Slavery : The African American Race

Runaway slaves needed to be dressed in better clothes, food had to be bought to feed them, even train tickets needed to be bought every once and a while. For the slave, running away was not an easy task. To begin with, a slave had to escape from their owner, sometimes very difficult due to dogs or fences. The runaway slaves had to travel ten to twenty miles each night to reach the next “station”. Each night was a night filled with fear because of slave hunters and spies. Lots of money could be made for turning in a runaway slave. Depending on your own luck and cunning, you either made it to freedom, or you didn’t. Some slaves were caught multiple times but continued to try to run for freedom. Conditions were not great either. The “passengers” often had to travel through rain, mud, washed out roads, bogs, rivers, and streams. Gaining freedom was not easy.

In a time where research was not a primary source of knowledge, most physicians and slave owners were forced to create their own their own practices based on observations. Throughout the Antebellum South, many slaveowners learned of the immunities and adaptations to the environment that their slaves possessed. However, due to the poor living conditions in the slave homes, many families were susceptible to parasites and other diseases. Often, these diseases were treated by other slaves in their family, but in other cases their owners called a white doctor to care for them (Black Health on the Plantation: Owners, the Enslaved, and Physicians). Before a doctor was called, the slaves would often use herbal remedies or religious prayers

Modern and historical forces combine to keep the racial hierarchy in the dominant cultures control. Historically, slavery was diplomatically protected within our constitution safeguarding the control and ownership of African Americans. The three-fifths compromise written into the constitution in 1787, safeguarded slaveowners by greatly increase the representation and political power of slave-owning states (Laws, 2017). Slavery was widespread within the southern states until the year of 1865, when slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished, except for those duly convicted of a crime. Between 1866 and 1870, through congress a radical reconstruction era was executed ensuring guaranteed freedom and civil rights to former slaves. These turn of events, incensed southern slave owners giving rise to white Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. Such historical events and accounts help us understand present conditions for people of color through recognition of the enduring struggle of those who have fought slavery and racism.

Back when there was Slavery it was unfair to some people, at least to the African Americans. By unfair I mean the whites, like most of us would torture the Africans. Some of the things the owners did was made the slaves work in fields without pay and they had no control over their own self, their owner did. But, if they were not doing, that the owners would do something bad like whip them with a whip with metal on the end.

Slavery was not fun for the African Americans and they found ways to resist this degrading position that they were forced into. The slaves would rearrange the lyrics to Christian music and sung the songs to express themselves and send a message to their masters. The enslaved African Americans would even bring harm to themselves so they would not be any additional benefit to the slave masters in multiple ways.

Most African Americans were forcibly migrated from their countries to the United States to be used for the labor in fields and even do home chores for their owners. Many African American men, women and even children were either stolen from their families or sold by their own people to traders who would bring them back to the United States and sold them to white plantation owners. An African American who was bought by white owner was called a slave. The word slaves means “a person who is a legal property to another person”. Slavery was practiced during the British colonization and was recognized by the 13th colonies during the declaration of independence. Millions of African Americans were bought in the United States to work in farms or do

During the early developments of America, multiple states instituted the practice of owning African-Americans and using them as slaves. Surprisingly, this form of slavery was not only present in the Southern states, but also in the Northern too. Plantation owners from all over found their use in owning slaves, and were even shown taking advantage of the practice. By having ownership of slaves, it often contributed in farming production on plantations and also became useful when it came to voting. Unfortunately, though, the practice was abused by many plantation owners. When looking back at the many accounts written at the time, there seems to be a pattern of how the slaves were treated. Furthermore, the accounts additionally revealed problems that not only existed in the south, but also in the north too. Therefore, by using an account of a traveler visiting America and a plantation owner who owned slaves, it’s able to understood on how the slaves were actually treated within society. These two sources not only reveal a problem amongst the owners, but also reveal a side of the North that many did not know.

Slavery, a term we have learned of in school growing up, is most commonly used to describe the time in American history when African Americans were taken from their homeland to America, where they were sold to white slave owners as labor workers, with the majority of these slaves being separated from their families. Like most people growing up in the American education system, we were taught that slavery started around 1501 with the Atlantic Slave Trade, and ended in 1865 after the conclusion of the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in rebel territory were free, and later outlawing slavery with the passing of the 13th amendment. Thus, most people today have the perception that slavery has been “dead” since 1865.

In order to begin speaking of slavery in the United States, I must give you an introduction prior to the topic of slavery in history. Slavery has been concurrent since pre-historic times. It has been used in many empires like the Roman Empire, Ancient China, Mesopotamia and the Indus River-Valley. Many of these slaves, men & women, were products of indebt people who sold themselves for money or became prisoners of war who were forced into servitude. Earliest records of slavery date back to 1760 B.C. with the Code of Hammurabi which stated many laws regarding slaves being lost or stolen. Time elapsed as slavery evolved where many Europeans noticed African natives were really durable and had a lot of knowledge regarding raising crop. A

African American veneration of elders did not begin in the new world but was transported by slave ships from Africa during the Middle Passage. Despite the many Africans who chose to acclimate to slavery to survive in the new world, there were many who held tight to their beliefs and traditions including ancestor worship. The values that have been passed down from generation to generation have focused on family, along with the emphasis on both children and elders in the African American community (Billingsley, 1992). From the onset of slavery in the United States, informal caregiving included fictive kin and has played a crucial role in the African American community as a response to racism, according to Sudarkasa (1996). During slavery in the

America just like other nation has had its dark times. America has gone through a dreadful past. It once decided to own people as property and deprive them of their human equality and rights that were basic to life. America deprived African Americans of their liberties and enslaved them. Slavery played a huge role in the economy. Slavery did provide the means for whites to build wealth, income, and status while African Americans have continued to struggle. The oppression and segregation and the lack of rights made it impossible for African Americans to have any political and economic power to change their position. African Americans were basically deprived of their rights to vote and use the power of the government in their own favor to better their living standards. However reparation is not needed. Many may argue that reparation is what African Americans need to better themself now in the current economy states Robert L. Allen, yet it is impossible to establish who 's a descendant? The “Economist” argues that their laws in play that deny and prohibit reparations from corporations and companies. Ask yourself how can we put a price tag on something that happened nearly two and a half centuries ago? In what form would this payment be? How will the central government handle this? How will the economy handle such a large debt? Why should American taxpayers, who never owned slaves, pay for the sins of their ancestors? It is impossible to forecast such a large change in the

Slavery in America presented many different horrifying events that enfolded during what is considered one of the worst times in human history. The first time Americans used African Americans as slaves was in 1619 to boost the American economy. The enslaved African Americans all had their own stories and their stories would differ on a very large and individual scale. African Americans during this time were subject to treatment that an animal on a farm would receive, they were chained, beaten, sold, and subject to prejudice by the white Americans. Their stories are told through history and more specifically their culture that offers people today a perspective of life. The original calling for African Americans in American slavery was because

Slavery had also been present in New York from the earliest days of Dutch settlement. As their role expanded so did slavery in the city, 30 percent of its laborers were slaves. Most came from different cultures, spoke different languages, and practiced many regions. Slavery allowed different individuals who would never otherwise have encountered, their bond was not kinship, language, or even race, but the impressment of slavery. They eventually came together an created a cohesive culture and community that took many years, and it processed at different rates of speed in different regions.

The history of African-Americans has been a paradox of incredible triumph in the face of tremendous human tragedy. African-American persons were shown much discrimination and were treated as second class citizens in the colonies during the development of the nation. The first set men, women, and children to work in the colonies were indentured servants, meaning they were only required to work for a set amount of years before they received their freedom. Then, in 1619 the first black Africans came to Virginia. With no slave laws in place, they were initially treated as indentured servants, a source of free labor, and given the same opportunities for freedom dues as whites. However, slave laws were soon passed – in Massachusetts in

Douglass assures us that just the opposite is the truth. From the great big house of the plantation owner all the way down to the fields where the slaves toiled, all was in harmony according to the master`s ideal. Any show of discontent was sure to lead to a brutal whipping or other punishment because nothing was to deter from the portrait of a "picture perfect institution."