The Indian Slave Trade

On April 8, 1871, the Illustrated Police News included an article that narrated the testimony of an Indian mother who was kidnapped and held against her will by men who were employed to gather as many Indian woman as possible so that they can be shipped to Jamaica for further use. According to the article, the woman, who worked in a corn field had left the farm early due to lack of crops that day. On her way home, a man approached her and stated that he needed work on a corn farm and would pay her triple her usual wage. In hopes to make sure her child ate that night, she followed the man only to be locked up and held hostage, and was told that she would be shipped off to Jamaica and would be paid to work there. Despite her hardest efforts to escape, the woman was unable to free herself from her captives. With luck on her side, the woman's sister found her and helped her run away. After the women were able to reach out to their nephews employer, Rev. Mr. Williams, who was able to bring awareness to the issue and save the other young women who were taken captive. After interrogation, the young men claimed to have been employed by the government, however there was no clarification on whether it was the Indian or British government. When reading in between the lines, there is a brief mention of “Europeans” as being the man behind the curtain, but the lack of details cannot confirm this as a fact.

Similar to the previous article related to the country of India and the unfortunate occurrences there, the Indian citizen affected were once again saved by a member of the Church. Seeing this twice in a row server the implication that Indians would be suffering without the influence of Western Religion, and are a harm to themselves. It is in thanks to the great work that Britain is doing there that they are able to restore a sense of peace and humanity amongst themselves. The saving scene narrated by the Journalist implicates a tone of the white savior, a mentality that is rampant both now and then.