Preview

Slavery In African America Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1607 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Slavery In African America Essay
Due to the inhumane treatment of slaves, slavery in America led to the permanent destruction of the African American race. Slavery not only made a physical impact on the slaves, but also a mental; people were taken away from their families, with thoughts of never seeing them again. It has been fifty-one years since slavery has ended, and still there are everyday occurrences involving racial remarks due to the color of one's skin and how they’re are seen in the eyes of one another. The United States has changed a lot over the past 50 years, for better and for worse, the effects of slavery have shunned the African American race and their chances of ever becoming equal throughout the country. The inconceivable amount of hatred that has been brought upon the African American race, from slavery is so problematic , that it still affects the growing population today. Slaves are people, they had families and a place to call home. Until 1619, when they were taken away from their …show more content…
The use of physical and mental torture, degraded many of the slaves to where they couldn’t sustain themselves. The thought of ever being free slipped their minds and it was all work and no play. Many of the slaves received a form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from their experiences from their masters, and it not only stayed with that slave for the rest of his or her life, but it has stayed with the African American race. The feeling of not being able to defend yourself, while you are being raped, if just unbearable to think about.

“The day I came in here. You said they stole your milk. I never knew what it was that messed him up. That was it, I guess. All I knew was that something broke him. Not a one of them years of Saturday, Sunday, and nighttime extra never touched him. But whatever he saw go on in that barn that day broke him like a twig” (Morrison,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    What is slavery? According to Dictionary.com it is the process in which “a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bondservant”. Slavery is very unheard of in this millennium era for as it first occurred in 1619 when the first African Americans were brought over to North American colony of Jamestown and ended in 1865 when the thirteenth amendment was ratified and abolished slavery. For many of the persons in this new generation not a lot of reflection is focused on slavery and its cruelty. It is up to the few who are given the opportunity to share the truth of the violence and exploitation of slavery and the harm it caused not only to the newly founded country but specifically the South. Slavery was a chain of unjustifiable…

    • 1527 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    12 Years A Slave Essay

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Solomon Northup's "12 years a Slave" is based on the author's life story as a free man in the pre-civil North and was abducted and sold into slavery in the south. Northup was the son of a liberated slave, therefore making him a free man from birth. He lived and worked in Upstate New York, where he worked as a laborer and a greatly talented violin player. He was deceived into travelling with two con men to Washington D.C who wanted to sell him as a slave to the south. He was led to believe that he was going to play the fiddle at a circus but instead was drugged and sold into slavery at the Red River region in Louisiana. For 12 consequent years he served as slave to different masters. Most of his years as a slave was spent under the ownership of a slaver named Edwin Epps.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    January 1st, 1863, during the third year of the civil war, president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free”. This document, however, had many limitations. It did not apply to the Border States, only the states that had seceded from the union. Although the Emancipation Proclamation failed to end slavery, it succeeded in giving hope to many slaves, and it boosted the moral of the black soldiers fighting for the union.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were "better." Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.…

    • 502 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The novel The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill depicts the life of a female African named Aminata, and her rough journey while having to endure slavery. From childhood to adulthood, Aminata faces many tragedies and has many horrifying experiences. Aminata is chosen by members of the abolitionist movement to help their movement and she possesses unique features. Aminata however, does not believe that she would make a difference, but her long life chaning, and horrifying voyage says otherwise.Therefore with her experience, strong character, and ability to adapt to a variety of different environments and situations, Aminata is beneficial to the abolitionist movement.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There was a time when slavery was notorious for dividing our nation in half. Abolitionists, people who were against the spread of slavery, had an important role in the emancipation of slaves. Frederick Douglass, a former slave and well-known abolitionist, was eminent for his anti-slavery speeches and writings. Many of his articles laid the groundwork for the Civil War and were directed towards the government and President Abraham Lincoln.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Southern Slavery Essay

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the fifth chapter, this thesis will assess the abolitionist effort to denounce the legitimacy of using the Bible to sanction southern slavery by arguing that biblical slavery was not based upon the inferiority of one race whereas southern slavery was based upon the inferiority of one race. In short, these abolitionists sought to highlight that southerners were using a book which sanctioned a system of slavery that was not based upon the inferiority of one race to sanction a system of slavery that was based upon the inferiority of one race. The Bible was being wrested from its original context to support something that it did not support. A very small number of Abolitionists such as Elijah Porter Barrows would make this argument. Barrows argued that in the Old Testament, the basis for slavery rested not on the idea that one race was inferior and thereby especially suited for slavery, but rather, anyone who was a foreigner to the Israelites, irrespective of race, was suitable for enslavement. Barrows would point out that if southerners, who likened themselves to the Israelites, were truly following the Biblical model of slavery, then they would have to permit the enslavement of many different…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery isn’t a short sweet story (as illustrated above). Slavery (a form of forced labor), contrary to common belief in the USA, did not start in the Americas, nor was it restricted to black African people; it has existed in almost all cultures and continents, and even exists to this day, in one form or another, in some places. Slavery has affected how people live, for good, and bad. Slavery made slave owners lives much easier as they get the slaves to do all of the dirty work, however, slaves live strenuous lives, and are treated inferiorly, and are considered as property.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This paper presents the life experience of two African-Americans as slaves during the nineteenth century. Henry Bibb was the author of his own narrative, which he published in 1849 with the assistance of Lucius Matlack. The second source was the narrative of W. L. Bost, a slave from North Carolina. He was interviewed as many other enslaved African-Americans by the members of the Federal Writer’s Project around the 1930s. The purpose of these narratives was to describe to the public what it meant to be slave at that period of time. Both authors recalled the difficult and cruel conditions they faced during their journey as slaves. First, they were sold as merchandises on the market. Bost depicted that both men and women were chained and inappropriately…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery is one of the worst things that happened in American history. It brought harm to millions of people in the South and left a mark on our legacy as a country. Many people, however, do not know what the life of a slave was truly like. The life of a slave was degrading, unfair, and agonizing for those who endured it.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Was Slavery Right Or Wrong

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Since the slave owner and every white person can do anything to the slaves, the slaves loose determination to stand up for themselves. According to Charles Ball who was a slave, “during the migration from Maryland to South Carolina, I had at times serious thoughts of suicide so great was my anguish. If I could have got a rope I should have hanged myself at Lanchester”. This quote elaborates on the psychological effects caused by physical pain. During this migration, he was chained by his neck, hands, and feet. While chained to another slave, Ball had a duty to care for the slave he was attached to. This meant that if the attached slave died or passed out along the journey, Ball would have to carry the weight of another until they obtained their destination. The psychological effect that this specific type of torture has on an American slave is mind control or reinforcement. Another way that the slaves were psychologically affected is when girl slaves were constantly raped by the men. In some of the cases, they got pregnant the baby would become a slave and the owner will be happy to get a free slave. With being raped, the women would not care at one point and accept it. Having any children, even with your lover was not suggested, this is due to the chance of the slave owner selling the baby to make money to get something or just get richer. Slaves were constantly…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In America, centuries have evolved and the people acknowledge that there are continuous issues in the struggle of Black identity. These issues have been witnessed in jobs, schools, restaurants, neighborhoods, etc. Evolving since slavery, leaders in the Black community wrote motivational speeches and literary narratives. These expositions promptly exposed and articulated the inhumane oppression inflicted on the African American race.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    African-Americans have been victims of systematic oppression since they were brought to the United States of America on the Middle Passage. Throughout the history of America, there have been leaders in the African-American community who voice their distain for the plight of blacks in this country. Johnetta B. Cole, former president of Spelman College, once said, “The truth is that the historical and current condition of you and yours is rooted in (slavery), it is shaped by it, is bound to it, and is the reality against which all else must be changed.” Though slavery ended almost 150 years ago, there are still structures in place in today’s society that can be attributed to the enslavement of African-Americans.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Market Economy

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The owners of the slaves (African Americans) ruled their lives and made sure they knew that the whites were in charge of them. This left the slaves with no life of their own to live. Slave owners used physical means to keep slaves obedient to their commands. Slaves were usually kept working in cotton fields from dawn to dusk for majority of the week. Women and children of the slaves were also forced to work in these cotton fields. African Americans dealt with the oppression they faced under slavery, good in the beginning even though they had to deal with a lot of punishment and torture from their masters. Laws were taken into place for the blacks that refrained from the formation of groups without the supervision of whites and they also were not allowed to write or read. The slave owners believed that these laws would keep their slaves under their control and would prevent rebellion against them. The African American family, kinship, and community prevented slavery from becoming depressing. Most slaves tried to escape if equality amongst the two races were not successful. Those that did escape were eventually caught but there were some that were able to get away for good by traveling underground or fleeing to different states. The slaves ruined agriculture for their masters and made it hard for the owners to figure out who the victims…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These Slaves had no life.The salves were there only to work giving their bosses free labor.The slaves were not treated like normal people they lived in huts.Their bed were old rags and straw.They were put on a market where they were sold to someone they called “Master".The master could do anything with them and they had to do all work,their master gave to them.When they worked in plantations they were watched by an overseer who made sure they did they work.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays