Am I right to think is information is false?

I was reading a Wikipedia article on slave codes in various countries.According to the article,many slave-holding countries had actually laws that required that slaves had to remain barefoot at all times.The idea was that wearing footwear was a prime mark of distinction of a free citizen and that to be barefoot was to mark an individual as an unfree person-in other words,a slave.Therefore,a slave had to be kept barefoot at abousoutley all times,with no exceptions allowed.I know that Wikipedia is not always the most realible scource of information,and this struck me as being unlikely,mainly because It'd be very impractical.Of course,being a slave in most cases involved doing all sorts of dangerous and physically demanding menial work,often while walking over rough and hazardous terrain.A slave would have to possess some kind of footwear simply to protect themselves.Am I right?

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hartfire

When I was nine, my parents took me to Fiji on holiday.
Everywhere outside the main towns, the Filians went barefoot.
They had calluses half-an-inch thick on the soles of their feet.

based on archeological evidence, our earliest hunter-gatherer ancestors took a long time to invent shoes. They too would have had ultra-thick calluses on their soles.

I'd expect that idea of the symbolism of shoes would have quickly developed. But a slave who successfully escaped into free territory
could soon acquire or make shoes, and within six months or so the calluses would slough off.

4meAndyou · F

I just scanned a Wikipedia article about slave codes that were enacted in the Americas, France, and Spain, and there was nothing about shoes.

Slave were required to wear tags. AND...
". In 1680, Virginia passed Act X, which prohibited slaves from carrying weapons, leaving their owner's plantation without a certificate, or raising a hand against "Christians". "

Makes you think, doesn't it? Why does our government wish us to give up our weapons?

lever2000 · 46-50, M

I know that slaves were often required to go barefoot including in the Roman Empire, but whether it was an actual law or just custom that was enforced by those who owned the slaves, Im not sure.
To have to be always showing your bare feet while everyone else had shoes on was considered embarrassing and degrading.

ElwoodBlues · M

In recent years, every claim in Wikipedia has needed a supporting reference. If there's no reference for this claim, then it's definitely suspect. If there is a reference, perhaps you could check it out.

SatyrService · M

@ElwoodBlues most do seem to have attributions, and I follow thru

SStarfish ·

Why are you reading that stuff anyway?

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