Topic 2: Compare and contrast slavery as it existed in Africa, the New Word, and the Ottoman Empire. The history of slavery covers many different forms of human development and exploitation across many cultures throughout history. From the earliest known history of Africa, slavery existed. West African history encounters a major turning point with the introduction of the European slave trade. Although personal slavery existed as a cultural mechanism, its use was never as intensive as chattel slavery in the New World.
What if the Africans/African Americans were the slave owners? Would it be wrong? It made some slave holders and their overseers brutal, it made other white people feel guilty and ashamed. Slavery was a moral sickness upon the society. Most slave owners were of white descent and for them to turn their back on their own kind is awfully inhumane, you could tell immediately that these people had no type of conviction or mercy within their own race.
There would be holding and selling of Africans as slaves. Some people had thought they were fit to be enslaved. There was a ranking of importance and white men would be first, then white women onto African men, and last African women. There was no respect for any Africans. They had a struggle of being called Mister or Miss, they had struggles getting into school, and also had a struggle of getting into political roles.
One identity in which slaves had trouble in the new world would an overall identity in this new society. During the time slaves who carried through the middle passage were labeled with the name of “Saltwater Slaves.” This term refers to slaves born in Africa and transported to the Western Hemisphere across the Atlantic Ocean. This was a problem due to the fact that the slaves who were born in America would differentiate themselves apart from the slaves who traveled from overseas. This created a tear and disconnection between the two societies and therefore causing a divide in the culture. It had gotten so bad to the point when the saltwater slaves had defining characteristics, which widen the gap between slaves born in New World versus the slave travelling to the New World.
At the time, slaves cleared land, cultivated farms, built homes, built railroads and roads, picked cotton and tobacco which were one of America’s biggest exports. Slavery left a residue of discrimination and human trafficking that our country still writhes from in many communities to this day. Although Solomon Northup’s story is mind-blogging, he is not the only person to have suffered kidnapping and enslavement, his story is so intriguing because he freed himself, survived and wrote a book about his experiences as a slave. Some people may feel that slaves born into slavery would be better off than someone who was sold into slavery because as the saying goes, “You can’t miss what you never had”-Hunter S.
The slave trade saw massive amounts of slaves being brought into this area at this time. Slaves that were brought here through the slave trade probably suffered from much despair. Slaves were often split up from their families and sold and then transported to areas that they have never been. Slaves that got moved to Mississippi buy
Indentured servants and slaves were not allowed to vote under any circumstances unless released by their masters. Unlike indentured servants, slaves had no rights unless they were released and then could have any rights of the normal citizen. The nature of slavery was really no different than the nature of indentured servant. The businessmen of the colonies needed labor. They saw both slaves and indentured servants as property and could abuse that power as they saw fit.
Whether in the form of revolts within their own land borders or on a larger scale with rebellions, one of the most notable being that of Nat Turner. Some resistance was kept more quiet such as Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, though valiant in retrospect seldom were successful, Turner’s rebellion numbering only in seventy plus slaves who although killing many whites was thwarted by the militia in short order. The mindset of the times was the larger obstacle as efforts of rebelling slaves only steeled the ideology that the black man was ultimately a savage animal without the mental wherewithal to control himself needing someone to keep him in line. By this time in history, we were a nation to ourselves pecking out a constitution and bill of rights, state and federal legislatures and government. These precepts were hammered out by men who were aristocratic and affluent in the cultural setting of the time.
But, the belief that blacks were inferior to whites and unsuited for life in any condition other than slavery was a commom belief among most whites. Before the law, slaves were just considered property. Slaves could be sold or sleased by their owners at any time and the slaves lack a voice in the government that ruled over them. They were also not alowed to testify in court against any white man, sign contracts or acquire property. they also could not own firearms, hold meetings unless a white person was present, nor could they leave their farm any anytime without the permission of their owner.
Overall, the trade brought about unceasing insecurities, economic disorder, and political chaos in the African continent. It blocked its socio-economic development by exploiting its technological, agricultural and human resources for the benefit of Europe only. It damaged Africa's mercantilist economy and prevented its evolution into a capitalist economy. On the long run, the Atlantic slave trade was the starting point of a process of socio-economic exploitation and political fragmentation that was later institutionalised by Europeans through colonisation and neocolonisation. In the end, only Europeans benefited from the trade.