Slavery

It wasn’t there, but it was. Slavery wasn’t mentioned in the Constitution, but it was a key theme in many of the sections that outlined the structure of the government of the new nation. In “Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification,’’ Temple University historian David Waldstreicher discusses how disagreements over slavery shaped debates over the content of the document and about the merits of ratification. Many of the founders, of course, held contradictory views on the subject.

For more than 60 years, the Freedom Trail has told the story of America's struggle for freedom. About 1.5 million people walk the faded red brick trail each year, visiting such storied sites as Faneuil Hall, Old North Church, and the Paul Revere House. But there is another Boston-based story of a struggle for freedom, one told by the lesser-known Black Heritage Trail, which explores the history of the African-American community on Beacon Hill in the 1800s and the abolitionist movement that was rooted there.

NEW YORK -- Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum. Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into a sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members. The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn't be a top priority or that it...

The Northborough Historical Society will hold its final monthly meeting before the summer break Friday. The evening will feature a special presentation by a National Park Service ranger, Chuck Arning, entitled "What would you do for freedom?" Arning will discuss the compelling stories of former slaves, their quest for freedom, and those with connections to Northborough. The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m., and will be preceded by a potluck supper at 6:30 p.m. featuring favorite dishes provided by society members and visitors.

LONDON -- An emotional Mayor Ken Livingstone apologized yesterday for his city's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, saying London was still tainted by it. The notoriously outspoken Livingstone seldom apologizes for anything, but he choked up as he read an account of the brutal tortures suffered by slaves in Britain's Caribbean colonies. And the politician nicknamed "Red Ken" for his left-leaning views angrily denounced the role of his city's corporations in financing the trade.

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey would become the first Northern state and the fifth state overall to apologize for slavery under a measure to be considered this week by state lawmakers. "This is not too much to ask of the state of New Jersey," said Assemblyman William Payne, who sponsors the bill. "All that is being requested of New Jersey is to say three simple words: We are sorry. " Legislators in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia have issued formal apologies. "If former Confederate states can take action like this, why can't a Northeast...

Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited From Slavery , By Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, Ballantine, 255 pp., $25.95 A startling new history exposes the plantations, slave ships, and rebellions in the North, upending the notion that slavery was a peculiarly Southern institution. In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to recognize slavery by statute. Four years later, a Boston ship made one of the earliest known slave voyages from New England to Africa.

PARIS -- France honored victims of the slave trade yesterday with a national day of concerts, school lessons, Louvre exhibits, and ceremonies in a trading port that grew rich from New World slave plantations. President Jacques Chirac, marking the first annual commemoration day, urged France to confront the dark chapters of its history, 158 years after it abolished the practice of traders seizing Africans to toil in Caribbean colonies. "Looking directly at our entire past is one of the keys to our national cohesion," said Chirac, who announced the national day in January, soon after...

"Manderlay" is the second chapter in Lars von Trier's planned three-part jeremiad against America's wicked ways. The first you might recall, although maybe not, was 2003's "Dogville. " The few folks who saw it probably live under the same art-house rock. "Dogville" was rough and unkind. A small Depression-era mining town bullied and exploited good-hearted Nicole Kidman until her milk of human kindness curdled. The movie was brilliantly reductive (there's no such thing as true Christian charity)

Authorities says four men have been charged with slavery offenses for holding a group of men in squalid conditions at a caravan site north of London. Prosecutors said the men, who were all from the same family, were charged Monday with conspiracy to hold others in servitude and requiring them to perform forced labor. They were arrested Sunday during a raid on the caravan site in Leighton Buzzard, north of London. A pregnant woman was also arrested but was released Monday on bail.

A senior U.N. official says that as many as 2.4 million people may be victims of human trafficking worldwide at any given time. Yury Fedotov calls human trafficking "a shameful crime of modern-day slavery. " Fedotov is the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. He was speaking Monday at an international conference focused on preventing the exploitation of illegal migrants and other crimes linked to human trafficking. Corruption is another concern of the meeting.

The U.S. Slavery Museum has lost its federal tax-exempt status. The Washington Post reports ( http://wapo.st/ztQGlq) the museum was added Wednesday to a list of organizations that have had their federal tax-exempt status revoked by the Internal Revenue Service. The move means the Fredericksburg, Va., museum envisioned by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder can't receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. Nonprofit groups must file a return or notice annually to the IRS. The IRS revokes a nonprofit's tax-exempt status if it fails to file for three consecutive years.

WASHINGTON - Nearly 20 years ago, former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder said that he wanted to create a museum that would tell the story of slavery in the United States. He had the vision, the clout, and the charm to make it seem attainable, and he had already made history: the grandson of slaves, he was the nation's first elected African-American governor. He assembled a high-profile board, hosted splashy galas with entertainer Bill Cosby promising at least $1 million in support, accepted a gift of more than 38 acres along Interstate 95 in Fredericksburg and showed plans...

An attorney for the U.S. National Slavery Museum in Virginia is seeking more time to produce delinquent tax returns in a bid to reorganize the museum's debt and resume fundraising. Attorney Sandra R. Robinson had told U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond she would produce the tax returns by the end of January. In a filing this week, however, she said the museum has been unable to secure the returns from the museum's former accountant. Robinson is seeking the returns to resume raising funds for the museum, which had been planned for Fredericksburg.

The suburban Atlanta teacher who resigned after an investigation found students were given math homework with word problems about slavery has apologized. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ( http://bit.ly/weP3jZ) reports that former Beaver Ridge Elementary School teacher Luis Rivera says in a statement to school officials that he did not write the homework to be malicious or offensive. Rivera says: "I have brought shame to my family and my school. For that, I cannot apologize enough.

Suburban Atlanta school officials are deciding whether to discipline teachers who gave third-grade students math homework with word problems about slavery. Gwinnett County schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said Monday that the district is working with the school principal to address the problem after parents complained about the worksheets. She says the district wants to ensure it doesn't happen again. The NAACP has called for the firing of the nine teachers involved. One of the math problems reads: "Each tree has 56 oranges.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The North Carolina Senate apologized yesterday for the Legislature's role in promoting slavery and Jim Crow laws that denied basic human rights to the state's black citizens. Following the lead of lawmakers in neighboring Virginia, the Senate unanimously backed a resolution acknowledging its "profound contrition for the official acts that sanctioned and perpetuated the denial of basic human rights and dignity to fellow humans. " "This is a way to reflect upon this and express our understanding and our regret for official actions of our state," said Democrat Tony Rand, the Senate...

Suburban Atlanta school officials are deciding whether to discipline teachers who gave third-grade students math homework with word problems about slavery. Gwinnett County schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said Monday that the district is working with the school principal to address the problem after parents complained about the worksheets. She says the district wants to ensure it doesn't happen again. The NAACP has called for the firing of the nine teachers involved. One of the math problems reads: "Each tree has 56 oranges.

The following was submitted by Peabody Historical Society & Museum: Peabody Historical Society will present a lecture "The Grimke Sisters: Slaveholders' Daughters become Abolitionists" by Susan Lenoe and Lani Peterson on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 7 pm at the Smith Barn, 38 Felton Street, Peabody. This will be a dramatic reenactment of the sisters' attack on the institution of slavery in America.  Members free; non-members $5.00.   Information 978-531-0805.  www.peabodyhistorical.org

Peruvian prosecutors say five people have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in police raids on brothels that rescued 293 women in a jungle region rife with illegal gold-mining. Police say the women were rescued from sexual slavery in the Amazon state of Madre de Dios. The weekend raids were on 60 houses of prostitution and involved more than 400 officers. Local prosecutor Fernando de Santa Maria says that of the 293 women, at least were five minors, the youngest age 13. Thousands of fortune-seekers have flooded into Madre de Dios in a gold rush...