American Slavery To think that the institution of American Slavery was a good-natured and acceptable act is beyond belief. On the other hand, it has been said that slavery is what made America what it is today. Slavery is a system, which people are treated with no respect and are forced to do hard labor(civilwar). Majority of slaves were African-Americans and many of the children and women were still forced to do harsh labor. When northern America was taken over by the Europeans, there was a shortage of labor.
The treatment of African Americans when they first arrived in America was very similar to the treatment of indentured servants, and of course, black servants were treated hugely different than white servants. By 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed. Race was a very significant factor in the American slavery system. In most other nations, it was common for a slave to be of the same race as their master. After their job as a slave, it was then acceptable to reenter society as an equal citizen.
How have African-Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights? African Americans struggled with freedom, and being an accepted race in America from as early years of the colonial period until it was firmly established in the late 1700s. In 1865, everything changed because Abraham Lincoln declared that slavery was now illegal, but this did not stop the discrimination, hate crimes, and unequal treatment. Many civil rights leaders would step up, putting themselves out there to fight for their color, and freedom; with little respect from other races. Racism in America is an issue of the past, and we can blame the poor treatment on change and how that generation was raised, but we have
But successfully doing this was more difficult than anticipated. Although the institution of slavery was gone forever, the attitudes and habits that put it in place remained deeply engrained in Southern society. Once the Southern states regained self-government, they found ingenious ways of excluding blacks from the political process, for example by imposing literacy tests and so called grandfather clauses. (You could only vote if a familymember had the right to vote before the civil
It is hard to believe a human being could have a selling price placed on them, but that is exactly what happened not so long ago during the harsh times of slavery. The definition of a slave is, “A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.” Slavery began in America after Jamestown settlers had started hiring indentured servants. Most African Americans were taken as innocent people from their homes, and put onto ships that took them to America. There were many people on one ship for the couple of months that they traveled. Rich, plantation owning men were the ones that normally owned slaves because they could afford them and needed their help to work on different areas of the plantation.
It caused imbalance in colonies. That claim led America to reconsider putting blacks fighting line. The Proclamation delivered its promise and gave freedom to many slaves. Many blacks played a major role in this war. Crispus Attuck, who was black slave, is known as the first martyr of the war.
The north would write books, and newspapers, and give speeches about the wrongs of slavery, but the south wasn't giving in. Though slavery wasn't abolished in the south, in the north, African Americans were given the right to vote. This cause many slaves to try to escape their owners, to get to the north, where they would be free. Because African Americans now had the right to vote, women found it unfair that they still did not have the right to vote. Many women, including Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, took action to gain their right.
In 1776, Americans had just declared their independence from Britain –referred to as a kingdom of slaves. Why was their slavery justified? Their goal was to make America an asylum for refuge and freedom of religion, where equality would be first priority. The nations slave population was approximately one fifth of its own population. The idea of slavery is cruel and extreme in today society, but it was common to own slaves then.
“Slavery gave way to Jim Crow, lynchings, poll taxes, redlining and educational and job discrimination. Although illegal now, these tools perpetuated a racial hierarchy that affects every American today...” (Lee) The effects of the slavery still effect today. It is ignorance if people think that slavery does not affect the people of today. Our past generations help set our path in life, negative or positive. People born into poor families do not have every opportunity as those with money.
Difficult as it is for us to understand today, slavery was a simple fact of life throughout much of human history. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, this unquestioning acceptance of slavery combined with two other factors— Europeans’ belief in the inferiority of other races and cultures, and European settlement of the New World—to give rise to the Atlantic slave trade. According to historian James L. Stokesbury, When Europeans first made their way down the coast of Africa towards the east, and discovered the New World to the west, they still believed in slavery as an institution. Some men were free, some were slaves; God had made it that way. When the Spanish therefore enslaved the Indians, it was not to them a reprehensible act; the Church put limitations on