Too many are taught how to survive but not many are taught how to live. The traumatic events of slavery that occurred more than 100 years ago had left Black Americans in survival mode. Their is still post trauma lingering in the African America culture and community. For many identity crisis, shame, trust issues and all around metal trauma still may occurs. While physical slavery may not be the main form of slavery; Mental slavery is present not only for Black American but for all people that remain uneducated. With many minorities facing discrimination, racism, and hate acts it has an psychological effect on their development, perception, personality, memory, social state, emotional state and learning. Therefore, no longer will I just choose to survive I will learn to live for I am a minority, a Black America, a making of my enslaved ancestors, And …show more content…
Therefore, being humiliated which effected his whole mental state and those who had witness these horrible acts. Graff then goes to quote Leon F. Litwack a historian who states “This is not an easy history to absorb. The images and details can numb the mind, deaden the senses: they tax our sense of who we are and who we have been. No wonder lynchings occupy such a small place in our historical literature and textbooks. The omission has been called a “double lqynching” because it also murdered any memory of the crime.” Often slavery is not talked about in details because it was so barbarous, heinous, and iniquitous that the constant fear of retaliation would linger throughout America’s particularly White Americans. Yet, the fear of African American still lingers though out America without the act of retaliation. Black Americans are still being shoot or beaten to death out of hate and fear from the higher powers such as police. So, they make example out of
Lynching of black men was common place in the south as Billie Holiday sang her song “Strange Fruit” and the eyes of justice looked the other way. On the other side of the coin, justice was brought swiftly to those blacks who stepped out of line and brought harm to the white race. Take for instance Nate Turner, the slave who led a rebellion against whites. Even the Teel’s brought their own form of justice to Henry Marrow because he “said something” to one of their white wives (1). Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant.
Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.
While the formal abolition of slavery, on the 6th of December 1865 freed black Americans from their slave labour, they were still unequal to and discriminated by white Americans for the next century. This ‘freedom’, meant that black Americans ‘felt like a bird out of a cage’ , but this freedom from slavery did not equate to their complete liberty, rather they were kept in destitute through their economic, social, and political state.
Between 1800 and 1860 slavery in the American South had become a ‘peculiar institution’ during these times. Although it may have seemed that the worst was over when it came to slavery, it had just begun. The time gap within 1800 and 1860 had slavery at an all time high from what it looks like. As soon as the cotton production had become a long staple trade source it gave more reason for slavery to exist. Varieties of slavery were instituted as well, especially once international slave trading was banned in America after 1808, they had to think of a way to keep it going – which they did. Nonetheless, slavery in the American South had never declined; it may have just come to a halt for a long while, but during this time between 1800 and 1860, it shows it could have been at an all time high.
For more than two hundred years, a certain group of people lived in misery; conditions so inhumane that the only simile that can compare to such, would be the image of a caged animal dying to live, yet whose live is perished by the awful chains that dragged him back into a dark world of torture and misfortune. Yes, I am referring to African Americans, whose beautiful heritage, one which is full of cultural beauty and extraordinary people, was stained by the privilege given to white men at one point in the history of the United States. Though slavery has been “abolished” for quite some years; or perhaps it is the ideal driven to us by our modern society and the lines that make up our constitution, there is a new kind of slavery. One which in
The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.
From the very beginning of time African Americans have been a culture of resistance. That is resistance from slavery, resistance from torture, and resistance from wrongdoing. Families were torn apart, women were raped, and children were tortured. In an article by Atlanta Blackst they list some of the ways African American slaves were tortures, and it’s horrifying. Some slaves were burned alive, lynched by meat hooks, castrated, and even Mutated. This is the easy part, as after being tortured they had many years of psychological suffering. They didn’t have family to turn to because they were most dead or sold to another slave
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.
David M. Oshinsky’s book “Worse Than Slavery” brings to life the reality that faced slaves after the abolishment of slavery. It recounts the lives that these men faced daily and it made me question the humanity of all those who were involved and question how as a society we let this ever happen. From the convicts being leased out to people who didn’t care about their well-being to a life back on a state ran plantation, where life was worse than it was for them as slaves. It showed just how unfair the justice system was for a black prisoner compared to a white prisoner. Their lives were worthless and replaceable and only mattered when they were thought to be worth something to someone.
Southern Horror s: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells took me on a journey through our nations violent past. This book voices how strong the practice of lynching is sewn into the fabric of America and expresses the elevated severity of this issue; she also includes pages of graphic stories detailing lynching in the South. Wells examined the many cases of lynching based on “rape of white women” and concluded that rape was just an excuse to shadow white’s real reasons for this type of execution. It was black’s economic progress that threatened white’s ideas about black inferiority. In the South Reconstruction laws often conflicted with real Southern racism. Before I give it to you straight, let me take you on a journey through Ida’s
Harriet Tubman once said, I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. Throughout history the African American culture has constantly been fighting for rights and equality. But in doing so has been denied it. With this happening more and more over the years it seems to have caused them more than just physical pain when violence is added to the equation. It has caused PTSD. The African American community suffers from PTSD due to Racism, what is considered as today’s “lynchings”, and Police Brutality.
In schools, Blacks are instructed in history classes the role of the slaves in America; nevertheless, slaves are perceived as powerless and submissive. Shakur like many others grew up believing slaves were inferior beings to Whites. For example, “I had grown up believing the slaves hadn’t fought back. I remember feeling ashamed when they talked about slavery in school. The teachers made it seem that Black people had nothing to do with the official ‘emancipation’ from slavery. White people had freed us” (Shakur, 175). The method of teaching slavery in America is intended to suppress Blacks and emphasize on their “inferiority” to Whites, resulting in low-self esteem for Blacks. Students are left with the notion of slavery being consensual and beneficial to both parties, despite the agony slaves were subjected to. Assata states, “Many of us have misconceptions about Black history in amerika. What we are taught in the public school system is usually inaccurate, distorted, and packed full of outright lies” (176). American history is altered and fabricated to maintain White supremacy and alienate Blacks from gaining confidence of their African history. Through inaccurate teachings of Black American history, Blacks’ self esteem is belittled and their confidence is reduced. History is restrained to preserve racism and
There are many beliefs and practices from the 18th century that are still revolving around us today, anything from superstitions and old wives' tales, to medicinal cures. Now observing the not so good side, there's negativity still around. Taking slavery, for example, it is not seen in America anymore. However, many slavery methods and strategies have really influenced today's Black community. To this day we see conflicts for skin color, envy, and even brainwashing.
Our societies, politics, behaviors, cultures and way of thinking is closely related to historical events. Sometimes these events can produce positive outcomes or irremediable ones. The damages caused by the phenomenon called slavery were countless, and unfortunately the negative outcomes are still alive in modern-society. Take, for example, the position of people of color in the United States of America. Cultural trauma and collective memory is an article that exposes the consequences of slavery in America from a psychological prospective. The article explains how our memories are damaged by past slavery and how these traumatic experiences developed a collective though, shared across the country.
African Americans have a history of suffering and discrimination; with the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement Americans should heed the idea that all lives matter. In this research paper i will be talking about how slavery started and how African Americans were treated during slavery. I will also be talking about how slavery ended and how racism in America began, with a little bit about the “KKK” and how they treated us African Americans. Another thing I will talk about is white Supremacy and present day racism, how white people think they are better than African Americans and how racism today isn't as bad as racism back in the day was. I believe that African Americans shouldn't have gone through slavery or shouldn’t have been told that