A slave woman’s truthful self-identification defied the traders’ marriage subterfuge in court.

Evidence

Zanüba answered very clearly the questions about her actual position in this whole affair. In his own defense, one of the traders had claimed Zanüba was not his slave but his wife. Zanüba countered, in her own testimony, “I am not his wife, and I am not his freed slave. I am a slave he brought here to be sold for money.”All the papers quoted verbatim this startling declaration of identity, this clear assertion by a slave of being a slave, but one accompa- nied by no claim of connection, or belonging, to any master. She had refused to go along with the subterfuge of his claim of marriage. She thus indicted the traders, but her assertion still kept her strangely unsituated. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 697 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

When these people have slaves with them, before boarding the ship, they obtain from the Court of Mecca certificates stating that the slave was liberated by her master, or better yet, though less often, they obtain deeds from the aforesaid Court stating that they are legally married to the slave. These documents may have been granted in good faith by the religious authorities[,] but in general these authorities are aware of the abusive ends to which these documents are put, and only dispense them after being compensated. As for the slaves, they are thoroughly instructed in what they are to say, and they are made to believe that the Egyptian authorities have no other goal in coming to see them except to seize and torture them. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 704 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• A Sudanese slave woman openly declared her own enslavement in an Egyptian court (similarity 0.88)
• A Sudanese woman’s claim of Islamic identity challenged the legality of her enslavement. (similarity 0.82)
• Mecca courts issued fraudulent marriage and manumission certificates to conceal slave transport (similarity 0.81)
• A Sudanese slave woman’s testimony questioned the very legality of her enslavement (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• A Sudanese slave woman openly declared her own enslavement in an Egyptian court #exemplifies (0.85) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 697
• Meccan religious courts issued forged marriage and freedom documents to slave traders #complicates (0.55) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 704