African Americans During The Age Of Exploration

In his essay, “The Souls of the Black Folk” Du Bois (1903) states that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line,-the relation of the darker to lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (275). According to Appelrouth and Edles (2012: 269) “the color line is both a preexisting social and cultural structure and an internalized attitude”. In addition, they explain that the color line “addresses the historical and institutional (i.e., colonial) dimensions of race” (269).

In the article ‘Black People in a White People’s Country’ by Gary Nash, he explains how slavery gave Africans a low role in America’s society, and how because slavery was allowed in the New World, they were “Socially and legally defined as less than people...”. It wasn’t just the fact that they were enslaved that made people treat them horribly, but also where they came from. In the eyes of a European, Africans were very different,

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

The social perception of racial equality is still a topic of debate today; however, it is in stark contrast to the perception forty years ago. In fact, the media still portrays many situations where black people are discriminated against and are not treated equally. Sadly, one often misinterpreted notion has

Still between 1865 and 1876, there was a culture identity crisis for African Americans. We cannot explain the roots of African American culture without

Many times blacks who are of a lighter complexion are seen as “prettier or more desireable” towards other blacks today, and as stated previously, were offered better employment opportunities. However sometimes they are shunned by whites and blacks alike and are treated as outcasts by the community due to their inability to conform to a certain ethnicity. In the book “The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man,” James Weldon Johnson depicts the fictional life of a biracial man living in the post-reconstruction era of America in the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. In his early childhood days, the narrator frequently struggled with his personal identity after he was told to stand with the rest of his African American classmates during somewhat of an analyzation of the gender percentages by a certain staff member. “I wish all of the white scholars to stand for a moment. ‘I rose with the others, the teacher looked down at me and said ‘ You sit down for the present, and rise with the others. ‘I sat down dazed… A few of the white boys jeered me saying:’ Oh you’re a nigger too! ‘I heard some of the black children say,’ Oh, we knew he was colored, Shiny would say; ‘Come along don’t tease him, and thereby winning my undying gratitude.’” (Weldon 11) Before he was seemingly outed

When Europeans came to the American continent, contact with the Native Americans who were already living there was inevitable. In the colonization of early America, the various groups of European settlers: the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch each had unique experiences with, and therefore individual opinions of the Native Americans whom they interacted. Each of these nations also shared commonalties in their colonization processes and in how they viewed Native Americans. Furthermore, the Native Americans held differing opinions of each group of Europeans whom they encountered while some features of their relationships with Europeans were consistent despite the tribe or nation involved.

Imagine a world where prestige is evaluated by neither one’s character nor accomplishments, but predetermined by skin color. Visualize a world in which the nuances of skin color are used to sort and divide people amongst two factions: White or Black. Envision society segregated. Whites and Blacks tossed into two different worlds, as if mankind is a pile of dirty laundry which needs to be organized by color. The reality is this hypothetical world did in fact exist in the United States prior to the 1970s.

Historical archives discovered by Dorman show that colorism had tangible boundaries within the African American community during the 1920s (47). It is stated that blacks often divided themselves into four subcategories which consisted of “black”, “brown”, “light brown”, and “yellow” Negros (Dorman 47). The above ranking would be listed in a hierarchy from “black” being at the bottom of the socially accepted hierarchy to the “yellow negro” being the most revered and desired socially.

In 1800 over 1 million settlers lived between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. Most of these settlers were farmers and merchants, looking to ship their products to the New Orleans port. The United States and Spain signed the Pinckney Treaty to give Americans the right to sell their products. But in 1801, a Spanish governor had given New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory to Napoleon Bonaparte. Then in 1802, the Spanish Governor of New Orleans withdrew from the Pinckney Treaty, outraging Americans. Jefferson figured the best option was to buy the port of New Orleans.

The arrival of the African-American identity began with slavery and the slave master’s behavior toward the field slave and the house slave. In other words, the identity of the African-American was given by European slave masters instead of their personal creation. African women were raped and the slave master’s preferential treatment of their offspring created a hierarchy among the slaves. As author Roger Smith (2004) explained, power and privileges were given to those with lighter complexions over those who are darker. In the days of slavery, “light skin blacks were assigned to the house while blacks with dark skin had to work the fields.” (p.1). The promise of educational opportunities were also given to slaves with lighter complexions. The indoctrination of Jim Crow Laws and white supremacy proved to keep the institution of slavery going even after its abolishment. Subsequent to the abolishment of slavery, blacks traveled to northern states and cities and created their own societies. According to author G. Reginald Daniel, in his book, More than Black, Blue Vein societies consisted of pluralistic elites within the African-American community. “Membership in these societies were determined by individuals’ phenotypical and cultural resemblance with European Americans” (p. 4). The structural set up of these societies created an illusion of escaping the common stereotypes of blacks.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

In order to fully understand why light skinned individuals have easier lives than dark skinned individuals, one must look understand how colors register in the human mind. When a person looks at a color it creates a certain feeling within them. In Ellis Cose’s Rage of a Privileged Class, color plays a very significant role. Cose explains that because of color a white man is likely to be helped more, quoted lower on purchases, shop without harassment, and offered more jobs as opposed to an African

Labor exploitation was the key for the effectiveness of european expansion in the new world and define slavery as a principal component for global capitalism until it was not longer profitable. The atlantic slave trade influence europe economic growth and market development to rapidly spread through the atlantic trade. It was a intense dependence on the triangular trade that made merchants made big profits at the expense of the exploited labour abroad. Merchants were involved in all three sides of the triangle trade that allowed the transportation of slaves from Europe to Africa where goods were traded for slaves and then those slaves were brought to the Americas for the cultivation food crops and other raw materials; these later were brought back to Europe, Africa and the Americas to be sold. Resistance and revolts against the trade of slave was stronger in African areas where european demographic power was lower but “It was not until 1780s that increasing european along the west of africa coast finally drove up the price of slaves” and the overproduction of sugar in the caribbean and other raw materials lead the fall in the selling price of these products (shillington p181) european nations began to question whether the trade was still profitable or not. Britain was the first to completely abolished slavery in 1834 when manufactures found european labor in factories more efficient and less expensive than plantations. It was follow for the french colonies 1848, Cuba in

In the British Parliament, antislavery voices grew stronger until eventually a bill to abolish the slave trade passed both houses in 1807. The British, being the major carriers of slaves and having abolished the trade themselves, energetically set about discouraging other states from continuing. The abolition of the slave trade was a blow from which the slave system in the Caribbean could not recover.