From 1667 until 1954, Suriname was a Dutch colony. For ages, the Dutch profited greatly from the labor of the enslaved Afro-Surinamese people. Transatlantic slave trade brought their ancestors from Africa to South America between 1525 and 1867. Most Afro-Surinamese laborers were born into slavery and were the ‘property’ of the owner of the plantation they were born on. Life on the plantations was cruel and the Dutch were known for their harsh treatment of enslaved people than any other European colonial power. In 1862, the Dutch Parliament decided to abolish slavery on 1 July 1863. The plantation owners and the government feared that freed enslaved people would leave and that the plantations would be left without laborers. The Dutch government solved this problem by instituting a State Supervision of the freed enslaved which meant that all formerly enslaved people had to perform compulsory wage labor for ten years on a plantation of their choice. This is the reason why many historians recognize the year ‘1873’ as the year of the actual abolishment of slavery. A different form of slavery however pursued, namely the ‘indentured servitude’ in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. ‘Indentured servitude’ was a system of unfree labor to ensure that plantation owners and the colonial government had enough laborers to make a profit. In the years between 1853 and 1939, approximately 74,000 indentured laborers were transported to Suriname. Between 1873 and 1916, a total of 34,000 Hindustani indentured workers and a comparable number of Javanese of 33,000, arrived in Suriname between 1890 and 1939. While a small number of the indentured workers left Suriname after the end of their contract duration of five years, most of the indentured workers decided to stay in Suriname. Suriname was declared an independent republic on 25 November 1975. After independence, Surinamese people were given the choice of retaining Dutch nationality and many of them migrated and settled in the Netherlands, especially in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup and the ‘Decembermoorden’ (December murders) in 1982. Today, different ethnicities, religions, and cultures live in Suriname such as Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindustani, Creoles, Marrons, natives, Javanese, and Chinese.

The book, We Slaves of Suriname, is written by Anton de Kom and published in 1934. It offers a political commentary on the history of Suriname, specifically the colonial past. One of the reasons why De Kom wrote this book was to demonstrate that slavery, which was officially abolished in 1863 (in reality in 1873), was still practiced in the 1930s. De Kom is considered one of the pioneers of Surinamese historiography, and his book combines historiography with personal moral judgments upon the Dutch colonial powers. Little had been written about the history of Suriname from the perspective of the enslaved Creole-Surinamese community. By addressing the white reader directly, De Kom’s book arouses the self-respect of the Surinamese, criticizes the Dutch Colonial rule, and shows the ingenuity of its self-proclaimed “peaceful” intentions during the times of slavery.

- Roan

For me, as a son of a Surinamese father and a Dutch mother, reading this book fueled a process of self-reflection. My father, Ricky “Rick” de Lisle, was born in Paramaribo in 1968 and raised by his mother and his stepfather; he never knew his biological father. My father remembers little about his childhood, or at least, he never really talks about it. As a result of the Surinamese independence in 1975, many Surinamese people migrated to the Netherlands and so did my father in 1976 together with his parents and three sisters. Once they arrived in the new country, my father’s stepfather left the family and my father and his sisters were raised by their mother alone.

My own childhood differs completely from my father’s. I was born in Assendelft in 1997, never had to migrate to another country, and had a happy childhood with my parents in my hometown. It did strike me that my father never spoke his mother tongue, Surinamese, at home. I asked him several times to teach me the Surinamese language, but I always received the same answer: “We live in the Netherlands, so why should I?” I used to be satisfied with this answer, but now that I am older, my father’s reaction symbolizes his silence and how he deals with his Surinamese heritage. In Surinamese culture, you often talk about the good things in life. Family disputes are usually swept under the carpet, and it is out of line to ask great aunts or grandparents about their painful and traumatic experiences of the past. I learned about the Surinamese colonial history in school from white teachers or from books written by white academics. Personally, I always struggled with this knowledge because no matter how well-written a book was, or how passionately my teachers taught history, I never felt like they truly comprehended my culture. In fact, I did not comprehend it myself. However, this changed after reading De Kom’s work because he was the first Surinamese author who explained, from within, the Dutch colonial rule’s gruesome episodes as well as the traumatic experiences of Surinamese history, many of which unfortunately continue to exist in our present. De Kom’s book taught me the importance of knowing your own cultural roots to attain a better understanding of your identity. I am eternally grateful for De Kom’s book, research, and wise words that "No people can reach full maturity as long as it remains burdened with an inherited sense of inferiority."

- Roan