# Limits of emancipation  
The abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the Americas and Africa was a long and complex social and economic process. The legal end of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery was possible through the actions of enslaved men and women who challenged their legal status by organizing rebellions and massive flights, and who, along with other social actors, led campaigns for the passage of anti-slavery legislation. Beyond the legal prohibition of slavery, both in the Americas and Africa bondspeople were protagonists in their emancipation. Still, in most regions of the Americas and to some extent in some regions of Africa, former slave owners obtained financial compensation to cover the loss of their enslaved property, whereas former enslaved persons never obtained financial or material reparations for slavery. In the period that followed the abolition of slavery in the Americas, freed people continued facing economic and social exclusion. Likewise, during European colonial rule in Africa, formerly enslaved persons were submitted to inhumane forms of labour exploitation that very often were associated with slavery. Today, despite the illegality of slavery, working conditions analogous to slave labour remain a reality in the Americas and Africa.