In the USA 1st February is celebrated as National Freedom Day with a memorable 13th amendment to the US Constitution. There have been 27 amendments to the US Constitution since its inception. The 13th amendment outlawed slavery from America with these words "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction." The credit of this historic change goes to tall Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American President. When he assumed office, crisis of slavery and civil war were raging America. It was a time when America was nearly torn. It was a tough and tortuous tenure but he signed a joint House and Senate Resolution. Lincoln saw with his own eyes the rate lists and markets of slaves where they were purchased and sold just like eatables. Human slaves were up and downloaded from ships just like cargo. Posters were printed and walled in streets. These posters also told the categories of slaves by gender. All that used to happen in New Orleans and the slaves were Black skin Negroes.
During his struggling life span, a debate whether slavery should be abolished or not was in full swing. There were two sections in support and opposition of the slavery. The peasants of South American states enjoyed cheap labour for their agricultural lands in the form of Negroes so they supported the continuity of slavery in America. The other were Northern states where industrial revolution had already prevailed. Factories prevailed in agricultural lands. The employees of the mills grew to be a middle class which had their own rights so they wanted to abolish slavery. Their will to end slavery kept a safe interest. They feared if the mill owners replaced them with black Negroes as cheap labour, they would lose their jobs. This debate got worse and civil war erupted in 1850. It had killed many American soldiers by then. Lincoln, also known as Long Ape, argued in front of Americans in many of his debates the abolishment of slavery by emphasizing that the Negroes were humans just like they were.
The emancipation of slaves in America left some imprints on both slaves and their masters. The news of end of slavery got 2 years to reach all the country. Some ex-slaves, especially of an older age remained working on agricultural lands. They had little to do with freedom. However they decided to make some contracts with their former masters to work for pay and they did. That was so because the corps would be destroyed if they left labour. Some of the land owners had to make speeches to convince the slaves to keep with them. Some slaves left their masters immediately and joined different walks of life while some were not allowed to leave their owners and they were tortured to work in the same routine as they were following. One of masters broke the silences by announcing the abolishment of slavery and let his slaves free along with throwing a party on them. A few heads of slaves did not inform them about freedom unless they themselves came to know it.
The titles such as master and slave have been replaced with employer and employee along with a change of working terms and conditions. We can say that hired labour are willing employees but slavery has not ended completely. Workers in almost all parts of the world have to face many challenges and difficulties to survive in working places. Even today civil rights movements run to provide rights to deprived persons and this exposes roots of slavery are still present. The slogan like "Black Lives Matter" reminds us the inequality in America where discrimination is seen. The crying voices like "What we want? Freedom", "Demilitarization and Self-governance in Kashmir Key to Peace", "Save Kashmir Save Humanity", "and Indian Occupation of Kashmir is a Travesty of International Law", "Kashmiris demand political and human rights" and "Kashmir under Indian Occupation is Challenge for World’s Community" are new shapes of slavery rooted in the world.
