'Enslaved' Episode 2: 'Rationalization' shows origins of racism in Europe and how Africa's 'unfree' were sold
For a subject matter that is so intense, 'Enslaved' does risk losing its audience by hammering at the obvious. Instead of taking a 'show not tell' approach, we get long and sometimes tedious minutes with the journalist (and director of the series) Simcha Jacobovici standing around making very obvious commentary. His quest in European countries like Britain and Spain in this episode is devoted to how slavery was rationalized in Europe with countries like Portugal, England, France, Spain and the Dutch participating in the trade of human beings by classifying them as cargo and less precious than items like ivory tusks.
What he investigates is very interesting, like the artifacts found on slave ships like "manillas" -- metal bracelets, armlets made from copper, bronze, or brass made in the shape of open rings, often horse-shoe shaped. These metal bracelets, along with glass beads of varying sizes (made at virtually very little cost) was the fake currency used and exchanged for slaves, pepper, ivory and other valuables from Africa. One metal bracelet equaled one human being, while one big glass bead could be worth 100 slaves. Just saying these facts would be enough, but Jacobovici takes a head-shaking, righteous tone that starts to grate rather than actually reveal anything more. For instance, we never get to know why Africans accepted these forms of currency and what role or value these manillas had in their societies.
Then in Toledo, Spain, he gets the chance to sit with a professor and pour over ancient court documents and other legal papers that point to the origins of racism with the "purity of blood" laws that excluded anyone (namely Jews and Muslims), who couldn't show untainted blood up to four generations, from positions of power. Once this became standard practice, it was just a matter of time before the Pope himself gave his blessings to the slave trade by saying that "pagans" could be enslaved. And later, when these enslaved people were converted to Christianity, they were still 'impure' in terms of blood and thus could never be free. Again, we have Jacobovici stating the obvious and saying that a "bad idea" went very far. Instead of treating the audience as intelligent and capable of drawing conclusions, he indulges in a patronizing form of commentary that this series could do without.
In contrast, the sections with Samuel L Jackson and Afua Hirsch is much better handled as they tour one of the 30 slave forts dotting the coast of West Africa, located in Ghana. This is because, as Jackson puts it, Hirsch has "skin in the game" because one of her ancestors was Dutch, who had a baby with an unknown African woman, that led to her lineage.
The place, therefore, speaks to her personal history as she takes Jackson around the fort's key spots, from the church were the Europeans (from different countries depending on who captured the fort) hypocritically prayed in, while they were raping, torturing and enslaving Africans in the dungeons next door. We get a horrifying little nugget of information about how the Governor's bedroom had a trapdoor leading to the dungeon, where he could select a girl, woman or boy, who would then be brought to his bedroom, given a bath and then raped by him.
Hirsch also investigates the difficult but important truth of how Africans themselves were involved in selling their own community members -- for instance in the Ashanti tribe. She is told that in their rigid caste hierarchy, the Ashanti had the 'unfree' who despite their low status, did have the chance to marry into the family they were with, or own land, have families and birth children. In short, they had basic human rights. But when the Europeans came with gunpowder, guns, and ammunition, the Ashanti wanted to buy these goods to protect themselves. So they sold their unfree, along with other 'commodities' like ivory, to barter for firepower. This was the start of chattel slavery where human beings became the property of another human being based on the 'purity of their blood' and the color of their skin.
The third narrative prong of the episode is the divers trying to salvage a tusk from the oldest slave ship ever to be located in the English Channel. While an emotional trip and definitely a difficult dive, the too earnest approach starts to grate after a while. Again, this sequence could have been better told and structured with more details of the ship in question and the company "The Royal African" that owned the ship and possibly the number of such shipping and trading "companies" that existed at the time. Hopefully, the upcoming Episode 3, will be better structured, with a better, more tightly scripted narrative that doesn't dumb itself down, thinking viewers will be unable to follow the significance of what is being revealed.
'Enslaved' Episode 3 will air on September 28 on Epix at 10 pm ET.