Slavery is ancient, it's has been practiced at one time or another by most, it's as a modern black institution that's different, by shear size, upwards of 60 million taken out of Africa, half that dying enroute, & over 100 million offspring expolited over the following few hundred yrs. Next black slavery coinsides with freedoms won by whites in the areas of serfdom & religious reforms, & the Mameluke Rebellion (last major successfull slave rebelion), of white slaves against Arab slaveholders, ended white slavery world wide forever. There existed a multi-national & multi religious co-op that supported & profited from black slavery. The treatment also differs, historically slaves had rights-not Blacks, churches saw slaves as humans & intervened on their behalf-with Blacks they intervened on behalf of slaveholders, while profiting, slavery was always veiwed as temporary-with Blacks, you know, goverments historically didn't use their power or influence to exploit a racial group for wealth-European & colonial powers enslaved Blacks to develop the New World while colonizing Africa, slaves were normally debtors, POWs or victims of religious persecutions-Blacks, because they were black, slaves were allowed to keep racial identity & dignity, without a stigma of inferiority-with Blacks, not permitted, slaveholding was a symbol of status or wealth-having a black slave afforded even the poorest white, wealth, slavery usually provided 'personal' wealth directly to the slaveholde-black slavery provided wealth for nations, institutions & religions, as it also helped to bring modern capitalism to Europe & the New World while empowering the industrial revolution. It's these differences that engrained so deeply a world wide racial hatred towards Blacks, that in this present day they're still a race that can't quite free itself from it's former bondage. This it were the blues came from, had there been many vicious revolts (as whites), had they been revengefull against their enslavers (as was the American Indian), had they been less willing to accept & more willing to fight & die, perhaps the white world would've been less supportive of slavery. The Afro American work song holds within it's raw beauty the soul of a race that wouldn't die & on whose back was carried the fate of many nations. Barry