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Arrival in the Us

Good Essays

Victoria Brown
Africana Studies 215
September 28, 2011
Journey to America

Native Americans are the only people indigenous to the Americas. There are approximately two million Native Americas living today in the United States. The cause of this drastic decline of this group of people is common knowledge. Most people know that Native Americas were slaughtered and exposed to deadly diseases by the Europeans. After Christopher Columbus, stumbled upon this land, Europeans came in droves. This was a land of freedom, and a chance for people live whatever way they desired. People journeyed across the Atlantic to escape various problems. The Pilgrims and the Quakers came to the Americas to have religious freedom. Others traveled to get rich …show more content…

The next step was an examination by a doctor to ensure they didn’t have any incurable diseases. Immigrants were also screen for mental diseases. After being approved by the doctor, they were interviewed by legal inspectors. Interpreters assisted to acquire 29 pieces of vital information including name, age, and planned destination. This whole process took an average of five hours, and an average of 20,000 people passed through Ellis Island monthly.
Ten of millions of Africans were brought to America via the transatlantic slave trade. Millions died on the voyage due to harsh conditions of the slave ships. Those who survived the cruel journey were auctions where they would be separated from love ones forever. Some slaves were brought to the Caribbean or South America to seasoning camps. Seasoning is the process of breaking down slaves. Throughout slave trade millions of slaves died from seasoning. Seasoning was done to prepare the slave for the workload, and to break down the slave mentally. Seasoned slaves were less likely to try to escape. The slaves that bypassed the seasoning process were immediately put on a platform to be sold. The slaves had to endure being poked, prodded, and forced to open their mouth for inspection. What’s even worse is that most of the time the slaves were completely naked throughout this process. They didn’t speak the language and had no idea what was happening to them.
The United States is truly a melting pot of numerous cultures.

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