To simply go from a familiar language, custom, tradition and even food to go to a foreign land where language sent understood, custom and tradition are different and the food is unfamiliar and distasteful to the taste buds was enough for slaves to desire death, and, in fact, actually commit suicide and make the constant attempt to run away which was hardly ever successful anyway.
These African slaves were sold by their own African people to Europeans in exchange for goods, brought on ships, naked and chained like animals, to the Americas to be sold for a profitable amount in order to work the plantations and to be a slave to their white masters for the rest of their lives gaining increasing and wealth for their masters. Zion explains all of this in Chop 2, “Drawing the Color Line,” He explains the mistreatment and punishment that blacks encountered during the time of slavery and the physical and psychological effects that blacks were compelled to endure for the countless years of slavery and downright brutality.
Slavery was always in effect long ago by the selling and buying that took place between the Africans and the Portuguese. Slavery also took place directly in the land of Africa from other Africans of different tribes although slavery in Africa and slavery in the Americas was much more different. Zion states, “African slavery is hardly to be praised. But it was far different from plantation or mining slavery in the Americas, which was lifelong, morally crippling, destructive of family ties, without hope of any future.
African slavery lacked two elements that made American slavery the most cruel form of slavery in history: the frenzy for limitless profit that comes from capitalistic agriculture; the reduction Of the slave to less than human Status by the use of racial hatred, with that relentless clarity based on color, where whites was master, black was slave” (Zion, p. 28). Although Africans were slaves to their own people, it was a different kind of slavery. It was a slavery of servitude.
If debt was owed, the debtors would be enslaved for a limited amount of years but they were not enslaved for life. In fact, their kids weren’t enslaved neither. It was very common for African slave children to be married into the family of their African masters. However, to be a slave to a white master in the Americas was to be a slave for life, children’s children a slave, be called all types of derogatory names and suffer psychologically, physically, emotionally and spiritually all for he sake of being black.
Slavery in America was meant to strip away the self- respect, dignity and family ties of blacks that came from Africa, There were white indentured slaves back then that got along well with the blacks because they were all seen as equal in the eyes of their masters as well as each other, however, these white servants were treated much different from the blacks and punishment was much more severe for the blacks than it was for the whites so, still, they weren’t treated fairly.
However, when it was noticed by the petite masters that white and black servants were uniting and teaming together to eight against the white masters, the petite masters became intimidated and came up With a new plan to brainwash the White servants and to tell them that black people are bad and that they can reach the level of affluence if they disassociate themselves from the blacks; and even they went as far as to make it a legal law for whites not to be seen in the company of blacks or even remotely involve themselves in any form Of interracial marriages.
The blacks populated the Americas and worked in the plantation helping the white masters get rich. They worked extremely hard but were not compensated or their work. They were separated from their families, branded, whipped and called all types of derogatory names to physically and psychologically break down. When they would try to start a revolution and fight back, they were killed and were easy to be killed due to the weapons that their masters possessed.
However, there were some slaves hack then that actually did get away and ran up into the mountains. They were called maroons located in the island of Jamaica, According to the article, “Many African American slaves fled into the hills to escape the brutality they were treated with. These became known as maroons, who lived like nomads and fed off what nature would provide them,” They got away and developed their own agriculture and way of living in the mountains in which a lot of these maroons still exist today.
They refused to be mistreated and suffer the consequences of slavery so this avgas their escape. It’s unfortunate what happened during those days of slavery Black men were stripped away of their pride, self-respect and dignity, oven were raped and bore children of their white masters, black families were separated, division occurred amongst the light
African Americans and the dark African Americans, lighter complexion African Americans had the privilege of working inside Of the homes With their masters while those of darker skin had to work the cotton field in the hot beaming sun by their lonesome dividing the African American race as a Whole, children’s children were slaves, laws were implemented to separate the blacks from the poor whites, derogatory names, whippings, lynching, burning killing were the ground rules for the slaves if they were disobedient in any kind of way to their masters and so any other things were done to the slaves back then that was so inhumane, unfair and just downright degrading.
The Europeans always had the intent to enslave any nation or tribe of people that they felt were inferior to them due to their misconception of superiority, Initially, they tries to enslave the poor white Europeans and the Indians but the first white colonies in Jamestown, Virginia were outnumbered by the Indians and couldn’t dare to fight against them because tort one, the Indians would fight back. And, for two, it was their land so the Indians knew how and where to escape. Whereas, the Africans were taken way from their land, brought into an unfamiliar land and so they knew nothing about this new land. And, although, they tried to fight back by killing some of their masters by retrieving their guns and poisoning them in foods, etc: they didn’t have the weapons that the Europeans had so they were able to fight but so much before they were found and killed.
The legalization of certain laws to protect the whites was another tactic to get rid of the Negroes in case of disobedience or fear of being attacked by the Negroes such as, “All persons except Negroes were to get arms and ammunition” (Zion, P 301 This didn’t apply only to the Negroes but for any tribe of people that were seen as inferior to the Europeans such as the Indians. The whole plan Of the Europeans was to conquer and divide. They wanted every piece of land to themselves and didn’t mind hurting Others just to get IL They mocked black people back then and shamed them by calling them animals, inhumane, inferior and bad people because of the color Of their skin. But, if you ask me, truth is, the Europeans were the true animals, inhumane, inferior and bad people to treat a race of people as less than in gain of riches, fame, and conquer.
