Enslaved labor refers to forced work performed by individuals who were considered property rather than free workers. Enslaved people were owned by others and had no control over their own lives or wages.
Related terms
Underground Railroad: A network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved African Americans to escape to free states or Canada during the mid-nineteenth century.
Fugitive Slave Act: A law passed in 1850 that required all citizens to assist in capturing runaway slaves and denied escaped slaves any legal rights.
Emancipation Proclamation: A presidential proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 that declared all slaves in Confederate territory as legally free.