The trans-Atlantic slave trade introduced a system of slavery that was commercialized, racialized and inherited, according to The New York Times Magazine. Africans were not thought of as human beings but fuel for the country’s economic engine. Fast-forward 400 years, most Americans still know little about the story of slavery. Even fewer understand that not all white people were proslavery, but abolitionists: people who sought to abolish slavery during the 19th century and the immediate and full emancipation of all enslaved people.
