In the first half of the 20th century, the first formal, truly global attempts at abolition and prohibition transformed the global contours of slavery, forced labor, and related exploitation. Yet the period 1900 and 1945 was also marked by an increase in the number of slaves and a greater range of forced labor, ranging from sharecropping and prison labor to sex trafficking and debt peonage. This paradox was the result of several factors, including European colonialization; globalization; commercialization; warfare; and the economic policies of the major global powers.

The contributors to this volume reveal how contemporaries embraced the model of Atlantic or chattel slavery, which had been prevalent in the Americas until 1888. Colonial officials failed to legislate for many types of unfree labor because they did not closely match the Atlantic slavery model, allowing for the continuation of such practices as slave concubinage in various parts of Africa. And anti-slavery activists embraced the Atlantic slavery model to denounce certain labor practices, such as Indian indentured servitude in the Caribbean, because it was a powerful rhetorical tool to highlight an extreme degree of abuse. Piecing together their voices from official records, ethnographic accounts, and other evidence, the contributors to this book highlight that many slaves and other unfree laborers in the half of the 20th century were aware of changes in legislation governing unfree labor and that they used a range of means to resist or improve their situation.

A Cultural History of Slavery and Human Trafficking is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com . Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.