Were the Hebrews slaves in Egypt?

  There is no evidence whatsoever that the Jews were ever enslaved in Egypt. Yes, there's the story contained within the bible itself, but that's not a remotely historical source. I'm talking about real proof; archeological evidence, state records and primary sources. Of these, nothing exists.

   It is hard to believe that 600,000 families (which would mean about two million people) crossed the entire Sinai without leaving one shard of pottery with Hebrew writing on it. It is remarkable that Egyptian records make no mention of the sudden migration of what would have been nearly a quarter of their population, nor has any evidence been found for any of the expected effects of such an exodus; such as economic downturn or labor shortages. Furthermore, there is no evidence in Israel that shows a sudden influx of people from another culture at that time. No rapid departure from traditional pottery has been seen, no record or story of a surge in population.

  In fact, there's absolutely no more evidence to suggest that the story is true than there is in support of any of the Arab world's conspiracy theories and tall tales about Jews. So remind those who may forget that there is no ancient animosity between Israelites and Egyptians.

New evidence points to the Hebrew being a border state for the Egyptians. That is they provided security and paid taxes in return for the land and participation in the Egyptian state. Many Hebrews held high positions in Egyptian government. The Hebrew apparently held too much influence however and Native Egyptians became jealous. This caused a clamp down on the Hebrew which the Hebrew felt like they were being treated like slaves. Thus the split between Hebrew and Egyptian and fleeing the lands of Egypt as described in Exodus.

As for slaves in the literal sense. Probably not, at least not on a a cultural level. It is likely that a number of Hebrew were literally enslaved toward the end for unjust and trumped up reasons.

The Egyptians did use slaves. Some of these were Hebrew. There is archaeological evidence of this such as early Hebrew etchings in the mines. There is also archaeological evidence that Hebrews held high positions, something an enslaved people could not accomplish.  So one has to conclude a sort of complex relationship with the Egyptians, but not the typical impression we get from the Bible. The English translations do a really poor job with Exodus. The translators seem to have intentionally softened and biased toward the Hebrew according to modern Western values. If you look at a more literal translation of a story already told with a bias for the Hebrew, you'll see a rather different and more realistic story.  I suggest getting an Ancient Hebrew concordex and  reading Exodus the way it was written rather than the rather badly done Latin and even worse English translations.

Yes for several hundred years it is all that they knew.  It was not until Moses led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the land which God had promised them that they became a free people. It was very scary for them at first, having always served the Egyptians they also were always cared for as far as where they slept what they ate. They knew what to do because they were told what to do. Once they left Egypt many of them cursed God and cursed Moses thinking they had been led into the desert to starve to death as they did not yet trust that God would provide for them.