Chapters 18 and 19 Summary and Analysis

Leopold's web of financial arrangements took several decades to fully sort out. After the transfer of administration, conditions in the Congo remained largely unchanged for several years. Morel and others kept up a constant media attack on atrocities, however, and over the next decade conditions slowly improved. As rubber tree plantations began to produce around the world, the demand for wild rubber dropped until it became unprofitable to harvest, even by slave labor—this probably had as much to do with improving conditions in the Congo as anything else.

The chapter provides additional biographical details about some individuals mentioned in the text. Kowalsky died early in life; Alice Harris and her husband organized a center for human rights, which has persisted until the present. Sheppard spoke with Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. For the cause...