Many were, in effect, sold off to support the rest of their family. In several regions, that practice continues. Historically, childhood was not a time of innocence. Only the rise of capitalism allowed societies to become prosperous-and not just for the upper classes. Families became comfortable enough to allow their offspring an extended period of adolescence.
Today there are signs of a reverse.
Infidelity and unwed motherhood are dragging millions of children back towards those past brutalities. A team of American news reporters purchasing themselves two Sudanese slave boys touched off a more universal revulsion. The world's societies raise their children with an astonishing variety of attitudes. Some of them have much to teach Americans. And some are suffering, as with the spread of AIDS in Africa.