African American Retribution
Reparation for African Americans
Ryan Edmonds
Baker College of Jackson
Nov/8/2011
Reparation for African Americans
Anta Majigeen Njaay a thirteen year old African girl was awakened at the crack of dawn on a spring morning in 1806, to the sounds of screams and gunfire. As she looked outside to see what all the commotion was about, invaders were raiding her village slaughtering and kidnapping her countrymen and women in front of her eyes (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13). By the end of the raid her father, uncle, and other relatives were dead and she and her mother became prisoners of war. Her apprehenders were people from her own country, warrior slaves who invade rival villages and seized captives to trade “to European slave dealers in return for fine fabrics, wines, and weapons” (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13). Once traded she was branded with her master’s logo and shipped like cargo on vessels under intolerable conditions (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13).
Such events occurred millions of times in Africa, resulting in millions of Africans being kidnapped from their homeland and relatives, and then sold and traded like cattle to foreigners. Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, veteran journalists for The Hartford Courant, indicate that “European ships transported nearly all the estimated 11.5 million Africans sold over three centuries into New World slavery, including the approximately 645,000 sent to the American colonies” (Farrow, Lang, & Frank 2005, p. 95).
African slaves were brought to America in 1619 to help with the production of lucrative crops. In the article Slavery in America”, it is written that “In the early 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants” ( 2011). By 1750, nearly a quarter million African slaves populated the mainland colonies of British North America, while 30,000 were held in the southern colonies (Horton &
Ryan Edmonds
Baker College of Jackson
Nov/8/2011
Reparation for African Americans
Anta Majigeen Njaay a thirteen year old African girl was awakened at the crack of dawn on a spring morning in 1806, to the sounds of screams and gunfire. As she looked outside to see what all the commotion was about, invaders were raiding her village slaughtering and kidnapping her countrymen and women in front of her eyes (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13). By the end of the raid her father, uncle, and other relatives were dead and she and her mother became prisoners of war. Her apprehenders were people from her own country, warrior slaves who invade rival villages and seized captives to trade “to European slave dealers in return for fine fabrics, wines, and weapons” (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13). Once traded she was branded with her master’s logo and shipped like cargo on vessels under intolerable conditions (Horton & Horton, 2005, p. 13).
Such events occurred millions of times in Africa, resulting in millions of Africans being kidnapped from their homeland and relatives, and then sold and traded like cattle to foreigners. Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, veteran journalists for The Hartford Courant, indicate that “European ships transported nearly all the estimated 11.5 million Africans sold over three centuries into New World slavery, including the approximately 645,000 sent to the American colonies” (Farrow, Lang, & Frank 2005, p. 95).
African slaves were brought to America in 1619 to help with the production of lucrative crops. In the article Slavery in America”, it is written that “In the early 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants” ( 2011). By 1750, nearly a quarter million African slaves populated the mainland colonies of British North America, while 30,000 were held in the southern colonies (Horton &
References: Bordewich, F. (2005). Bound for Canaan. New York, NY: HarperCollins Farrow, A., Lang, J. & Frank, J. (2005). How the north promoted, prolonged, and profited from slavery complicity. New York, NY: Hartford Courant. Foner, E. (2005). Forever free. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. Guasco, M. (2011). Native American slavery. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordbibliographiesonline.com/view/document Horton, J. & Horton, L. (2005). Slavery and the making of America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Lister, R. (2000). Native Americans regain land. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas Slavery in America. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/print/slavery Tayac, G. (Ed.). (2009). IndiVisible African-Native American lives in the Americas. New York, NY: Smithsonian Institution.