Ask a Slave!

In Why Nations Fail, Acemoglu and Robinson delineate between extractive and inclusive institutions in the politics and economics. Inclusive institutions provide a broad base of access to the means of acquiring wealth and power, while extractive institutions attempt to bolster one segment of society in these respects at the expense of others. In Chapter One, the authors describe how Spanish colonialists set up varying types of slavery in the New World - from the localized encomienda to the massive forced labor camp that was the Potosi mita. And while the authors view North American colonists as fostering a more inclusive network of institutions, it's undeniable that there was one widespread and extractive process in the English colonies - African slavery.

In the last few weeks, an African-American actress named Azie Dungey has been producing a new comedy webseries called "Ask a Slave." The gist of the series is to relate the most idiotic questions Ms. Dungey was asked when she worked at Mount Vernon in a historical re-enactment. However, the inspiration for her work is most interesting: she became powerfully aware of the racial divisions still undergirding our society when she was employed there. While slavery may be gone, racism still exists - giving weight to Acemaglu and Robinson's theory of persistence.