The account of African people in America starts with, and still conveys the legacy of, one of the most inhumane oppressions throughout US history, the establishment of slavery. African people were brought to America initially in 1619 (A History Of Slavery: 1619-1865. (n.d.)). At that time, slavery had not yet formed; the first Africans who were in America through the 1680s are believed to have been indentured servants. The earliest Africans were seen in the same light as indentured servants from Europe.
It was in 1661 in Virginia that the first slave law was passed. All people of a darker skin color were considered in a state of servitude and subservient to those of a lighter shin color. Not all people of African descendants were slaves, there were about a million African Americans who were labeled “free men”. Those who did not have the label of “free men” were slaves to wealthy people of European descent, and had to do whatever their “masters” or “owners” told them to do. By this time American society had created not only a new social group, which was “African American”, but also a new sociological issue, which was called slavery.
The ships could yet return to England. The Negro slave trade became one of the most important business enterprises of the seventeenth century. The monopoly of the French slave trade was at the first assigned to the French West India Company in 1664, but yet they transferred in 1673, to the Senegal Company. The Monopoly of the Dutch Slave trade was given to the Dutch West India Company, incorporated in 1621. In the early as the 15 century, England passed from raising sheep and producing wool, an agricultural activity, to manufacturing cloth.
The blacks embraced their life in the Chesapeake society and were treated exceptionally well. This more importantly made the lives of slaves last long enough to know and embrace their children and grandchildren. But this generation soon ended when Africanization set into play. Bacons rebellion stormed through the Chesapeake region and eventually took over Chesapeake society in 1676; they quickly enabled a slave code that singled out people of the African descent. Africanization includes Africans who were directly from Africa being brought to the new world as slaves.
Essay Question: How was the slave trade practised in Africa and Europe before c. 1550, in comparison to the Atlantic slave- trade after 1550? What were the main differences between the two periods in terms of their origins, motivations and effects on African society? “A man entirely at the disposition of another man! Open the bloody pages of our revolution, know mankind and judge the fate of the Negro slave.” Etienne Laurent Pierre Burnel, anti-slavery commissioner to the Mascareignes, 1796.1 The slave trade in Africa was one that easily predated the arrival of Europeans on the West Coast.2 The introduction of Islam saw the forced migration of African peoples in providing labor, domestic and military services within the country itself.3 While the trade in Africa before c. 1550 had little overall impact on African society, it set the scene for the harvesting and international shipment of slaves by Europeans after 1440 during the Atlantic slave trade. The arrival of the Portuguese and the growing demand for labor in the New World and islands of the Atlantic initiated the enslavement and transportation of Africans by boat to such destinations.4 The experience of the slave became extraordinarily different during such times, with many intense hardships endured, and as a result, an effect on African society that would last into the times of present day society.
To support his thesis, he pointed out that any lower social class was sent to do manual labor. Some however, were simply better and cheaper to have as slave laborers, such as the African Slaves. (Williams 10) Racism was simply a consequence of slavery so that people could justify the idea of employing and owning slaves. For many years, historians and sociologists have debated the relationship between racism and slavery. Some contend that slavery caused and perpetuated racism, while others argue that racism caused and perpetuated slavery.
It’s important to understand that slavery wasn’t because of racism but because the pursuit of profit. Slavery was by all definitions unpaid labor which helped build our new world (D’Souza, pg. 467). It’s not so much that race defined slavery relations, but that slavery defined race relations, “Racism developed and spread in America as an ideology to rationalize the enslavement and exploitation of black by a white master class” (D’Souza, pg. 467).
First off the first slaves came from Africa in 1619 which was brought to Virginia. Slavery was system in America that made it legal for whites to buy and own blacks and use them for labor. Slavery was a state to state thing there were many slave owners and famous slave owners were the Framers also known as the founding fathers. Something interesting about the founding fathers were they were hypocrites because most of them were against slavery when they owned slaves, for example George Washington had many slaves but he was against slavery. Another thing to know is that that in the south slaves were considered as three fifths of a person.
The Middle Massage was called “The Middle Passage,” because it was the second and longest part of a three part triangle trade that started from Africa and ended in North and South America, and the Caribbean. The first cargo leaving Europe contained brandy, firearms, gun powder and, iron. The first cargo was then taken to Africa Slave Coast where it was exchanged for human cargo or slaves. The capture and sale of African slaves and ending with them being forced to live in America. This journey took about six weeks, the slaves had both their hand and foot
Additionally, with the exception of the Native Americans or Indians, evidence proves that America’s citizens are the product of immigration, whether they came as volunteers or they were forced (US Census Bureau, 2000). For example, the transatlantic slave trade created a lasting image of black men and women that were only transported commodities, and was considered the most defining element in the construction of the African Diaspora, and it was centuries of additional movements that have given shape to the nation we know today(Culture). This is the movement where Africans were purchased and sold as slaves when they arrived in the United States. This process occurred until prohibition laws were