The Slave Auction

The poet addresses issues of the child observing an unhealthy and abusive relationship between his/her father and mother in the third stanza. The eighth line states, “Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?” These words insinuate that the father treated the child’s mother badly or was abusive to her and that she deserved better. This is so considering the only reason to forgive someone for marrying another implies they treated that person improperly. Likewise, having to forgive someone for not marrying another simply displays how the other person never received what he or she

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a very important time in history. When the records of the Atlantic slave Trade are reflected upon ,the impacts of the shipboards revolts are often times overseen .Although these revolts did have an immense effect on the political, views of the Slave trade. Richardson’s “shipboard revolts,African Authority,and the Atlantic slave trade”. brings into view the fluctuating causes and effects of shore based, and shipboard insurrection . Because of Richardson occupation it grants him reliability to all of his claims and supports his opinions His profession of studying economics and international ,offers him a profusion amount of education in the countries which were involved in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Richardson expose the indispensable impacts of shipboard revolts , African Leadership on the Atlantic slave trade, the author accomplishes this by painting out the causes an effects of each specific revolt an also by exposing the progress.

Everyone has their own understanding of what slavery is, but there are misconceptions about the history of “slavery”. Not many people understand how the slave trade initially began. Originally Africa had “slaves” but they were servants or serfs, sometimes these people could be part of the master’s family. They could own land, rise to positions of power, and even purchase their freedom. This changed when white captains came to Africa and offered weapons, rum, and manufactured goods for people. African kings and merchants gave away the criminals, debtors, and prisoner from rival tribes. The demand for cheap labor was increasing, this resulted in the forced migration of over ten million slaves. The Atlantic Slave Trade occurred from 1500 to 1880 CE. This large-scale event changed the economy and histories of many places. The Atlantic Slave Trade held a great amount of significance in the development of America. Africans shaped America by building a solid foundation for the country.

The two majors drivers that led to the transatlantic slave trade was the European desire for the agricultural products of the Americas and the need for laborers to work the land in the Americas. All participants, besides for the slaves, benefited from the trading.

For over 2,000 years, slavery has been conducted in various parts of the world. From year 1500 to year 1900, Europeans stole individuals from West Africa, West Central Africa, and Southeast Africa and shipped them to the different parts of the Atlantic. This process dehumanized them of their identity. Europeans stole husbands, wives, merchants, blacksmiths, farmers, and even children. They removed them from their homelands and gave them new names: slaves. European slaveholders never thought to take ownership of their actions by killing humans with brutality and degradation. Slave trade was considered popular in England and soon after more countries began the process of taking slaves to newly claimed territories. These countries include

The African Slave Trade was a massive system of Europeans taking African Americans and selling them into slavery. The African Slave Trade began in the 15th century. This slave trade put Africa in a weird relationship with Europe that cause the depopulation of Africa, but it increased the wealth of Europe.

In the second stanza, the woman is talking about her pain and guilt. In "I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children," she is mentally haunted by her unborn children's faint, subtle cries. She then changes from speaking to the reader to focusing and explaining to her children why she did what she did. In her explanation she says:

There is no doubt that the United States was built upon the hard work of Black-American slaves, referred to at the time as bondpeople, who were the main labor force in producing important American exports, such as cotton or tobacco, which were, in fact, the backbone of the American economy during that time. Due to bondpeople’s overall importance in keeping the United States the powerhouse that it was, the domestic slave trade was a value market that “‘was roughly three times greater than the total amount of all capital, North and South combined, invested in manufacturing, almost three times the amount invested in railroads, and seven times the amount invested in banks’”(23). In “‘In Pressing Need of Cash,’” Daina Ramey Berry, a professor for the Departments of History and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas, looks at a fifteen year period, from 1850-1865, of the economic factors of the domestic slave trade. Berry uses Steven Deyle’s findings in his study, "Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life” which examined both the "long-distance interstate trade" and the extensive local or "intrastate" trade of enslaved males and females, who were priced differently depending on their perceived market value (23). With Deyle’s findings, Berry specifically discusses the relationships among gender, age, skill, or type of sale and how those factors, generally, determined the priced paid of enslaved workers.

Opponents of slavery focused first on ending the slave trade rather than abolishing slavery because focusing mainly on the slaver trade was easier than ending slavery itself. Ending the slave trade was also more likely to succeed rather than just eliminating slavery. The abolitionists were convinced that, if trade was terminated, slavery would ultimately disintegrate. Therefore, if slave trade was stopped, that would make the abolitionists pleased since there would be no new slaves transported into different countries and colonies. Furthermore, slaveowners would also be pleased because the price they could sell their owned slaves would be driven up by the decrease of supply.

The slave trade put fear in the Southern States because they could carry on with the trade for another two decades. But the Northern States had to wait to protect the Union. The Southern States agreed to the Compromise because they thought it would die down. In order to Appease the South they passed the ‘Fugitive State Law’. The Fugitive State Law ordered the Northern States to deport any runaway slaves. Because of the taxes on importing the slaves they were considered as commodities.

One of the greatest examples of Harper’s works is “The Slave Mother.” The poem gives the reader a first hand experience of the devastating effects of slavery on the enslaved mothers. According to Janet Gray, “Harper aims to transform the listening subject not only by arousing sympathy but also by striking terror”(76). Harper does a great job of accomplishing this task. Throughout the poem she uses words and phrases that evoke powerful images in the readers’ mind and moves them emotionally. For example, “They tear him from her

Great Britain abolished its slave trade in 1807, sending the Royal Navy to blockade the coast of Africa and intercept slavers in an effort to shut down the commerce altogether. In 1833, it did away with slavery itself in all its empire. And yet when war over slavery broke out in the United States in 1861, the British government remained neutral, even though it was led by Lord Palmerston — who, according to Christopher Dickey in “Our Man in Charleston,” believed himself to be “the leader of Christendom in its opposition to the slave trade.” This meant that Liverpool shipyards could sell heavily fortified “merchant” vessels to the Confederates (easily converted into war ships) and London investors could buy cotton bonds, which helped finance

One of the greatest examples of Harper’s works is “The Slave Mother.” The poem gives the reader a first hand experience of the

The New Orleans slave market was extremely large and lucrative because its location on the Mississippi allowed for easy trade between Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. In fact, it was the largest slave market in the United States. About 17,000 slaves resided in the city, out of a total population of 100,000. In other Southern cities, the slave market generally spanned only a few blocks, but in New Orleans it was present everywhere, from upscale hotels to the business district, to boats docked in the harbor. The slave market was a major facet of the New Orleans economy, so there was no abolition movement in that area. In 1829, it became illegal to house slaves in the French Quarter, so they were kept in pens. Cotton and sugarcane were the most