The African Of African Descent

Another example of slave master’s methods to dehumanize slaves were the living conditions provided to slaves. Along with the lashings and severe punishment to which slaves were often subjected, they were also kept half-starved. As Douglass writes, “They [Henrietta and Mary] seldom knew what it was to eat a full meal.” Douglass adds, “I have seen Mary contending with the pigs for the offal thrown into the street.” (pp. 411-412) This reveals how slave masters would not feed slaves adequate portions of food, which led to many slaves being extremely thin and malnourished. Knowledge of such despicable acts happening to one's family can only inspire feelings of despise, disgust and hatred. Douglass, however, used this as fuel to inspire his freedom.

In America, the lives of Africans did not get any easier. Once the demand for labor began increasing dramatically, more and more Africans were imported to America. Originally, white people and black people worked together in the plantations. As a result of the increase in Africans in these British colonies, less white people took jobs on plantations. Eventually, enslavement became based on race. Numerous slave codes were developed, which included denying slaves the right to be out past sunset and denying slaves the right to meet in groups of three or more. These Africans forced to live enslaved in America were treated as if they were inferior to white people. It is discouraging to think about the fact that this country, though it was long ago, once accepted this kind of social injustice.

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.

He notes that, the slavery institution made them forget about their origin, and anything else that entails their past, and even when they were born. The slaves forgot everything about their families, and none knew about their family because, they were torn from them without any warning. Douglass explains how they went without food, clothing and even sleep because their masters were cruel to them. American slavery took advantage of black laborers as they were beaten mercilessly without committing any offense. They were not treated as human beings, but as property that could be manipulated in any way. The slavery institution was harsh for the Africans especially women who were regularly raped, and forced to bear their masters children and if they declined, they were maimed or killed.

Slavery has been a major component of human civilization all throughout history. People turn to slavery for many reasons, such as fear of different ethnicities and fear that these new foreign people will take over land that is not theirs. The conditions under which slaves work and live varies greatly by the time and location of which the slaves lived. Slaves play a major role in their society and contribute greatly to their communities, often forming one of the largest masses of the population. Though the accuracy of the information from primary sources may be tainted with exaggeration and bias, it is easy to deduce from primary works the treatment of slaves and the working and living conditions surrounding them. According to many sources,

Slavery in colonial America was a hard way of life. Slaves varied in ages and gender. Slaves were assigned a task or tasks that had to be completed during the day. The male slaves would participate in the hard labor such as working on the farm. The female slaves would generally work in the household, sent on errands or spent most of their time with the house owner. Female slaves were forced into sexual relationships for reproduction. Reproduction would either be forced between one African slave and another or between the slave and the house owner. Slaves were also treated like livestock and being bought, sold and traded among owners. For the enslaved people they had to endure being separated from their families when captured or when sold at the slave market. Their new

    Since the beginning of American history, the black race has been the inferior race during times of slavery and times of freedom for black people. They have had to fight to be seen as legitimate first-class citizens, whether that be through slave uprisings in the pre-civil war era, the civil rights movement in the mid-1900’s, or the Black Lives Matter campaign that was started in 2013. Though not everyone has lived an easy life, and not everyone will, the people who have had it the hardest were the enslaved African-Americans in the early stages of our country.

There is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until information and ideas started to emerge, particularly, the African retention theories. This sparked an interest in the field of African culture and retention in African Americans. However, the study of African American culture truly emerged as a result of increased awareness in America, specifically through the publication and findings of scholarly research and cultural events like the Harlem Renaissance where all ethnicities were able to see this rich historical culture of African Americans.

During the eighteenth century, slavery was already well-established section of the American labor system. As the amount of slaves grew in size, they did not receive rights, and were mostly separated from their families. They were mostly needed for agricultural labors and had to work mostly from dusk to dawn. Frederick Douglass’s experiences as a slave was different than that other colonial labor because of the strict treatment he received from his masters, the inferiority to other humans that he felt, and the harsh conditions he lived in.

Life as a slave was not easy or comfortable. It was full of poor living

African Americans are one of the first minorities thought of when discussing discrimination. African Americans were first brought across the ocean to America by the Spaniards who explored American land. This was the beginning of a rapidly increasing number of slaves and slave owners in America. Native Americans who lived in America before it was discovered by Spaniards, were also badly mistreated and discriminated against. As the 19th century progressed, women in America were also seen as inferior to white men and lacked many social rights as well. All of the minorities are similar in the aspect that each have been thought of as less of a person compared to superior white men (Bagwell).

Since many slaves were forced to work during hot and humid summer days without any proper care, food, and clothing this caused them to be prone to illness. Sicknesses such as yellow fever, malaria, and many other diseases caused the deaths of many slaves working on plantations. The alarming amount of wide spread disease was a big fear amongst plantation workers because many slaves were scared that they too would catch something and die due to the lack of medications and care. For slave owners the lives of slaves held no true value and were not viewed as equals to the white race, as Marie St Claire, a slave owner states in Uncle Tomes Cabin when she says, “putting them on any sort of equality with us, you know, as if we could be compared, why, it' impossible!“ (151). Slaves were left to fend for themselves, unattained to their needs any slaves watched others die right in front of their very own eyes.

Slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. That about sums up what slavery really is in our mind and is pretty much the definition that we all picture when we think about slaves and slavery. But this is not what slavery truly was within the antebellum time period. Most of the slaves had a whole different outlook on the way they viewed, and acted and while living in their unfortunate circumstances. This is one of the few things that will be discussed further on within this paper. The main concept of this paper will be to discuss slavery in three sections; these sections will be discussing the types of people who were enslaved, and the nature of their bondage in the first section. The

In this paper I’ll discuss the life of enslaved children and what those experiences tells us about the institution of slavery. Over the course of the semester we have been introduced to several readings concerning the enslavement of Africans. I will be basing my paper on information gathered from these readings, “African American Voices,” By Steven Mintz, “Prince Among Slaves,” By Terry Alford, “Lose Your Mother” By Saidiya Hartman and lastly a secondary piece of literature by Frederick Douglass, “My Bondage My Freedom.” The life of a child captive in slavery would vary depending on their environment and whom they belonged to. Their experiences ranged from what was perceived as normal, aside from the fact that they were slaves all the way to cruel and unusual punishment. Childhood is essential to understanding slavery, focusing on children brings attention to the brutality of slavery, and also brings to light the system of enslavement children and parents dealt with regarding its sufferings and horrors. Even though some enslaved children had normal lives and were unaware that they were slaves at all; slavery was very harsh for most children. They were expected to do adult work, and punished when unable to do so, also many children were separated from their families at a young age.

Humans have always labeled certain races as inferior. Racism can be seen placed on different races and sticking with certain races through the study of history. African Americans have been major victims of racism throughout history and continue to be subject to prejudice and institutionalized racism to this day. Although African Americans seem to be the primary victims of racism, in history there have been large instances when other minority groups have been especially targeted. A significant pattern throughout history is the targeting of and blame put on different minority groups, such as Jews and Hispanics, for issues that are prevalent in society at that time.