Slave Acculturation

John. W. Blessingame, The Slave Community: The Plantation Life in The Antebellum South (Oxford University Press, Inc: 1972, 1979).

The Atlantic Slave Trade’s impact to the social workings of Africa were one not only in the personal connections of the people but in the culture as well. During this trade many in Africa were left in states of fear of being taken feeling unsafe in even their own land. Another one of the effects the Atlantic Slave Trade had on the social construct of Africa is in how their history and cultural identity resulted in the aftermath. Through the slave trade, Africans were removed from their homes at a young age disallowing them from learning from their elders about their own culture. Even if that culture was taught to them before hand, those captured would have been forced to assimilate into their new environment losing that culture and history they once had. The Atlantic Slave Trade had also brought on a popularity in the use of domestic slaves used by upper class within Africa which brought on another on set of issues particularly in Western and Central Africa. Because of several raids occurring to

They did no more work than the other people in the village did. Their clothing, housing, food and mannerisms were the same as the people who owned them. European influence started to affect slavery in Africa and it was now becoming an enterprise rather than a legal system for punishment. Traders would come to Africa selling goods to these people, who did not have access to these goods before, in exchange for slaves. These traders would bribe chiefs of tribes to go out and capture neighboring villagers in exchange for goods, encouraging the kidnapping and enslavement of fellow Africans. "When a trader wants slaves, he applies to a chief for them, and tempts him with his wares." This was all a part of the European Triangular Trade. Goods were brought to Africa in order to trade with the Africans. Slaves were then shipped to the Americas to produce more goods to be sent to Europe in order start the whole trade cycle again.

Chattel slavery, so named because people are treated as the personal property, chattels, of an owner and are bought and sold as commodities, is the original form of slavery. When taking these chattels across national borders it is referred to as Human Trafficking especially when these slaves provide sexual services.

Slave resistance began for many enslaved Africans before they reach the Americas. Karenga explained the many arrangements in which Africans resisted to enslavement, while in Africa, during the middle passage, and in the Americas. Employing the Karenga text one can evaluate the different resistances that transpired in Antigua as Cultural, Resistance, Day-to-Day Resistance, Abolitionism, Armed Resistance, Revolts, Ship Mutinies, and Afro-Native Alliance. One can conclude that enslaved Africans had an unrelenting resistance to enslavement (Karenga).

For almost eight decades, enslaved African-Americans living in the Antebellum South, achieved their freedom in various ways—one being religion—before the demise of the institution of slavery. It was “freedom, rather than slavery, [that] proved the greatest force for conversion among African Americans in the South” (94). Starting with the Great Awakening and continuing long after the abolition of slavery, after decades of debate, scholars conceptualized the importance of religion for enslaved African-Americans as a means of escaping the brutalities of daily life. Overall, Christianity helped enslaved African American resist the degradation

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

During the 16th and 19th centuries, slavery was widespread throughout the world. It was practiced by African and European countries to facilitate labor in their colonies abroad. These cultures, who were economically dependent upon the slave trade, also utilized slaves to fill vacancies wherever the citizenry failed to meet the needs of labor. The areas that are experienced in the primary sources are the English colonies of North America, Spanish colonies that spanned from Florida through the Caribbean Islands, and Africa, the European source for slaves, which utilized slaves similar to livestock headed for the market. Whether one was a slave of the English, Spanish, or Africans, slaves were treated differently based on control such as personal agency and use of religion.

During the colonization era, most of the laborers came from Great Britain as indentured servants. An indentured servant is a person that signed a contract to pay for their passage to America by working. They usually worked on a farm since the colonies were based on agriculture. These servants were young laborers that intended on becoming permanent residents of the Chesapeake Bay settlements. Some servant owners treated them the same way they treated their family members, whether it was good or bad. Sometimes, convicted criminals were transported to the colonies as indentured servants instead of being imprisoned. Indentured servants weren’t considered slaves. However, when they came to Virginia they were required to work four to seven years to pay for the cost of their transportation. Some found that the major problem with indentured servants was most of them left after several years after they became skilled. It was estimated that over half of all of the white immigrants came as indentured servants. The number of indentured servants was the highest in the South.

The process of Emancipation in the United States dismantled what was known as Chattel slavery, but didn’t initially prohibit the actions taken to work around this. African Americans were still struggling with a system of oppression that sought to keep them in other forms slavery. The south at this time was still known as a “landed aristocracy,” meaning that those who owned land held majority of the wealth. The idea was to redistribute confiscated lands to African Americans to grant them economic independence, since their labor was the foundation of all the generated profits. The Sherman Field Orders would grant this for the African American population, only to later be dismantled by state legislation. Generally, the Black community wanted

From the earliest days of slavery, resistance was a constant feature of American slavery. It took many forms, from individual acts of sabotage, poor work, feigning illness, or committing crimes like our arson and poisoning to escape the system altogether by running away to the north. The bloodiest slave revolt in American history was organize by Nat Turner. Over the year’s other rebellions such as Fredrick Douglas and Lou Smith took place. They all had a common goal in some aspect, which was to reclaim their freedom or the freedom of the enslaved. Despite the common goal, they all had a method to their rebellions.

The two primary source documents: “The Black Race is Fit for Servitude” and “What if Reconstruction Hadn’t Failed?” are similar in many ways but different at the same time. The former primary source document is from 1860, a year shy of the civil war, and its author Dr. Benjamin Morgan Palmer believed in the idea of slavery. He was a believe that black people were physically and emotionally created for the purpose of serving their white masters who he thinks is above them. Palmer said in his sermon that it wouldn’t do the South any good to free slaves or let them go back to Africa. The latter article talks about the Reconstruction era failed and somewhat led to a domino effect in American history. However, both articles discuss the race relations

Slavery is a stain in the history of the United States that will always be particularly remembered for the cruelty it exhibited. Up until 1865 slaves were imported in shiploads and treated as if they were merely cattle. On the farms slaves were given no mercy and had to work long, arduous days for nothing. Additionally they were often subject to cruel overseers who would beat and whip them on a regular basis. As brutal and destructive as the institution of slavery was, slaves were not defenseless victims. Through their families, and religion, as well as more direct forms of resistance, Africans-Americans resisted the debilitating effects of slavery and created a vital culture supportive of human dignity.

Examination of the Slave Experience Most African Americans of the early to mid-nineteenth century experienced slavery on plantations similar to the experiences described by Frederick Douglass; the majority of slaves lived on units owned by planters who had twenty or more slaves. The planters and the white masters of these agrarian communities sought to ensure their personal safety and the profitability of their enterprises by using all the tactics-physical and psychological-at their command to make slaves obedient. Even Christianity was manipulated in a way that masters communicated to their slaves that God had commanded them to obey their masters. Hence, by word and deed whites tried to convince

The daily life of a slave in North Carolina was incredibly difficult. Hard workers, especially those in the field, played from sunrise until sundown. Even small kids and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours. Slaves were generally granted a day off on Sunday, and on infrequent holidays such as Christmas or the Fourth of July.