Blacks Were Enslaved Well into the 1960s

This is not north Africa,, this is the USA, land of the free (?)

And they aren’t slaves here

Prison is not slavery. Neither is/was sharecropping. It was unfair, but tons of things in life are unfair.

No, its not slavery. By said argument, I do not own the farm I work on, but I need to work to pay my bills. If that's "the same thing" then I - being white - would be? A slave?

Can't leave is the key here.

Context though. When you apply the definition "making me do something I didn't want to do" to the situation, then everything becomes "slavery." Everything can't be slavery. Slavery can't be everything. Two excellent books which explain African life, trials and tribulations in great detail are:

End Of Empire - by Brian Lapping. This book goes into every nation that Britain conquered when acquiring it's empire. How it was conquered, why it was conquered, when it was conquered and what happened to its people.

The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe And Power In The Heart Of Africa - by Bill Berkeley. Alex Haley was disturbed upon going to Africa and discovering that "fellow blacks" wanted nothing to do with him. "No - we're not fellow blacks," quoted several of his guides.