, all the slaves were
inherited by the eldest son.

At Adaji there is a feeling against selling slaves unless
it were absolutely necessary. This was comparatively
common, especially where the relationship of clientship, and
more especially that of sonship, was set up between master
and slave.

At Nqfia, for example, where the children of slaves became
free, slaves themselves could not be sold. In the places
where a sale was permitted, it appears to have been
forbidden to separate husband and wife.

At Agolo, slaves in the same family were allowed to marry.
Their children or grandchildren, however, might not marry,
for they belonged to the master's family ; nor, on the other
hand, could they marry in their own original family.



107

At Ugwgba, if a slave had an adult daughter, another slave
of the same master might bring a goat, a fowl, and palm wine
and offer sacrifice in her father's house. He could then take
her as his wife at a price of £5. This the father was
permitted to keep if he informed his master, otherwise he was
liable to be sold. If a master took a female slave as his wife,
a ceremony of some sort was necessary to change her status.

At Aguku a master bought a she goat and a hen and
called the qzo members together, telling them that the goat
and the fowl were to shave the head of the slave ; kola was
offered to the ndicie and then the goat and the fowl. After
that no one was permitted to call her a slave.

At Nise the master took a fowl and cooked it for the
ancestors. He was permitted to marry the daughter of a
slave, and to free her he put chalk and water in a pot and
washed her face.

At Acala the rules with regard to marrying slave wives
were somewhat peculiar. An Acala man could not marry an
Acala female slave. When he bought the female slave there
was no way of freeing her. At the death of her husband the
widow did not lose her slave status, and, apparently, could
not get another husband.

At Mbwaku a master could set his wife free in the same
way as at Nise.

As regards responsibility for the acts of a slave, the
master was not held responsible at Agolo. On the other
hand, a slave who stole could be sold or killed and no
compensation could be claimed by the master. If a free
man killed a slave it was not treated as murder, but he was
compelled to pay the value ; if one slave killed another he
was sold ; if the master killed a slave he was regarded as
within his rights. If a slave stole from his master he could
not be sold at N^fia, but the master would quarrel with him
and threaten to kill him and commit suicide ; no food would
be supplied to the slave. Such a slave would probably go to
work for some other master, but, in that case, he would
apparently pay no contribution to his master.



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At Ngfia if a slave caught a thief he was permitted to sell
him and keep the money, paying the contrihution of one she-
goat to his master.

At Aeala, on the other hand, it appears that a slave could
own no property whatever, anything that he owned was
his master's.

The more I read about the everyday lives of so called "African slaves" the more I feel like it was simply a communal jailing system for societies who don't have formal jails or European style dungeons.

[img]http://www.burgenstrasse.de/upmedia/Nuernberg_Lochgefaengnis_800.jpg[/img]


which are the precursor to todays prisons...

[img]http://vialogue.files./2008/06/jailcell2.jpg[/img]




Personaly my main issue with the African penal system was the perpetual nature of some of them.

If it was like...
1. five weeks/months/years and your free to go
2. Can't be moved from one society to another
3. overpopulation controls(never more then x% of the population)

I think that would be a better system to start from then a prison cell where you separate families, lose jobs, etc
It would be like house/community arrest where you do community service for some set of time for your crime.

Gustavus Vassa (Olaudah Equiano) clarified this himself, and this was someone who was sold into chattel slavery.

Slavery was a way of getting rid of people without punishment of death. Criminals were often given a choice between being a ritual slave (in places ritual slavery was recognised) being put to death, or outcast (which probably turned to selling people off to traders/raiders in the European era). It's important to note that the majority of Igbo people didn't end up on the other side of the ocean due to these systems, rather they were captured in raids, so the majority of Igbo people were enslaved not because they were criminals, but because they were captured.