Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate refers to the chattel slavery taking place in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), which comprised the majority of the Middle East with a center in the capital of Damascus in Syria. The slave trade in the Umayyad Caliphate was massive and expanded in parallel with the Umayyad imperial conquests, when non-Muslim war captives as well as civilians were enslaved, and humans were demanded by tribute and taxation from subjugated people. The slave trade was a continuation of the preceding slave trade and slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate except in size, which was paralleled by the massive imperial conquests. When the governing elite of the Caliphate established a permanent urbanized residence, the institution of slavery expanded in parallel with the growing access as well as the needs of a new urbanised and more sophisticated state apparatus. The system of harem sexual slavery, as well as military slavery of male slaves, expanded during this period, though they would not be fully developed until the succeeding slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate.
Slavery was a major part of society, culture and economy in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) of the Islamic Golden Age, which during its history included most of the Middle East. While chattel slavery was an important part also of the preceding practice of slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), it was during the Abbasid Caliphate that the slave trade to the Muslim world reached a more permanent commercial industrial scale, establishing commercial slave trade routes that were to remain for centuries. The Caliphate was a major slave trade destination, and slaves were imported from several destinations. Since Islamic law prohibited enslavement of Muslims, non-Muslim slaves (kafir) were imported from non-Muslim lands (Dar al-harb) around the Muslim world (Dar al-Islam). These included pagan Africa in the south; Christian and pagan Europe in the north; and pagan Central Asia and India in the east. These slaves came from the north along the Balkan slave trade and the Volga trade route; from the east via the Bukhara slave trade; from the west via the Andalusian slave trade, the Trans-Saharan slave trade and the Red Sea slave trade; and from the south from the Indian Ocean slave trade. The slave trade and slavery in the area continued during subsequent states, such as the slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517) and the slavery in the Ottoman Empire (1517–1922), until slavery was ended in the 20th century, when the national states emerging after the split of the Ottoman Empire gradually ended slavery, culminating in the abolition of slavery in Saudi Arabia, slavery in Yemen and slavery in Oman in 1962–1970.
Slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate refers to the chattel slavery taking place in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), a period when the Islamic Caliphate was established and the Islamic conquest expanded outside of the Arabian Peninsula. Slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate was based on the Islamic law regarding slavery developed during the preceding period as the life and example of Muhammed and his followers, which became the role model and tradition of chattel slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate and the following Caliphate. The slave trade in the Rashidun Caliphate expanded in parallel with the Imperial Early Muslim conquests, when non-Muslim war captives as well as civilians were enslaved, and humans were demanded by tribute and taxation from subjugated people. During the Rashidun Caliphate, the regulations regarding slavery in Islamic law were enacted on a large scale and laid the foundation for the institution of slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate and the history of slavery in the Muslim world until the 20th century.
The history of slavery in the Muslim world was throughout the history of Islam with slaves serving in various social and economic roles, from powerful emirs to harshly treated manual laborers. Slaves were widely used in labour in irrigation, mining, and animal husbandry, but most commonly as soldiers, guards, and domestic workers. The use of slaves for hard physical labor early on in Muslim history led to several destructive slave revolts, the most notable being the Zanj Rebellion of 869–883. Many rulers also used slaves in the military and administration to such an extent that slaves could seize power, as did the Mamluks. Most slaves were imported from outside the Muslim world. Slavery in the Muslim world did not have a racial foundation in principle, although this was not always the case in practice. The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa (Trans-Saharan slave trade), and Southeast Africa (Red Sea slave trade and Indian Ocean slave trade), and rough estimates place the number of Africans enslaved in the twelve centuries prior to the 20th century at between six million to ten million. The Ottoman slave trade came from raids into eastern and central Europe and the Caucasus connected to the Crimean slave trade, while slave traders from the Barbary Coast raided the Mediterranean coasts of Europe and as far afield as the British Isles and Iceland. Historically, Muslim West Asia was more or less united for many centuries, and slavery was hence reflected in the institution of slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517) and slavery in the Ottoman Empire (1517–1922), before slavery was finally abolished in one Muslim country after another during the 20th century. In the 20th century, the authorities in Muslim states gradually outlawed and suppressed slavery. Slavery in Zanzibar was abolished in 1909, when slave concubines were freed, and the open slave market in Morocco was closed in 1922. Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1924 when the new Turkish Constitution disbanded the Imperial Harem and made the last concubines and eunuchs free citizens of the newly proclaimed republic. Slavery in Iran and slavery in Jordan were abolished in 1929. In the Persian Gulf, slavery in Bahrain was first to be abolished in 1937, followed by slavery in Kuwait in 1949 and slavery in Qatar in 1952, while Saudi Arabia and Yemen abolished it in 1962, and Oman followed in 1970. Mauritania became the last state to abolish slavery, in 1981. In 1990, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam declared that "no one has the right to enslave" another human being. As of 2001, however, instances of modern slavery persisted in areas of the Sahel, and several 21st-century terroristic jihadist groups have attempted to use historic slavery in the Muslim world as a pretext for reviving slavery in the 21st century. Scholars point to the various difficulties in studying this amorphous phenomenon which occurs over a large geographic region (between East Africa and West Asia), a lengthy period of history (from the seventh century to the present day), and which only received greater attention after the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. The terms "Arab slave trade" and "Islamic slave trade" (and other similar terms) are invariably used to refer to this phenomenon.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.