Silent Chains: Family and Religious Systems as Foundations of Child Slavery and Labor in Ghana (1775-1956)

This study explores the often-overlooked role of children in slavery and forced labor in Ghana, emphasizing their exploitation in domestic service, agriculture, and other labor sectors. While existing scholarship often subsumes children within broader narratives of slavery, this research highlights their distinct experiences and their crucial role in sustaining Indigenous slavery. It argues that child slavery in Ghana was reinforced by familial practices such as the pawnship system, religious obligations like the trokosi system, and the reliance on family farms, where children served as producers and carriers of cocoa. Additionally, missionaries employed children as laborers in mission stations, schools, and farms. Even after the formal abolition of slavery, child labor persisted under the guise of "free labor," aligning with emerging capitalist structures. By examining the interplay between family systems, religious institutions, and colonial policies, this study investigates how these forces shaped the lives of enslaved and forced laboring children throughout the precolonial and colonial periods.