Overcoming Slavery's Effects


If slavery didn't exist in some countries today, or if American society had fully overcome its effects, this research might make fascinating history, but be of little import for current ethics or for religious and public policy. Past slavery continues to cast a long shadow, and within every generation the impulse to enslave appears to hover just below the surface.

The Feminist Sexual Ethics Project is helping religious communities to move beyond slave-holding values and to create ethics and social structures based on freedom and dignity.

Confederate currency often included idealized depictions of slave life. John Jones' painting "Slave Mother and Child" (see The Bible and Slavery) is based on the central illustration on this two dollar note.

Content by Bernadette Brooten

Director, Feminist Sexual Ethics Project