Slavery existed — and continues to exist — even after Juneteenth (June 19, 1865). The Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery was not ratified until December 1865, and thus, slavery continued to exist in some union states like Kentucky and Delaware until December 1865. Native American tribes in Oklahoma continued to hold black slaves even into the subsequent year. (The Emancipation Proclamation only abolished slavery in areas that were in a state of rebellion, not states that remained loyal to the Union but allowed slavery, like Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, and Delaware. On Juneteenth, the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced in Texas, which had seceded from the Union.).
Even today, slavery continues to exist, notes a website:
On June 19, 1865, a Union general proclaimed that slaves in Texas were free. The anniversary of that day, known as “Juneteenth,” is now a federal holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States. It was also a significant milestone in the global movement towards universal emancipation.
While we don’t know exactly when slavery began, it appeared in virtually every civilization, including in Sumer, ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, India, China, the Middle East, pre-colonial Africa, and the pre-Columbian Americas. However, in the 18th century, a strong abolitionist movement began to form in Great Britain and beyond. Public opinion started to shift against slavery while industrialization made it increasingly economically obsolete. International pressure for abolition mounted, first from the British Empire and later from international bodies like the League of Nations. Today, slavery is officially outlawed in every country.
Unfortunately, slavery has not yet been eliminated. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are 28 million slaves in the world today, or 50 million if you include forced marriages. These are heart-wrenching numbers, but it’s important to note that the ILO uses a very broad definition of slavery, which includes people compelled to work because their employer is withholding their wages or because they have no viable alternative. It cannot, therefore, be compared to the brutal chattel slavery common in pre-modern societies.
The ILO figure for forced marriages may be low. Marriage by abduction is common in places like Kygyzstan (a country in Central Asia that used to be part of the Soviet Union) and was common until recently in much of rural Ethiopia (marriage by abduction was practiced among the Oromo, the most numerous ethic group in Ethiopia). Most Kyrgyz women who married through abduction do not view themselves as slaves, or act like slaves. The situation for many women in rural Ethiopia was very grim.
Bride kidnapping is common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caucasus and Central Asia. In rural Kyrgyzstan, where over 60% of the country’s population lives, surveys suggests 1 in 3 marriages begins with a kidnapping.
There, bride kidnapping is known as “ala kachuu,” which translates as “to take and run away.” It became illegal in 1994, but the practice continues today, especially in rural areas….bride kidnapping may push young women to leave their rural communities to avoid forced marriage.
Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country of 6.5 million, is one of the world’s epicenters of marriage by abduction.
A typical bride kidnapping occurs in a public place. A group of young men locates the young woman that one has chosen for his wife – whom he may know, but perhaps not well – and carries her, screaming and struggling, into a waiting car.
The kidnapping victim is taken to the groom’s family home, where the women of the family attempt to talk her into consenting to the marriage. At this stage, some victims are rescued by their father or other male relatives. More often, though, having been kidnapped is so shameful that the victim or her family agrees to marriage rather than risk the stigma of being a “used” woman.
Sometimes, grooms use rape or other physical violence to coerce women to consent to marriage – though that’s not the norm.
Many Kyrgyz people, especially those in older generations, still see bride kidnapping as a harmless tradition, according to our interviews.
“It’s a very old custom,” a 60-year-old woman told us. “Even I was married that way, and I’m happy with my family life. My husband never beat me, and everything turned out well.”
People younger than 50 are more likely to reject “ala kachuu,” our research shows, especially when the couple are complete strangers. But they also believe that bride kidnapping is a thing of the past, and that such events today are “pretend” – staged kidnappings.
Several Kyrgyz women confirmed for us that they had agreed to be kidnapped before marriage, to uphold a tradition they see as romantic.
But some kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan are clearly nonconsensual. Since 2018 at least two women, Aizada Kanatbekova and Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy, were killed by their kidnappers when they attempted to resist the marriage.
