Life is a state of existence, but for Africans traveling the Middle Passage across the Atlantic, this was not a life anyone should ever have endured. The Atlantic slave trade was a long, horrific journey. Ships that were designed to carry 350 people were sometimes crammed full of over 800 men, women, and children (Holt & Brown, 2000). The enslaved Africans endured unspeakable abuse, shackled together, and existed in holding spaces covered in their own urine, vomit, etc. for extensive periods of time. Death rates were high, as they were malnourished, diseased, and exposed to unspeakable conditions. Necessities were minimal and they were not treated humanely. The African slave trade devastated African societies and affected the lives
The many ways that southern men showed respect to each other often had a big effect on slaves, including Douglass. Southern men loved giving gifts to each other, and were deeply connected with the economy of the south and its trade. Gift exchanges were popular, and “Gift exchanges flourished because they were so intimately connected to the values and behaviors associated with the language of honor and slavery.” This did not stop there, they often traded slaves and bought them: “They bought and sold slaves at prices that reflected the slave’s potential productivity.” This is when slaves would be separated from their families and sold to new masters. Douglass went through many owners, as he was sold and moved around frequently.
In 1619, the first “Negars” arrived in Jamestown Virginia. There were twenty of them, and their purpose was to grow tobacco. Because there were no laws at this time, these people were considered ‘“servants’.” As we know now looking back at history, slavery was slavery (Countryman, 3). From the beginning to the end, slavery had a large impact on colonial America, in growth and even in the beginning of the American Revolution. Without the existence of slavery, the dynamics and the growth of America would have been totally different.
A social effect of slavery was the change in social standing of people in colonial America. Although slaves were not valued very highly by their owners, the number of slaves one had could affect how people viewed them, in the sense of whether or not they were wealthy.
Slavery impacted America,and it helped the economy grow. In some states people used their slaves to get more votes for certain bills or laws. People also used them to fight in the Civil War. Without slavery America would not be the way it is today. People wouldn't think everything is racist and there probably wouldn't be as many blacks in America. There would have been no reason for anti-black groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Skinheads and other associations. Many people think that America was the prime port for slave trading,but in fact about only 6% came to America. Forty percent went to the Caribbean Islands. The first slave came in the sixteenth hundreds to Jamestown Virginia.
During the war, some slave owners ran businesses as well as owning plantations. In addition, African-Americans mostly worked in the fields plowing, weeding, planting, taking care of the tobacco, corn, cotton, sugar cane, tomatoes, and other vegetables. (Appendix 13). The slaves did the majority of work in the households they were assigned. When the slaves were assigned to a home that had less than five people, they were treated like family. When they were placed in a household with hundreds of slaves, they were treated more strictly with a great deal of discipline. 3 However, being an African-American during this time was rough. Slaves were not allowed to read and write as their white slave-owners thought they would pass messages along with slaves on other plantations and start a revolt.
This was extremely sad and portrayed a painful picture of how slaves were treated and the emotional turmoil they endured while living as slaves. The protagonist discusses how she was a victim of sexual violence, be treated by her master and her mistress, how slavery made her lose her innocence and they ability to feel safe.The protagonist discusses how she was a victim of sexual violence,betrayed by her master and her mistress, how slavery made her lose her innocence ad the ability to feel safe.She described how she lived in fear of reprimands from her master should she reveal his sexual request to her. Slavery affected southern society because the white women born to the slave owner had to watch their husbands do as they wish with
Slavery began in 1619 when a Dutch ship brought 20 African Americans ashore to Jamestown, Virginia. However, they were not slaves, they were indentured servants. These first 20 African Americans were not slaves because they made a deal with their “master” whether it be for
Depopulation was another negative impact that slavery had on Arica. This affected the African culture because the people who were stolen may have fulfilled many societal roles in the community. Africa lost many young strong people who could have been potential traders, philosophers, and skilled laborers. This led to an economic and cultural depletion to the regions. This also slowed the growth of existing populations and halted the development of nations. The younger, stronger people were the highly chosen ones to be taken for enslavement. The opportunities they may have had to raise children of their own within their own culture damaged cultural perpetuation. The trauma of losing young family members, people removed from the social frameworks
The Atlantic slave trade dismantled Africans family structure, because it was legal to sell husband, wives, and children separately. Due to the U .S law not recognizing them as humans or families. Also, when children were taken from their parents, they loss their primary connection with their African culture. This left them with no reliable opportunity to obtain their beliefs, and values of their origin. Consequently, as they grew older they were unable to provide their children with enough knowledge of their culture, because they did not receive nor experienced it themselves. According to activist Assata Shakur “Black Americans have no genealogical blueprint from which to draw a family history or bloodline, no accurate records kept, and no way to effectively trace our roots without hitting a dead-end of red tape or a white family tree.
Imagine being forced to work for people who have bought you, and not being treated equally due to your race. Well this act occurred during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth century. This was known as slavery. African Americans were sold to Caucasians, where their freedom would be taken away from them. It was a consistent struggle to fight through the discrimination, that was occurring. African Americans who were willing to risk their lives had the ability to have freedom. However, it was a long crucial journey for people on the underground railroad. Even so, freedom wasn’t always guaranteed. Caucasians did awful things to African Americans, which will never be forgotten. The Pledge of Allegiance says “ … one nation, indivisible…” however, at one point we were not a nation. We were divided. To this day and in one hundred years we will always have that division, based on the act of slavery.
Slavery was had a huge impact on society throughout the years. The enslaved men and women had to face many different obstacles throughout there years of slavery but still managed to survive those terrible times. They created families, had a religion for themselves, and managed to resist working for their owners at the times. Slaves had a rough point in their life, but they still managed to have religion and create families for their own. Family life for slaves was very difficult at the time, laws from the Americans couldn’t stop the slaves to be separated from their original families.
Slavery has greatly influenced the world we live in today socially, economically, politically, and psychologically. Slavery effected our world socially in a way that white slave owners owned only 2-4 slaves, three quarter of Southern whites owned no slaves, most of the black slaves were mulattoes, slave Christianity emphasized the Hebrew liberation from Egypt, radical abolitionists were attacked in the North most of the time, and it was illegal to teach the slaves how to read in the South. Slaves were treated different than everyone else was treated. The whites were allowed to read whereas the slaves weren’t and if they were it was witnessed as illegal. Slaves were called rude names, treated badly, as well as illiterate which effected them in the social nature of
Slavery has played a strong role in African society from as early as prehistoric times, continuing to the modern era. Early slavery within Africa was a common practice in many societies, and was very central to the country’s economy. Beginning around the 7th century, two groups of non-African slave traders significantly altered the traditional African forms of slavery that had been practiced in the past. Native Africans were now being forced to leave the country to be used as slaves. The two major slave trades, trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic, became central to the organization of Africa and its societies until the modern era. Slavery and the slave trade strongly affected African society, and
In today’s world it is widely know and accepted that money makes the world go round but, unfortunately that is not the question. The question is: what made the world go round in the early 1600’s? Surprisingly, just like the world today money made the world go around back then also. One major difference is that in today’s world machines do all of our dirty work, back then it was all up to the slaves. Finding the perfect slave was a challenge to the colonists. First, there was the indentured servants, second, came the Indians. However because Indians and indentured servants could escape to freedom with ease, they were not the ideal slaves. The colonists’ third attempt proved to be a gold mine. The unfortunate people who were forced in to
The Atlantic slave trade existed from the 16th to the early 19th century and stimulated trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Over 12 million Africans were captured and sold into chattel slavery off the coast of West Africa, and more than 2 million of them died crossing the Atlantic. These outcomes of the slave trade are rarely disputed among historians; the effect of the Atlantic slave trade in Africa, however, is often a topic of debate. Some academics, such as Walter Rodney, insist that Africans were forced to take part in the slave trade, resulting in demographic disruption and underdevelopment in all sectors of Africa. Historian John Thornton acknowledges the negative consequences of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, yet contends that it was merely an expansion of the existing internal slave trade which African rulers engaged in willingly. A final case made by Hugh Thomas completely contradicts Rodney’s thesis, asserting that the slave trade was not solely responsible for decreasing Africa’s population, and furthermore, that it was primarily beneficial to Africa’s economy and politics. The true outcome of the slave trade in Africa lies not entirely in any one of these arguments, but rests rather in a combination of all three. Although the Atlantic slave trade was detrimental to the economic and social development of Africa, the trade benefited a small portion of Africans, who willingly aligned themselves with