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Slavery
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"
(Thomas Jefferson).
Slavery in America stems well back to when the new world was first
discovered and was led by the country to start the African Slave Trade-
Portugal. The African Slave Trade was first exploited for plantations in
that is now called the Caribbean, and eventually reached the southern
coasts of America (Slavery Two; Milton Meltzer). The African natives were
of all ages and sexes. Women usually worked in the homes, cooking and
cleaning, whereas men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Young
girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in
the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops.
Since trying to capture the native Indians, the Arawaks and Caribs,
failed (Small-Pox had killed them), the Europeans said out to capture
African slaves. They were shipped from Africa by the Europeans in what
was called The Triangular Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This was an
organized route where Europeans would travel to Africa bringing
manufactured goods, capture Africans and take them to the Caribbean, and
then take the crops and goods and bring them back to Europe. The African
people, in order to communicate invented a language that was a mixture of
all the African languages combined, called Creole. This language now
varies from island to island. They also kept their culture which accounts
for calypso music and the instruments used in these songs.
Slavery was common all over the world until 1794 when France signed the
Act of the National Convention abolishing slavery. It would take America
about a hundred years to do the same (Slavery Two; Milton Meltzer).
George Washington was America's hero. He was America's first president.
He was a slave owner. He deplored slavery but did not release his slaves.
His will stated that they would be released after the death of his wife
(The Volume Library; 1988). Washington wasn't the only president to have
slaves. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "All men are created equal" but died
leaving his blacks in slavery.
In 1775 black Americans were sent to fight in the revolutionary army.
The British proposed that if a black man was to join their army, they
would be set free afterwards. America originally planned not to let the
blacks fight in the army, but when hearing this, let them enlist. Only
Georgia and South Carolina refused to let them enlist, but paid for their
racism when each lost 25,000 blacks to the British. The slaves returned
on an honourable discharge after securing America's freedom, but not their
own (Software Toolworks Encyclopedia; 1992).
Slavery continued and so did the numbers of slaves trying to escape to
the free states or into Canada. A runaway slave would be found by
bloodhounds, trained to find black slaves. Then the slave, upon returning,
would be executed or severely whipped.
The "Underground Railroad" was a project that helped black slaves escape
into Canada, especially Amherstburg. The system involved 3,000 white
helpers and freed an estimated 75,000 people after the civil war.
Slavery in the middle of the 1800's was abolished except for the
rebellion states in the south. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation
was issued which made slavery illegal in the states that had rebelled and
allowed black slaves to serve in the army and get other jobs, or continue
to work on the plantations, as employees making money.
The nightmare of slavery was over but a new one was to begin. One that
was worse for it was prevalent but was secret and silent. One that exists
today. One that does not shrink but rather grows. Racism was and is upon
us.
Word Count: 1407
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Oroonoko, Not An Anti-slavery
Upon first reading Aphra Behn's work Oroonoko, one might get the impression that this is an early example of antislavery
Slavery Is The South
Essay #3 Slavery played a dominating and critical role in much of Southern life. In the struggle for control in America,
Oroonoko
Upon first reading Aphra Behn's work , one might get the impression that this is an early example of antislavery literat
Frederick Douglass' Life And His Work
Frederick Douglass was born 1817, in Tuckahoe, Maryland. He was famous for escaping slavery, and his work as an abolitio
Fredrick Douglass
In August 1841, at an abolitionist meeting in New Bedford, the 23-year-old Douglass saw his hero and his “true fri
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