Published in The Liberator’s “Juvenile Department,” a 1833 column was part of a series written to teach children about moral and social issues—especially the injustice of slavery.
Presented as a conversation between Aunt Margery and her young listeners, the “Fifth Evening” uses simple dialogue to explain how slavery began in the Americas and why it was wrong.
This column offered 19th-century children a counter-narrative to traditional history, framing Columbus’s “discovery” not as glory, but as the beginning of centuries of human bondage.
Christopher Columbus and the Start of Enslavement Explained in Four Points
- Setting the Stage: How It All Began Aunt Margery begins by explaining the era of exploration, describing how European powers sought wealth and land, which set the stage for Columbus’s arrival in the Americas and the exploitation that followed.
- Christopher Columbus and the Enslavement of Indigenous Peoples: When Columbus reached the Americas, Europeans enslaved the Indigenous people of the islands, forcing them to mine gold and labor under brutal conditions that led to countless deaths.
- The Shift to African Slavery: With so many Indigenous people killed, Europeans began bringing Africans to replace them as enslaved laborers. The story connects this directly to the rise of the transatlantic slave trade.
- A Moral Reflection for Children: The piece ends with Aunt Margery urging young readers to think about the suffering caused by slavery and to recognize it as deeply unjust—a message meant to plant early abolitionist values in children’s hearts.
More Insight on Christopher Columbus and the Americas
Below are additional articles offering firsthand and historical perspectives that challenge the idea of Columbus “discovering” an unoccupied land. While some pieces reflect the glorified view common in their time, reading them closely reveals clear evidence that the Americas were already home to established and thriving Indigenous civilizations.
Together, they offer a fuller, more accurate picture of what Columbus actually encountered—and the lasting consequences that followed.
“From Bartram’s Travels” — Aurora General Advertiser (August 31, 1792)
An excerpt from Bartram’s Travels (1792) describing the culture, hospitality, and daily life of the Creek people, followed by a brief account portraying Christopher Columbus as a determined explorer whose voyage revealed the Americas to Europeans.
“Extract from a Chaplain on Board of His Majesty’s Ships” Newcastle Weekly Courant (Nov 29, 1740)
A 1740 letter from a British naval chaplain in the West Indies reporting wartime events, including Indigenous descendants near Carpenter’s River who still fought the Spanish in revenge for the mass killings committed by Columbus and his men generations earlier.
“This Day (in History)” The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (December 19, 1767)
An advertisement from 1767 promoting The World Displayed, a monthly collection of travel writings featuring stories and engravings of Christopher Columbus—depicting his voyages, conquests, and violent encounters with Indigenous peoples—reflecting how his expeditions were still celebrated as heroic exploration in 18th-century Britain.
“Account of Christopher Columbus” Aurora General Advertiser (September 1, 1792)
A biographical account tracing Columbus’s later voyages and downfall, portraying him as a brave but tragic figure while noting how his expeditions led to the enslavement and suffering of Indigenous peoples—evidence that the lands he reached were already inhabited, not “discovered.”
