Slavery
Slavery in the United States is said to have started in the 16th century and ended in the 19th century. It is estimated that more than 12 million African Americans were enslaved during this period. Most of these slaves were in the southern states of the United States and were used to provide free labor in agricultural fields. The slaves were shipped from the coast of west African states which included, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, ivory coast, Ghana Benin, and central and Southern East Africa states. The mortality amongst the slaves was very high and it is approximated that more than five percent died en-route to America from Africa.
The transatlantic slaves between 1450 and 1830 saw the movement of slaves from the Africa to America in large numbers and they were brought to the continent against their choice. They were kept in the country by force and denied a choice to exercise their full rights within United States. Slaves were acquired from Africa through several means which included through wars and being sold by African rulers.
The slaves were mistreated and lynched by their and masters who also overworked them. Most states did not protect them as citizens. Ida B. Wells an activist and a black slave woman is quoted saying, “Although lynching’s have steadily increased in number and barbarity during the last twenty years, there has been no single effort put forth by the many moral and philanthropic forces of the country to put a stop to this wholesale slaughter.” Slave trade was a holocaust that led to the movement of Africans from their mother continent to the Americas.
Booker T. Washington was a slave and a great educator who started an education center to reform and help former slaves. The Tuskegee institute was instrumental in educating Africans and giving them knowledge one of the thing they had been denied in during the slavery period. In his book, Up from slavery Booker T. Washington Says, “There was never a time in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did not continually remain with me, and that was a determination to secure an education at any cost.”(Up From Slavery). This showed the resolve and importance of education in the emancipation of slavery.
Legitimizing slavery was a major contributing factor to modern racism. The facts that almost all slaves were Africans and were black in color; this was a reason to defend their enslavement in terms of their color.
Slavery in the United States was abolished gradually in state by state. The thirteenth amendment in 1865 after the emancipation war, abolished slavery. The war led to many Americans dying and although it ended slavery, the practice remained active up to the early 20th century. One of the people on the forefront of abolition of slavery was Lord Dunmore who proclaimed that any slaves of American patriots will be given freedom if they left their masters and joined the royal forces. Other key figures in the slave abolition movement included, President Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Tubman, Charles and many more others.
