The Slave Trade : The Banishment Of Slave Rights In America

The Atlantic Slave Trade attempts to dehumanize enslaved Africans in numerous ways. First of all, from the sketch of a slave ship in the Middle Passage, it reveals that each slave has very limited space on the ship. Therefore, due to the harsh living condition on the ship, many slaves died in the Middle Passage. In addition, slaves were used as possessions, sold in market, “poked and prodded by strange white people” (Berlin 4). This intends to show “plantation owners’ wealth and power” (Berlin 2). Moreover, slaves might be “whipped, restrained, or maimed for any infraction, large or small ” (Henretta 100). Particularly, slave owners brandishing hot irons on slaves, to reveal their confined identity as slaves. Furthermore, the slave owners also

From the 17th century until the 19th century, almost twelve million Africans were brought to the New World against their will to perform back-breaking labour under terrible conditions. The rationalizations and defences given for slavery and the slave trade were absurd and self-serving. Slavery was a truly barbaric, and those who think that they can control what another group of people eat, where they sleep, whether they are to live or die, or even whether they are to be bought or sold, are acting on a totally inhumane level.

They were examined by surgeons and those who passed the examination were marked with a hot iron burn which distinguished where they would be sent. This shows how Africans were treated more similar to animals than human beings.

Some Africans did not go without putting up a fight. For instance, Captain Tomba led many villagers “in burning huts and killing neighbors who cooperated with slave traders” (14). He was later captured and sent to the slave ship where he would be sold in the New World. The slaves also resisted by refusing to eat. Most of them decided they would rather have death than to live the lifestyle on the slave ships. The captains punished those who refused to eat by giving them lashes to the bare skin until they decided to eat. Olaudah Equiano could be considered one of the more fortunate Africans involved in the slave trade. Rediker uses Equiano to show how Africans were kidnapped and brought to the slave ship. Equiano was home alone with his sister when he was snatched by a neighboring enemy tribe. Tribes were kidnapping each other to sell to the slave traders for goods and even weapons. Equiano was separated from his sister and sold off to merchants before actually boarding the slave ship. He mentioned several times how he would rather die than be on the slave ship. He noticed right away that “the slave ship was equipped with nettings to prevent precisely such desperate rebellion” (109). Equiano went to the Americas and was left alone when none of the merchants purchased him. He was sold to a captain and boarded his ship back to England. On this slave ship, he was treated much better. He got to stay on the deck and eat better food than he had

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.

What is slavery? Slavery is forced labor and this forced labor is what built America and made them become more developed. “Africans peoples were captured and transported to the Americas to work. Most European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th century through the 19th were dependant on enslaved African labor for their survival.” Many claim that enslavement was very necessary in order for America to thrive and not die off for it is now one of the best countries in the world. However, slavery was not necessary in the Americas it was just a mechanism that just stripped Africans of their human rights, giving the slave masters the “right” to abuse them. Slavery was not necessary in the Americas because without slavery America would

Before becoming a slave African Americans were first kidnapped from their homes. The kidnapping process was fast. There was hardly any chance given to scream or fight back against the kidnapper. Those that were kidnapped journey was “to travel, sometimes by land, sometimes by water, through different countries and various nations” (Pearsons, 2011, 149). The slaves transatlantic voyage was called the “middle passage” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 82). This middle passage was “a nightmare of death, disease, suicide, and sometimes mutiny” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 82). The waters near West Africa were known as the “white man’s grave” because so many white officers and crews of the slave ships died because of diseases and were tossed overboard (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 82). While the death toll of the crew was great in numbers. The deaths of the black slaves aboard was far greater. These slave ships were hotbeds for many diseases such as “scurvy, yellow fever, malaria, dysentery, small pox, measles and typhus” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 83). The

“The Slave Ship: A Human History” written by Marcus Rediker describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, and captains, and ship crewmen on their journey through the Middle Passage, the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves to cultivate crops in the Caribbean and America offered a great economy for the European countries by providing “free” labor and provided immense wealth for the Europeans. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). African enslavement to the Americas is the most prominent reason for a complete shift in the

Natives on the other hand were very difficult to enslave because many died due to diseases and lack of immunity to them and they were very knowledgeable with the surrounding terrain if they were to ever escape. To comply with the demand for cultivation of cash crops, a shipping route that imported Africans to the new world was the famous “horrendous six-to eight- week long ocean voyage known as the Middle Passage” (Goldfield, The American Jorney, 55). The European powers traded these slaves for guns, rum and other textiles. But in order to get these slaves, Africans kidnapped and traded other Africans for these resources. The African kingdom traded slaves who have done punishable crimes in their country for valuable resources that could help protect the kingdom from other rulers in Africa. Once the Africans were enslaved, they now begin their long journey to the New World on the compacted ships. Similar to indentured servants on their long voyage to the New World, the living conditions for the slaves on board were disgusting and unimaginable, they lived in their own filth struggling to barely survive the week long passages and slaves were often tightly packed below the deck. The slaves who did survive were then bought and sold just like cattle, often being separated from loved ones

All through the African Slave Trade there have been numerous huge occasions that happened amid 1450-1850. Three of which I will be expounding on in this theme. The center section was the first key occasion in which Africans were sent to the New World. The slave treatment and resistance of African men and ladies who were viewed as not as much as human was the second key occasion. The Fugitive Slave Law which permitted recover of slaves was the third key occasion. An expected 12 million Africans were transported over the Atlantic toward the Western Hemisphere from 1450 to 1850. Of this number, around five percent were conveyed to British North America and, later, to the United States, the greater part of them landing somewhere around 1680 and 1810. A little number of Africans went first to the British West Indies and afterward to North America.

Every since the start of slavery, in 1619 and all the way up until now 2016, people have been socially, religiously, and sexually profiled by their race. It could be something just as simple as where they come from, how they talk, their beliefs, or the color of their skin. We all are very aware of the history of slavery and how things went on in that time. I was far more horrific and blood-curdling back then. Unlike today protesting, rallying, and fight back was not an option back then, of course some stood up for what they believed in those were the boldest. Those who dared to challenge the authorities were the bravest, those who sat back at waited for a change were the patient.

The 1800s were a pivotal time for the United States. During these years, many different topics were up for dispute and compromises were being negotiated. Unfortunately, it was hard for all of the citizens to come to a complete compromise for the disputes. Some states had similar opinions, while others were in a deadlock. One of the biggest disputes during this time were over slavery. While other disputes only involved a few states, slavery was a dispute that caused unrest between two distinctive regions in the United States: the north, and the south. The northern states were all anti-slavery. These states were considered “free-states” and slavery was prohibited. The southern states were considered “pro-slavery.” This classification meant that this region was for slaves. For a small amount of time, there was a free/slave balance among the states. In 1819, this balance would be questioned and possibly be changed.

Growing up as a child, you are always told that violence is never the correct way to handle an unfair situation or conflict and that you should always use your words and not your fists. Violence is seen as uncivil and barbaric, to be avoided at all costs. However, the institution of slavery is itself uncivil and barbaric, and in the case of the slave Frederick Douglass, violence became the only viable option, even as a boy/young man. Fighting and not conforming to impossible demands of his overseer, Mr. Covey, was the only way that Douglass could avoid the horrible beatings that were among the worst hardships of slavery. While I do think that fighting back was the right thing for Douglass to do, I don’t think that his choice to fight back was the most meaningful turning point to his emancipation. Learning how to read and write was what set Douglass apart from the other slaves that he was amongst, and what led him to learn about the better opportunities in the North and inspired him to risk everything to escape to where he could live a free life as a free man.

Imagine being taken from your home and being sent towards slavery. Many Africans were taken from their home and put on a ship in horrible conditions just to become enslaved and treated horrible. These newly turn slave endure terrible living environments on the ship and where they stayed. Slaves were used for many different things, such as farming cotton and different plants as well as mining. This essay will discuss The Middle Passage and the ship ride to the new world, as well as how slaves were treated once they arrived, and

Throughout history there have been many gruesome crimes committed. The records and information that have been written about African slavery are one of the top atrocious crimes in history. By 1820, four slaves had crossed the Atlantic for every European. Between 1525 and 1866, in the entire history of the slave trade to the New World, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. Only, 10.7 million survived disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America. However before the Europeans had arrived to Africa there was already a slave trade in process. The Islamic slave trade accounts for nearly 9 million captured African slaves in the seventh century. A tragedy of such