In many important ways, the history of sugar is a history of African slavery. Cane sugar was about as important to sparking the industrial revolution as fabric production. Sugar provided the economic impetus for the enslavement of a very important percentage of African slaves, not just in the United States but throughout the world of the European-colonized tropics and subtropics.

Today is Christmas Eve and we should all remember that the traditions many of us love – cakes, plum puddings, pies, and even eggnog would not have arisen without the labor of slaves who made industrial sugar production possible.

We should also remember that industrial sugar production took a horrific human toll. Sugar plantations were places where disease ran rampant and slaves lived short, miserable lives.