indentured servitude – by kasie wong

Kasie Wong

Carol Singley

March 31, 2010

AMII: Image Gloss II

Indentured Servants

An indentured servants’ contract is typically three to seven years long, where a person works to learn a trade and exchange, they are provided with transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other things a person might need for a day to day living. Unlike slavery, an indentured servant only has to work for a designated time period and after they are finished with their years listed in their contract they are free to go with two pairs of clothing items and $50 as well as a new trade under their belts.

In North America, many of the indentured servants were immigrants from Europe such as the Irish, Scottish, English, and Germans, in addition to the African slaves. Ideally, indentured servitude could be seen as a sort of apprenticeship, however, that wasn’t always the case as some were subject to violence that occasionally could result in death. In the Caribbean, indentured servants were also mainly European young males and their contracts didn’t differ much from the North American ways of indentured servants. The major differences was that these indentured servants were allowed to own their own lands and were able to go to a local magistrate if he was being treated badly by his master. In Australia and the Pacific, a much more violent history of indentured servitude was the case. Instead of voluntarily entering indentured servitude like most Europeans chose to do so, these islanders were kidnapped into long-term servitude, which was labeled as ‘blackbirding.’ Blackbirded islanders were taken to the sugar cane fields of Queensland, Australia. Because of these often, violent kidnappings it still remains unknown and controversial as to just how many islanders were kidnapped or coerced into indentured servitude.

Modern day examples of indentured servitude include practices held in the United Arab Emirates. Servants are generally from Pakistan and India where once they enter the Emirates, their passports are taken from them and are not told when they will be returned. The servants are then provided with basic necessities of every day life, but the people who hold their passports often decide their return dates.