The White Slave Trade By Emma Goldman

This book notes the fears of people who believed in a great slave uprising conspiracy and how they came into being. Slave Country was good at pointing out the formation of the three dominant slave states and their ideology on slavery being both morally just and crucial to the economy. I believe, Rothman set out to explain why slavery expanded under the control of members of the revolutionary generation, and why it expanded particularly into the regions of the Louisiana Purchase.

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 this short work Professor Huggins explores the position and achievement of black slaves in American society, with its dream of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', from which they were excluded, except as necessary instruments. Wisely, instead of cramming a narrative of 250 years of complex social and economic history into 242 pages of text, he uses his talents as an established historian of black American culture to offer the general, rather than the academic, reader an admirable blend of the higher generalization and the higher popularization.

The African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Anna C. Bailey takes a rather interesting approach into the history of the Atlantic slave trade. Bailey took a personal journey, and was determined to break the silence. Of course with that being said it would prove to be a difficult quest since so many of these people are shamed about slavery, and the discussion of slavery is a taboo topic in its own ways. It was time to break the silence. Through out the book she explores diverse groups, of distinct people who all share the prevalent history of slavery. Her central theme in unveiling the past is through oral stories. Bailey makes it known in the first chapter that most texts written about the slave trade primarily focus on the Europeans perspective, which is what sets her book apart. Bailey herself residing in Jamaica takes an intimate standpoint to slavery, herself being of African slave descent, and knowing very limited details about her extensive family history. “What is clear from my family history is that more is known about the relatively recent past than is known about the period when my family members were undoubtedly slaves) . Through the obstacles and difficulties Bailey was able to succeed, and gave those affected a voice. Her approach will be examined, and the strengths and weaknesses in her approach will be brought to light.

Slavery by Another Name gives readers an interesting and eye opening look into the past of the re-enslavement of Black Americans. The author, Douglas Blackmon, presents a compelling and effective presentation and argument; which adds on to my previous knowledge of this familiar and personal topic, that slavery did not necessarily end with the Emancipation Proclamation. He argues that from the Civil War to World War II Black Americans were re-enslaved through hard labor. He uses various examples of real life experiences from descendants of the re-enslaved Black Americans and documents to support his presentation which gives the reader a better view as to what those times were like. Blackmon researched all the facts and information for this book himself being certain not to alter any quotations from individuals to keep everything true. Although Blackmon uses many stories in his book he chose to focus this narrative on one forgotten black man and his family, Green Cottenham. Blackmon states in his introduction, “The absence of his voice rest at the center of this book” (pg 10).

Many Americans had expected the practice of slavery to die. Americans were given this impression in relation to decreasing tobacco production due to lack of fertile soil (Foner, 317). However, Americans would be presented with factors that would lead to an expansion in slavery. The expansion of slavery deteriorated already terrible conditions for slaves; slave families would be separated and many female slaves faced imminent forced reproduction with studs or white males.

The changes of slavery shown through American history from the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, dealing with the horrific brutality and inhumane treatment accepted by much of society, all of the way up to present day, as we just recently had America’s first black president Barrack Obama elected in 2008, show drastic improvements on a national crisis that can be heavily credited to the great historical abolitionist of their time and even still the modern day abolitionists continuing to fight. The abolitionist movement was not simply pushed forward by groups of individuals who agreed on the basis that slavery and what was going on at the time was wrong, but instead was heavily impacted by key individuals who typically had experienced first person what it was like on the side of the chained captive workers who were seen as nothing more than mere property they owned. And while for a multitude of those held captive the only life they

Slavery, often called the “Peculiar Institution”, was an integral part of the United States economy. Prior to the civil war, the economy of the south was based on the use of slave labor for cotton. Even though the North did not have as many slaves, it relied on cotton from the South, which was the biggest import from the United States. Slavery became an important part of the culture of the south. Plantation life became an idealized way of life. Many whites came to view blacks as inferior and uncivilized. The United States was one of the last countries to abolish slavery and many of the ideas of white supremacy still exist today. For example, in The Growth of The American Republic by Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager, a textbook used from the 1930’s until the 1960’s, the authors wrote about slavery having been beneficial for everyone, even the slaves. They wrote about how slaves were happy to be slaves and treated well. They claimed that slaves became devoted to their masters and were faithfully obedient. They wrote that slaves worked less than free workers of the North. Contrary to what Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager thought, slaves were not treated well, content, or devoted to their owners, and suffered from overworking and terrible conditions.

Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.

In The Ideology of Slavery by Drew Gilpin Faust, in Chapter 4 which is James Henry Hammond that writes a letter to an English Abolitionist, in a section he describes how he believes that Slavery is not a sin and is approved by Christ. It would seem that while God commanded Moses to free his people that were slaves to the Pharaoh, “man” is overlooking these in the Bible and that they are creating their own law and how their religion differs totally by what they do. “I think, then, I may safely conclude, and I firmly believe, that American Slavery is not only not a sin, but especially commanded by God through Moses, and approved by Christ through his apostles” (Faust 175). When reasoning between what is right and wrong, Americans only found that what they were doing was not necessarily evil or wrong just that God permitted it, and also white Americans found slavery to be very significant for their own lives, due to the fact that their way of making money and making a living involved the owning of humans to make themselves the most profitable.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs are both prominent influential authors of the Reform Era. Both writers, who spring forth from similar backgrounds and unimaginable situations, place a spotlight on the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the lives of the African American slaves. After reading and analyzing both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; readers discover the horrifying truths that belong to the past in connection to slavery.

Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery by Another Name opened my eyes to see what many people fails to see. In junior high, I was taught that slavery ended long ago during the mid 1800’s under President Abraham Lincoln; however, after reading this book, it is apparent that in a figurative sense slavery did actually end at that time. In the more literal sense, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment was supposed to terminate slavery once and for all, but those who couldn’t accept that still managed to create the Black Codes to continue slavery in different forms and to hinder the growth of African Americans. The author indicated that Neoslavery was a new form of slavery, practiced by those who couldn’t bear the end of slavery.

The book “American Slavery 1619-1877” is a book on slavery unlike anything I have ever read. Most books on slavery look at it through extremely common perspectives and have flooded the nonfiction genre. However, the author, Peter Kolchin, decides to show the reader that his studies on slavery are different from any previous study done. He brings up a lot of arguments that were actually thought to be unarguable, and shuts them down. It is miraculous to think that someone finally got to the very root of American slavery and can finally give Americans of today a real feel for the reasons behind slavery.

In the 1600’s, Slavery played a significant role in European history. The negative aspects that made up the dark times in history are, mainly centered on the brutalizing effects of the enslaved people, which can be best explained by the destroyed family bonds, history of the enslaved people erased, and unjust treatment of the slaves.