The Black Atlantic Summary

The documentary on The Black Atlantic was very informative documentary. It described the lives of African Americans from the 1500s to the 1800s.It told the stories of the first Africans in North America and the struggles they went through as slaves. They are big part of what the country is today thanks to their hard work and contributions.

The documentary started off by telling the story of the first African Americans and their arrival in America through the Atlantic Ocean, Juan Garrido arrived with Spanish explorers in the year 1513 in Florida. He helped Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes take over Mexico and later went off to California in search of gold. Then in 1534 Esteban the Moor crossed a dessert of Texas after a Spanish expedition

A man named Anthony Johnson was a slave who thrived by forging a bond with his owner based on necessity he earned his way to freedom by doing a lot of manual labor. His owner even granted him some land, but then Virginia strengthened their slavery rules, and this land was taken away. Other people like the English believed slave labor was creating wealth for those countries who had them. From the 1600s to the 1700s slavery was very popular amongst the English colonies. African Americans of all ages were captured and separated from families .Many underwent horrible situations where white men could do anything they wanted with them with no consequences. Then they had to drop their last names to erase their family connections. They also worked in dangerous environments such as the rice fields where many of them died due to snakes and diseases from malarial mosquitos. If slaves tried to run away and where caught there were serious consequences. The first time you were caught two toes would be amputated, then the second time your ears would be amputated, and then the third time would result in castration. A lot of what is America today was built by slaves they made the roads, bridges, factories, farms, town, and cities. Above all they created a culture no one could take away them from their food to their music, dances, and

However, there were some conditions which include slaves converting to Catholicism, loyalty to the Spanish crown, and serve in the colonial militia to help with their battle against colonial England. Throughout the British colonies there were slave revolts against their owners that resulted in their deaths. In 1791 A French colony known as San-Domingue had twice as many slaves as the United States. The African people rose up and fought the European army. They succeeded and founded a new nation called Haiti. They were the first to create a Black Republic and the first time slaves overthrew their masters. Haiti symbolized a source of pride and success for Africans even if people in the United States had to wait almost a century for their