Teach the history of slavery for kids in an age-appropriate way, and help children learn about the Christian fight against slavery!
Image: Picture of the Burning of Roehampton Estate During the Baptist War,” Adolphe Duperly, 1833, Public Domain.
Slavery has been a big cultural topic lately, hasn’t it?
Sometimes we shy away from teaching about issues in history that are incredibly important because:
- They feel politically charged now.
- We don’t really know much about them.
- We’re not sure how to teach them through the lens of a biblical worldview.
- We can’t find good Christ-centered resources on the topic.
I can’t think of a topic in history that fits each of those bullet points better than slavery. Can you? And yet, in the late 1600s, only one person out of every 20 people on the planet was free. If your child is in a Sunday School class of 20 kids, imagine only one of those children not being enslaved.
How can we teach history honestly, without teaching our kids the history of slavery–and about the massive, Christian-led, world-wide fight to end it?
The History of Slavery for Kids
Slavery has been a consistent part of human history since the beginning of human civilization. God has also addressed slavery in his Word from the time of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Often, the arguments we hear in public about the Bible and slavery are offered on a false basis. Rather than understanding the context of Scripture, people argue that God was for slavery. In fact, he gave very direct commands against slavery, then–in the Book of the Covenant, which follows the Ten Commandments–he gave additional laws to constrain our sin. You can read more about what the Bible teaches about slavery here.
Over time, as ships began to traverse the earth, slavery changed. Rather than being debt- or war-based, slavery became racially based. And, rather than being a temporary condition, people were held in chattel slavery–held like cattle, with children of slaves “belonging” to the “owners” of those they enslaved.
Our children need to know what the Bible says about slavery, and they need to know what actually occurred in history. The most exciting story about the history of slavery is the fight to end it!
Teaching our kids about slavery from a biblical and historical perspective is no easy task. When I wrote Why Did Slavery End?, it was a major chore to find sources for my research that were accurate and that told the whole story. Until recently, the history of slavery, and the fight for abolition, have been largely ignored.
Why Did Slavery End? briefly tells the story of global slavery. Then, it explains–continent-by-continent–how God’s people banded together to bring freedom to all of God’s image bearers.
The abolitionist movement to end slavery was a fight to hold to Scriptural truths about who God created us to be and how we must love one another.
The Christian Fight Against Slavery
From 1688 to 1888 AD, abolitionists driven by the teachings from the Word of God worked to bring an end to global chattel slavery. They:
- Wrote essays, articles, and even children’s books, explaining the Scriptural laws against slavery.
- Petitioned governments and monarchs to emancipate all slaves.
- Spoke and wrote about how they, themselves, had been freed by God’s providential care in their lives.
- Sued slave owners, corporations in the slave ship industry, and those who harmed others, working to bring an end to chattel slavery by establishing legal precedents.
- Helped enslaved people they met to obtain freedom, sometimes through civil disobedience.
- Fought for the end of slavery.
It was primarily Christians, driven by their love for God and their neighbors, who spent their lives fighting to end chattel slavery. By the grace of God, they succeeded.
Why Did Slavery End? tells the story of the global fight to end slavery. Because of that fight, today 99 people out of every 100 are free. Praise God! Our children need to know and understand what caused global chattel slavery to end, and why we must never allow it to occur again.
The Who What Why series is the perfect way to teach your kids, ages 7-12, about the history of our faith!The History of Slavery and Theology for Kids
In a fun and engaging tone, the Christian theology and history book Why Did Slavery End? will take your kids through the story of abolitionism.
Why Did Slavery End? chapters:
- Introduction: The Freeing of God’s Image Bearers
- Chapter One: God Holds Back Sin
- Chapter Two: The Freeing of Europe and the Islands
- Chapter Three: Made in the Image of God
- Chapter Four: The Freeing of the Americas
- Chapter Five: The Secret Code for Family
- Chapter Six: The Freeing of Africa, and the Near and Far East
- Chapter Seven: The Justice of God
- Chapter Eight: The Freeing of the Whole World
- Timeline
Purchase Why Did Slavery End?
Learn more about the Who What Why series and get your FREE Abolition Lapbooks here.
Bible Resources for Your Kids
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Christian Biographies for Kids | Christian History for Kids | Theology for Kids
Christian History Matters for Our Kids.
History matters. Now, more than ever, we see how important it is for our children to know and understand history and the Bible.
Here’s why:
- God is the sovereign ruler of all things. It’s important for our kids to see his hand in the history of nations and in the lives of both peasants and kings.
- Christian history is the story of our family history. Our kids get to see how people who love Jesus follow him.
- Understanding history can help our kids learn historic and biblical theology. They learn what the Bible says and what that means for us. They also see when the study of Scripture has taken important turns that have changed the Church.
- Reading Christian biographies and history can be a wonderful way for kids to think outside their own time and culture. God’s Church spans centuries and includes people from every nation.
- Christian biographies help kids consider their own faith, walk with Jesus, and the impact their witness may one day have on others–and on history.
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