So what probably happened was that some Black activists were sitting around spitballing about how to get more traction for their position, and someone noted how much mileage Jews were getting out of "The Holocaust" - and OSU out of THE Ohio State University - and said "We need a 'the' thing." "The Enslavement" resonated, and off they went.

I don't mean this comment cynically; if the shoe didn't fit, it wouldn't be worn. The term works because it is accurate. There was an enslavement of Africans, just as there was a genocide of Jews. "Enslavement" may be a tad on the nose, as opposed to the metaphoric "Holocaust," but I think it does the job nicely.

OTOH, insisting that slaves be referred to as "enslaved people" is just a shibboleth and syllabification tax imposed on White people to see if they care enough to know the PC term and contrite enough to use it. The same is true of "African-American." I like that many Black talking heads on TV, of whom there are now a critical mass, have realized how much breath "African-American" wastes and have reverted to "Black" as their identifier of choice.