As I study about early American History and the beginnings of our Nation the area that has affected me the most is the topic of Slavery. I know when looking at the atrocious events connected with the slave trade we all must step back and look at the situation from that time period. It is hard for many to except, including myself, that any humane people could allow such behavior. I have to remember that the slave trade became an essential part of the economy and its convenience was common and a usual practice then. Though the subject is difficult to think and ponder over, I love the opportunity to expand my knowledge on such subjects. The more truth I can discover the better I can understand and in turn learn from the past.

            When looking back at how slavery became so prominent in the United States one must look to the root of its history.  Slavery within Africa was practiced long before the beginnings of slave trade across the Atlantic. Africa has the longest history of slavery than any other areas in the world. There was great animosity within West Africa because European imperialism drew unnatural borders grouping together different African cultures which would sometimes put enemies together. When slavery began to expand beyond African borders the tensions between cultures facilitated the trade. The gun vortex was the beginning of the mass trade of Africans to the Americas. Europeans started trading guns with African tribes for slaves. Once tribes had the mighty weapons they could then conquer opposing tribes with no resistance. Tribes had to kidnap others to sell into slavery in return for weapons to defend themselves from the same fate. This became a viscous cycle of sacrificing others for survival. Another aspect important to know about the slave trade was the numeral statistics. There have always been arguments over the numbers involved with the slave trade such as the number of how many were sold, died, and survived. One view is that during the 400 years of modern slavery about 14 million men, women, and children were enslaved. About 1.8 million people died in Africa before leaving the continent, 12.4 million were loaded on ships, 1.8 million died on the ships, and 1.5 million died the first year of slavery in the Americas.

            The most atrocious aspect of the slavery in America was its foundation on ethnicity. Ancient slavery was obviously cruel, however not in the same manner as modern slavery was. In the Ancient days slavery was based on conquered societies. The ethnicity of a person did not matter. Once the trade from Africa commenced the notion of slaves being a specific race and ethnicity began to be engrained into Colonial society. Free Africans were never accepted as American citizens like the European immigrants even if they had entirely assimilated into the culture.

Centuries of discrimination against African Americans resulted from the idea of African=Slave notion in those early colonial years. Today this view of discrimination remains in some areas of our Nation. The situations African Americans faced through those years of discrimination have given some unequal and unjust prospects in life. A cycle has been created for many that do not have appropriate economic, educational, and societal opportunities.

            Another negative aspect of the slave trade is the poor cultures that developed in Africa when all their people had been taken. When the slave traders were gathering the African’s they would choose the healthiest, strongest, and fittest to take in hopes they would survive the journey and become valuable workers. These actions lead the economies decimated in West Africa. There is also belief that slave descendants are the best athletes in the world because the strongest were taken from West Africa and brought to the Americas.

Tags: Slave America History Africa

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