ABSTRACT
The controversial nature of slavery, and the negative image it attracts, makes it difficult to include in any reasoned account of society. Manumission allows the slave to feel that slavery is right, that the system is judicious and just, and that, under religious blessing, a rigorous thoughtfulness has gone into its establishment. Slavery still continued among the Jakhanke clerics, who had come to attach a special ritual and social significance to owning slaves. For such clerics slavery was justified by social or religious arguments rather than by race, since slaves were the same race as their clerical masters. The origin of slavery is obscure and the date for its appearance in Africa uncertain. It would seem, however, that at a very early date slaves formed an important item of tribute payment imposed by political rulers on their vassals or subordinates.
