cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/58385047
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_McCrear
Although the United States banned the importation of slaves in 1808, the practice was still carried out illegally. The last known slave ship was the Clotilda, which smuggled roughly 110 Yoruba captives from Dahomey to Alabama in 1860.
The first commercial flight from the US to Britain took place in 1939. By that point, there were already regular flights from Britain to various parts of Africa, including Lagos (which is predominantly Yoruba). The last Yoruba survivor of the Clotilda, Matilda McCrear, passed away in 1940.
Ok, yeah, slavery still exists and that’s bad, and it’s not like slavery disappeared worldwide just because chattel slavery was made illegal in the US, but it’s still pretty important to learn about the specific type of slavery that is relevant to this article. Why not “yes and” instead of “what about”?