African American Colonialism In The 20th Century

BPQ#4: The colonial experience of Asian and African peoples during the long nineteenth century was somewhat similar to the earlier colonial experience in the Americas. The process of colonization in Africa and Asia occurred with similar missionary efforts to the missionary efforts “ in the Americas centuries earlier, as military defeat shook confidence in the old gods and local practices, fostering openness to new sources of supernatural power” (905). Yet, in the Americas, colonization resulted in higher rates of conversion to Christianity. Also, the impact of the Europeans, specifically their diseases, were much more devastating in the Americas. This was because the peoples of Africa and Asia had already been exposed at some level to European

American settler colonialism is no different than the colonialism in South Africa, Australia and Algeria because the similarities between them: indigenous populations were depleted, indigenous resistances arose, and colonizing culture religion becomes the dominant culture. Indigenous population was depleted in two way: through human involvement and also by biological diseases. Biological diseases killed the vast majority of Indians in the 16 century.

They didn’t need that many slaves because they didn’t grow sugar cane and the slaves that worked on sugar cane plantations were overworked. The difference between British North America and the Caribbean’s is that in the Caribbean’s they tended to overwork their slaves, which in turn made their death rate increase. But in British North America they didn’t want to overwork their salves because if they did there wouldn’t be as many women having as many children; the more children they had the grater the slave population and a lower death rate.

Arway is a seven-year-old student who has just immigrated to the United States from Monrovia, Liberia with her family. She comes from one of the most populated cities in Liberia. In the 1800s, freed African American slaves settled in Liberia via the American Colonization Society. Friction occurred between the African Americans and the indigenous Liberians which turned into two brutal civil wars that not only resulted in numerous deaths, but also severely devastated the Liberian economy. Even though Arway was born after the second civil war ended, her family has experienced the war and its devastating effects that may have affected their choice to emigrate.

During a period with death frequently caused by famine, lack of resources, and conflict the colonial Americans had to implement limited warfare in order to reduce wasted assets whether it be food or lives. The intent of limited warfare is multiple in that it decreases the use of supplies, it is not the goal to destroy the enemy, and it allocates soldiers to be able to accomplish other needs. The colonist used limited warfare by not creating professional soldiers, not dedicating all resources to fight wars, and by not engaging in an active mission of total elimination of the Native Americans.

For the first four decades after the uprising of slaves in Barbados, slavery was on the road to abolition. The British abolished slavery in their Caribbean colonies in 1833 and the French in 1848. The abolition of slavery had many asking if it was a success or a failure. Those defending slavery were those from the American South, charging that the British emancipation was a failure and that blacks could not work productively except as slaves.

Indentured servitude is a system that was introduced to meet the growing demands for inexpensive and abundant slaves in the colonies. Indentured servants were guaranteed freedom and passage to the Americas after completing four to seven years of labor. Many Europeans, specifically the Irish, came to the Caribbean willingly and unwillingly in the eighteenth century. Over one hundred thousand Irish workers were sent to the Caribbean because they were prisoners of war during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and almost fifty percent of them died before the completion of their contract. Life was difficult in the plantations and they produced cash crops, including sugar, tobacco, and cotton. Indentured servitude was a labor system that attracted workers because of the prospect of a better life and freedom, however most servants died due to the brutal conditions before they were able to gain freedom. Although slavery was abolished in 1830 in Britain, indentured servitude increased in the Caribbean. Indentured servants arrived from India and China, thus Indo-Caribbeans form a majority in Guyana. Indian indentured slaves were more common than laborers from other countries, due to their connection with the British government. After the abolishment of slavery, slaves needed work, therefore they also became indentured servants. The plantations offered some food and housing for the workers. In general, indentured servitude increased in the Caribbean after the abolishment of slavery. In 1917, Britain prohibited the system of indentured servitude in the Caribbean. The abolishment of indentured servitude leads to the current labor system of the Caribbean, which is wage labor. Wage labor is the socioeconomic relationship when the worker receives payment from his employer for his services.

For over 250 years blacks were faced with some of the most brutal hardships any American people had ever endured. They were brought to America to be slaves and work for the ones who bought them. For many, many years, blacks put up with the terrible treatment they were receiving with the hopes of a brighter day to come soon. The later half of the 19th century brought them the hope they were looking for. Blacks finally had a chance to gain the freedom some of them literally had been dying for for so long. This was made possible on January 1, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This executive order freed over 3 million slaves in the south that were in Confederate areas.

During the early 19th century, Spain wanted to increase productivity in Florida and encouraged migration of mostly Southern slave owners. By the second decade of the 1800s, Anglo settlers occupied plantations along the St. Johns River, from the border with Georgia to Lake George 100 miles upstream. Spain began to lose control of the sparsely European-populated Florida as the area quickly became a haven for slave smugglers bringing illicit human cargo into the U.S. for lucrative sale to Georgia planters. Plantation owners grew apprehensive about the growing numbers of slaves running to the swamps and American Indian controlled areas of Florida. American slave owners pressured the U.S. government to confront the Spanish authorities. Southern slave owners refused to quietly accept the continued presence of armed blacks in Florida. During the War of 1812, a ragtag assortment of Georgia slave owners joined by a plethora of armed opportunists seized Fernandina and raided Spanish and British-owned plantations along the St. Johns River. These private citizens received U.S. government help on July 27, 1816, when U.S. army regulars attacked the Negro Fort (established as an armed outpost during the war by the British and located about 60 miles south of the Georgia border).

Social issues and conditions were very poor throughout the 19th century. Women, racial minorities, and farmers struggled to strive in the society. These groups faced discrimination, poverty, and unequal rights. Even today, these groups are fighting to pave their way in the workforce and politics, in the hopes that they will one day achieve equality and prosperity.

Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through either diplomacy or military force. Africa and India were both victims of imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Europeans (mostly the British) conquered most of Africa and India which effected both countries in many different ways. Some of the things that happened during this time like the industrialization of the countries and some new more modern ways of life had a positive effect on the people. While this did happen, not all that happened was positive.

Being a full citizen in America was for the Blacks a long trajectory replete with a vehement resistance and relentless perseverance. Blacks fought heart and soul in order to put to an end the infringement of their civil liberties by the Whites. Indeed, after the discovery of America, the new settlers sought for cheap and hard workers who would willy-nilly perform and bear the intensive plantation’s work in their behalf. Therefore, after the inability of the Indian labourers and white indentured servants to withstand the harsh conditions, Africans seemed to be the sought after. Accordingly, Blacks’ relations with their homeland were torn up. Unwillingly they transported to American and for about three centuries they were treated as slaves and

In the mid-nineteenth century, people focused more on the question from the New Testament of whether all humans are from “one blood” (Fredrickson 2015: 66). Others believed that people originate from three to five different species of which were all created separately and contain different aptitudes. In England, scientific racism did not become popular until the mid-nineteenth century, due to the strong evangelical Christian beliefs that all human beings are decedents of Adam and Eve (66). The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, attempted to classify humans into categories in 1735. He believed that different types of humans could be classified as monstrous and mythical. Among these types included Africans, Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans. He described black people as “crafty, indolent, negligent… Governed by caprice” and Europeans as “acute, inventive…Governed by laws” (56). Voltaire was mainly hostile towards Christianity. Because of this, he disliked the Jewish people for being connected to the New Testament. He claimed that each human race was a separate species that developed at different rates. The Jews all contained a set of undesirable traits that were permanent (62).

From the 15th century to about the 18th century there was a struggle between European powers for control over the American continents. These struggles were faced by the French, English, Portuguese, and the Spanish Empire. The European powers forced cultural and religious ethics into the Native and African societies. By decimating native population with famine and war, while forcing western Africans into immigration. The Jesuits, French missionaries, unlike other European powers they first tried to understand the ways of the Natives before they forced their customs on them.

Modern African states have several problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. The effects of colonialism have been offered as a starting point for much of the analysis on African states, but the question of why African states are particularly dysfunctional needs to be examined, given the extent to which they have lagged behind other former European colonies in many aspects. In the first section, I will consider the problems with African states from the level of the state. That is, the nature of the states' inceptions and the underlying flaws may explain some of the issues that have been associated with African states today. Next I examine the development of, or lack of, civil