History on Fire
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Mini-Episode 39: Slavery and Its Apologists
🕑 Added 2025-09-07 18:41:39 +0000 UTC“Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?” from the movie The Third Man
In some quarters these days, there’s a tendency to want to gloss over slavery. The reasons vary (racism, misguided nationalism, contrarianism, etc.) but the point they all make is that slavery wasn’t that bad. And even if it was, we should stop talking about it. Against these wishes, today I’ll tell you about the 1781 Zong Massacre: a case in which an insurance policy led to the deaths of dozens of enslaved Africans thrown into shark-infested water in order to claim them as ‘lost cargo.’
Comments
History on Fire
thank you!
Greg Hunter
I was reading the NYT opinion page this morning and I thought of this episode. While the writer used that insurance trial to launch into a more detailed view of the slave trade, I appreciated your take on this subject. I read most of comments and no one alluded to the fact that these atrocities would not be known were it not for a trial based on a business transaction. Here is a gift link if you are interested or so inclined. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/opinion/slavery-history-zorg-story.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1k8.ZLJx.my3h3NDhuDGI&smid=url-share
AdiBM
The GOAT, Dan Carlin, made an episode on this topic : Hardcore History Ep68 – (BLITZ) Human Resources https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f76v9vkoiNU
Francis Lundh
Like this one! A common duty to debunk junk - history a battle ground for so many extremists now
Jesus Renteria
Bravo, I love how you tie a story back together with an epic ending. Especially when you tackle conversations such as this one and what monsters humans can be. And Mr. Alexander Von Sternberg you’re the man as well, I love your work too.
