Summary Of Racism And Slavery In King Leopold's Ghost?

Racism and slavery have always been a part of the world’s history, but sometimes people become ignorant to the severity of such mistreatment. This is proven in Adam Hochschild’s book King Leopold’s Ghost. People in Congo, Africa suffered many years of mistreatment brought on by King Leopold the second. King Leopold took what was theirs and made it his own by force and abuse. Eventually these people rightfully revolted in attempt to reclaim what is theirs and demand better treatment. The beginning of this brutality started in 1897 when King Leopold of Belgium strived for more land and prosperity. He considered Congo to be “The magnificent African Cake.” He referencing Congo like this is understandable because Congo was three times bigger than the state of Texas, had a beautiful river that would assist in trade and had an abundance of

Some say that they could actually see the bloody bodies. The sickening discoveries started out with a man named George Washington Williams. He arrived to Congo by the Congo River. When he landed he witnessed the brutality Leopold was implementing on the Africans. When he went back home he wrote about his experience in a newspaper. He stated that Leopold and his people did not know the native language and that the Africans worked like slaves. He accused Leopold of crimes against humans. He went back to Belgium and signed a contract to send skilled black artisans to work in Congo. Later he went back to Congo to check on the conditions but Leopold stopped his questioning his intentions. Williams was eventually able to spend six months in Congo. After his trip he went back and charged Leopold with various crimes and demanded America do something about it because sanctioned Leopold’s state. Williams had a history of lying so the authorities did not do much about the abuse. Eventually Williams came down with tuberculous and died. Leopold was furious with his