White Cargo

This history book White Cargo by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh was certainly an eye-opener. Sub-titled The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America, it tells how Britain colonised the Americas with its unwanted people, including criminals, former soldiers, rebels, and street kids. Some went voluntarily but gave away their freedom in return for promises that were mostly never kept, or they died before they could receive their "reward". Ruthless entrepreneurs made fortunes out of human misery. Children were "rounded up" and confined before being shipped out and if found by their parents, they could not retrieve them. This began in the early 17th century, long before the African slave trade. Later, when the Africans began to be traded, white and black slaves worked and lived side by side. This little known and shocking history shows how America was really established. 4/5