The Effects Of Slavery On African American Communities

The southern colonies met this demand by the used of indentured servants. The Southern colonies, however, eventually replaced indentured servant with slavery. The Bacon’s Rebellion, somehow, made a contribution to this choice of labor as it made the elite landowners of the southern colonies worry about the freedom of their indentured servants. These elite land owners find having the slaves as more profitable for them since they will own these slaves for the rest of their life. Including the future children of their slaves.

Bacon’s Rebellion helped originate slavery in Jamestown, Virginia in the Chesapeake region. Nathaniel Bacon was a white land owner in this town who brought together indentured servants and other poor whites to overthrow their elites due to the

By the middle of the 18th century slavery was widely accepted in the colonies. There was no way to hide it, between 1680 and 1750 the proportion of slaves in America grew from 4.6 of the population to over 20 percent. In the southern colonies slavery went from about 5 percent to 40 percent of the population. Throughout most of the colonial period, opposition to slavery among white Americans was virtually nonexistent. Settlers in the 17th and early 18th centuries came from sharply stratified societies in which the wealthy savagely exploited members of the lower classes. Lacking a later generation’s belief in natural human equality, they saw little reason to question the enslavement of Africans. As they sought to mold a docile labor force, planters resorted to harsh, repressive measures that included liberal use of whipping and branding. That way of thinking would change, as the colonies would move toward war.

Slavery had an immense impact on African American families, as the familial dynamic of the African American family was in many ways responsible for the stereotypes surrounding black families in the present moment. Not only were families the sole property of their slave owner, but there were laws restricting their rights and privileges. However, despite the fact that the African American slave family existed in a perpetually tumultuous state, there were cohesive slave families, but they faced many struggles and challenges. In particular, black women were faced with incredible hardships with regard to sustaining the familial structure. This paper explores aspects of the African American family structure during slavery, considering the effect that slavery had on black women. The legacy of slavery in the present moment is also considered, in addition to whether slavery continues to exist.

It is undeniable that slavery has affected the American culture, our ancestors who either choose to be in America or were transported here less than 400 years ago. Over an estimated 300,000 slaves were transported to freshly colonized home, laden with diseases and new ordeals (Voyage, 2013). They were forced to work long and hard while their whip-torn bodies lay as an omen to what our freedom is built upon. An omen to how their very own freedom and basic rights are taken all for the advancement of a society that they were marginalized and systematically excluded from. This is the heritage that all Americans, especially African Americans, are so familiar with today. Though African Americans are no longer in the fields being beaten, but the underlying affects of this treatment of their race is irrefutable. Ever since slavery began, African Americans have had to

” For many, the economic structure of slavery still held strong and it established status in British America. Slavery had begun in the later half of the 17th century and in many ways, it had made Atlantic commerce and overseas settlement possible. Thousands of Africans had been shipped overseas to work in the fields of staple crops. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, high concentrations of slaves remained in the southern colonies where they continued to labour on cotton and tobacco plantations. Of the thirteen colonies, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas held the highest concentrations of slaves. In 1775, it is estimated that of the 2.5 million people living in the thirteen colonies, 500,000 were blacks. The vast majority of these blacks were slaves, with many labouring for their masters under harsh conditions. Although their experiences were difficult, blacks rarely revolted or staged rebellions against their masters. This has often been associated with the plantation system, and the role it played in severing blacks’ ties to one another. As highlighted by historian Silvia Frey, “The North American plantation organization, with the dominating presence of the master, inhibited the development of the tribal cohesiveness that characterized the islands’ plantation organization and produced widespread violence against whites by black guerrilla bands.” However, despite the absence of any significant

Today slavery is considered an abomination and a crime against humanity, but at one point it was more than acceptable for an individual to own slaves. During Colonial America agriculture was vital to the economy, “cheap labor was essential for the slave plantations to become profitable. ”1(“ History of trade, plantations, colonialism and colonization in the 13 Colonies”) Despite how morally wrong it is today the only thing that truly mattered at that time was if a plantation owner made a profit. Agriculture was the way people made it in the southern colonies.

Slavery was a harsh system that consisted of forcing other human beings to work in harsh conditions; as well as restrict their freedom to the point where they had none. Slavery was first introduced into Colonial America in 1619, and lasted for 245 years. During those 245 years, slavery harshly affected those who were involved in its system. The institution of slavery has profoundly influenced and shaped multiple aspects of Colonial America and the United States. Slavery influenced the 13 Colonies and the U.S. by the growth in sales for Cotton, and farming. Slavery shaped Colonial America and the United States culturally, by proving to the slaves that white people were far more superior than African Americans, religion and Cult of Domesticity. Lastly slavery shaped Colonial America and the United States politically by causing rebellions, and abolitionism.

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.

During the seventeenth century, the growth of tobacco, rice and indigo crops created a high demand for land as well as manual labor; two problems thought to be solved by the introduction of indentured servitude. Throughout the seventeenth century, the majority of Europeans coming to the America’s were Indentured Servants. Incentives were high for both employers and servants and this type of contract slave labor quickly became the method of choice for plantation owners. Increasing manual labor and land was critical to the colonies economic success, however time would eventually uncover the problems indentured servitude would create for the colonies, the land and ultimately farmers would prefer traditional slave labor to indentured servants.

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

Epictetus, the great Greek philosopher once said, “only the educated are free.” Epictetus was born a slave in Greece, and gained his freedom as he acquired knowledge. To those who are oppressed by the chains of slavery, education is a rarity. To oppressors, keeping slaves ignorant is ideal. African-American social reformer, Frederick Douglass, experienced the bondage of slavery and the influence education held in regards to gaining his freedom. Education was a major force for social change with regard to to slavery and African-American rights.

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.

During the development of the colonies and the nation as a whole, slaves were utilized in order to produce the crops and perform laborious tasks that were “below” white people. In the 1660s, there was an increased demand for tobacco products as well as indigo and rice in England (“African American Slavery in the Colonial Era, 1619-1775”). In order to fulfill the demand, there was a spike in interest in purchasing slaves. More and more slaves were needed to produce larger amounts of crops for the plantation owners.

Britain’s colonies in North America went from a society with slaves to a slave society. Owning slaves became a key part of everyday life for many plantation owners by the end of the period. Throughout the period, the focus shifted from indentured servitude to slavery because slaves proved to be more profitable. Slavery in the colonies stayed so popular because it was based on racial, social, and economic values. It changed the way that plantation owners did things, and they wanted to keep their own profits