History books usually stick to a very specific script when they talk about the horrors of the past. You know the one. It starts in 1619, focuses heavily on the Trans-Atlantic trade, and mostly stays on the East Coast or in the Deep South. But that's only half the story. Honestly, it might even be less than half. When Andrés Reséndez published The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, he basically flipped the script on what we thought we knew about the settling of the West and the true scale of human bondage in the Americas.
It wasn't just a few isolated incidents. We’re talking about a massive, sprawling system of forced labor that predated the arrival of African slaves and lasted long after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Why The Other Slavery is Harder to Track
One of the biggest hurdles Reséndez points out is that this "other" slavery was often illegal. That sounds like a good thing, right? Not really. Because the Spanish Crown officially banned the enslavement of Indigenous people as early as the 1500s—thanks in part to the lobbying of Bartolomé de las Casas—owners got creative. They didn't call them "slaves." They used words like encomienda, repartimiento, and peonage.
It was a legal shell game.
Because it was technically illicit, there aren't many clean manifests or bills of sale like you find with the African slave trade. Owners hid their workers behind debt or "guardianship" programs. This makes the work of historians like Reséndez incredibly difficult. He had to dig through baptismal records and court cases to find the names of the "missing" people. He estimates that between 2.5 and 5 million Indigenous people were enslaved in the Americas between the arrival of Columbus and the beginning of the 20th century. That is a staggering number. It’s a number that demands we change how we talk about the development of the "New World."
The Silver Mines and the Meat Grinder
If you want to understand the engine behind this system, you have to look at the silver mines of Zacatecas and Potosí. Silver was the oil of the 16th century. The Spanish Empire was obsessed with it. But mining silver in the high altitudes of the Andes or the rugged terrain of Northern Mexico is backbreaking, deadly work.
They needed bodies.
When the local populations were decimated by disease—which we’ve all heard about—the demand for labor didn't just disappear. It intensified. Reséndez details how the Spanish would launch "slaving raids" into the interior of the continent, grabbing people from thousands of miles away to feed the mines. It was basically a meat grinder. The life expectancy for someone forced into the Potosí mines was horrific. But because there were always more people to "recruit" from the north or the south, the system kept humming along.
It Wasn't Just the Spanish
It’s easy to point the finger at the Conquistadors and call it a Spanish problem. That’s a mistake. One of the most uncomfortable truths in The Other Slavery is how deeply involved other groups were, including other Indigenous tribes and eventually American settlers.
The Comanches and Utes, for example, became incredibly powerful by mastering the horse and using that mobility to raid weaker neighbors. They didn't just raid for resources; they raided for captives. These captives were then traded to the Spanish, and later the Mexicans and Americans, for weapons, tools, and finished goods. It was a complex, multi-ethnic economy.
Then you have the American era.
When the United States took over California and the Southwest after the Mexican-American War, they didn't bring freedom. In many cases, they brought a new legal framework for the same old exploitation. The California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians in 1850 is a prime example. It allowed white settlers to "indenture" Indigenous children and "arrest" unemployed Indigenous adults, then auction off their labor to the highest bidder.
It was slavery by another name. Even while the North was fighting the South over the rights of Black Americans, the West was reinforcing a system of Indigenous bondage that looked eerily similar.
The Role of Debt Peonage
How do you keep someone enslaved when the law says you can't? You use debt. This is a tactic that Reséndez spends a lot of time on because it’s so subtle and effective.
An owner would "advance" a worker some supplies—maybe some corn, a pair of boots, or some tools. The cost of those items was always higher than what the worker could ever hope to earn. The debt would be passed down from father to son. You weren't a slave; you were just a "debtor" who wasn't allowed to leave the land until your balance was zero. Spoiler alert: it was never zero.
This system was so entrenched that even after the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865, debt peonage continued to flourish in places like New Mexico and Arizona. It took specific, additional legislation—and even then, a lot of foot-dragging by the federal government—to even begin to dismantle it.
The Demographics of Bondage
Interestingly, the "other" slavery looked different demographically than the Trans-Atlantic trade. While the African slave trade focused heavily on young men for heavy agricultural work, the Indigenous slave trade often prioritized women and children.
Why?
Women were "valuable" for domestic work and, quite frankly, for reproductive exploitation. Children were seen as more adaptable; they could be "hispanicized" or "Americanized" more easily than adults. They were often given new names, forced to speak a new language, and stripped of their original identity. This created a massive, displaced population of people who were neither fully integrated into the colonial society nor able to return to their original tribes. They were "Genízaros"—a specific class of people in places like New Mexico who were the descendants of these enslaved Indigenous groups.
Why This History Was Silenced
You might wonder why we aren't taught this in school. Part of it is the "Black Legend"—the idea that the Spanish were uniquely cruel, which allowed Anglo-historians to ignore their own complicity in similar systems. If you can blame everything on "Old World" Spain, you don't have to look at the American courts in 1860s Los Angeles.
Another reason is the sheer complexity. It’s much easier to teach a narrative with clear "sides." The reality Reséndez describes is messy. It involves shifting alliances, illegal markets, and a level of bureaucratic gaslighting that makes your head spin. But just because it's complicated doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Reséndez argues that this system was a "persistent feature" of the Americas. It wasn't an accident. It was a foundational part of the economy that built the modern world.
The Modern Impact of an Ancient System
We see the shadows of this today. When you look at the socio-economic disparities in the Southwest or the ongoing struggles for tribal sovereignty, you’re looking at the long tail of the other slavery. The wealth generated by those silver mines and those massive California ranches didn't just vanish. It concentrated in the hands of those who controlled the labor.
The trauma passed down through the "Genízaro" families or the tribes that were targeted for centuries of raids is real. It’s not just a "history book" problem. It's a "now" problem.
One of the most powerful points Reséndez makes is that slavery isn't a binary—it's a spectrum. It doesn't always look like chains and whips. Sometimes it looks like a contract you can't read, a debt you can't pay, or a "protection" law that strips you of your rights. By recognizing the patterns of the past, we can be better at spotting them when they reappear in the modern gig economy or in international labor trafficking.
Actionable Steps for Deeper Understanding
If this is the first time you’re really hearing about the scale of Indigenous enslavement, don’t just take one book's word for it. History is a process of triangulation.
- Read Primary Sources: Look into the 1850 California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. It’s public record and deeply disturbing.
- Explore Local Archives: If you live in the Southwest, check out church records or municipal archives from the 1700s and 1800s. The names of "servants" with no last names are everywhere.
- Support Indigenous Historians: Scholars like Brenda Child and Ned Blackhawk have done incredible work on how these systems affected specific regions and tribes.
- Visit Cultural Centers: Places like the Museum of Northern Arizona or the National Museum of the American Indian have exhibits that touch on these "hidden" labor histories.
- Analyze the Language: Start noticing when historical markers use euphemisms like "servant," "ward," or "laborer" when they actually mean someone who was held against their will.
The reality is that The Other Slavery isn't just a book title; it's a necessary lens. Without it, our understanding of the American story is incomplete. We have to be willing to look at the uncomfortable parts of the map if we ever want to understand how we actually got here. History isn't just about the winners writing the story; it's about the people who survived the story making sure the truth gets out.