Indigenous Slavery in the Americas: Uncovering a Hidden History | Native Bound Unbound

Unearthing a Hidden History: Indigenous Slavery in the Americas

For generations, the history of slavery in the Americas has been overwhelmingly focused on the transatlantic trade of African people. However, a growing body of research is revealing a far more complex and disturbing reality: the widespread enslavement of Indigenous peoples, a practice that predates and often ran parallel to the African slave trade. A new digital initiative, Native Bound Unbound, is at the forefront of this effort, working to recover and connect every documented instance of Indigenous slavery across the Americas.

The project, which launched in 2022 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation, aims to illuminate where Indigenous slavery took place, when it occurred, who it impacted, and the lasting meaning of its legacy for both Indigenous communities and the descendants of those enslaved. Researchers are meticulously combing through archival documents, art, artifacts, and architecture to piece together a more complete picture of this often-overlooked history.

The scale of Indigenous enslavement is only now beginning to be fully understood. From the earliest Spanish conquests through the 19th century, Native Americans were bought, sold, and exploited across the Americas. This wasn’t simply a consequence of conflict; it was a systematic practice deeply embedded in colonial economies. As historian James Rael-Gálvez, founder of Native Bound Unbound, explained, recovering this history requires engaging with challenging materials – prejudiced language and depictions of violence found in historical records – with care, respect, and critical awareness.

Historical records reveal the extensive involvement of prominent figures in the enslavement of Indigenous people. Christopher Columbus himself sold hundreds of Indigenous people into slavery in Europe, setting a precedent for future exploitation. Hernán Cortés, the conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire, reportedly owned hundreds of enslaved Indigenous people, more than anyone else in Mexico. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, a significant uprising in which Indigenous people destroyed missions and churches, was, in part, a rebellion against the widespread enslavement of Pueblo Indians.

The interconnectedness of African and Indigenous slavery is also coming into sharper focus. Researchers at Native Bound Unbound have uncovered instances of African and Indigenous slaves working side-by-side in Latin American mines as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Marriage records from around Mexico City from the sixteenth century show unions between enslaved Indigenous people and enslaved Africans. Even in the United States, Boston newspapers in the early nineteenth century announced the escapes of both Indigenous and African slaves.

The stories of individuals caught in this system are beginning to emerge. Spence Johnson, a Black-presenting Choctaw man, was captured in Oklahoma and sold into slavery in Louisiana after the Civil War. He eventually found freedom and spent the rest of his life in Waco, Texas. His story, uncovered by Native Bound Unbound researchers, highlights the complex intersections of race and enslavement in American history.

The work of Native Bound Unbound and other scholars is challenging conventional understandings of slavery and prompting a more inclusive and accurate portrayal of the past. As Philip Deloria, a historian at Harvard, noted, it has been difficult to expand the narrative of Indigenous enslavement despite a recent boom in scholarship on the topic. Deloria explained that when people think of slavery, they often picture white columns and plantations in the Southeast, focusing on African American slavery.

Julio Rojas Rodríguez, a doctoral candidate at El Colegio de México who works for Native Bound Unbound, points to figures like Francisco Martí y Torrens, a Cuban slave trader who purchased slaves from both Africa and Mexico, as evidence that African and Indigenous enslavement were part of the same larger story – the story of slavery, the slave trade, and the subsequent transition to new forms of coercive labor.

Rael-Gálvez emphasizes that this is just the beginning. “We have only just begun work that will extend across generations,” he said. Recovering this history is not simply an academic exercise; it is a crucial step towards decolonizing our understanding of the past and acknowledging the full scope of human suffering caused by slavery in the Americas.