Slavery operated in the very first civilizations on our planet eg Sumer in Mesopotamia, 5,500 years ago!!! Read Hammurabai’s Code about 1860BC, where slavery was clearly a well-established cultural institution.
Slavery came about with the development of agriculture about 10,000 BC, since it required a fit, and ultimately, profitable labour force. Many of the early slaves were captives of war.
Native African rulers, or warlords, collaborated with white European and Arab slave traders from the seventh century AD onwards.
The Portuguese and Dutch became involved from the 1400’s.
British merchants became involved in the 1700’s before it was outlawed and the Royal Navy actively worked to end the trade a hundred years later.
Hammurabi’s Code c 1860 BCAfrican slaves in Ancient EgyptMesopotamia image from 3000 BCAncient Babylon image of slaves
Once more, before I move on and set my sights ahead, in loneliness I lift my hands up to you, you to whom I flee, to whom I, in the deepmost depth of my heart, solemnly consecrated altars so that ever your voice may summon me again.
Deeply graved into those altars glows the phrase: To The Unknown God. I am his, although I have, until now, also lingered amid the unholy mob; I am his – and I feel the snares that pull me down in the struggle and, if I would flee, compel me yet into his service.
I want to know you, Unknown One, Who reaches deep into my soul, Who roams through my life like a storm – You Unfathomable One, akin to me! I want to know you, even serve you.
In 1989 she was still angry over missing out on royalties for her 1958 hit Fever. “I wrote special lyrics for Fever and I wasn’t copyrighted. I advise all young songwriters, copyright your song,” she said.
As a lyricist, Lee gained global fame for her contributions to Disney’s 1955 film Lady and the Tramp, with songs such as It’s a Good Day, I Love Being Here with You and I’m Gonna Go Fishin’, the latter co-composed with Duke Ellington. She was asked by Walt Disney to voice several characters, including Darling, the Siamese cats Si and Am and a stray Pekingese called Peg. Lee also co-wrote the hit song He’s a Tramp with Sonny Burke. In April 2020, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers initiated the Peggy Lee Songwriter Award in her honour.
Disney paid Lee $3,500 for her work but she decided to take legal action when no money was forthcoming when the film became a bestselling video release three decades later. In 1991, she sued the corporation for unpaid royalties, citing a clause in her original contract about transcription royalties for radio productions. The LA Times, reporting on her David and Goliath battle, said Lee sat quietly near the jury box in a wheelchair, a consequence of a fall in which she had broken her pelvis. “I’ve almost got a law degree out of reading all the legal papers,” she joked. Lee won the case and was awarded $2.3million.
It happens like this: a kind of lethargy, In my ears the sound of a clock chiming, Thunder fading in the distance. Trapped, unrecognizable voices Wail and cry out to me: the closing in Of some mysterious circle. But from this abyss of whispers and bells Rises a single all-conquering sound, Despite the forest’s surrounding Silence – hear grass growing, Hear the wood troll walking with his sack. And listen! The sound of words, Rhymes l their arrival, And I begin to understand: Lines simply taken down Appear on pages white as snow.
Anna Akhmatova
KÁROLY FERENCZY, THE WOMAN PAINTER, 1903, OIL ON CANVAS, 53.5″ X 51″.
Explaining his decision many years later, he said: “I had become far too detached from ordinary people and I did not like it. Retiring was my only escape.”
The Fugitive Stag 