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Impacts of slavery
Impacts of slavery
The effect of prejudice on individual, society, education
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The history of humankind reveals interesting realities about the earth as the home of man. Today a lot of white people are defacing our artifacts and erasing the true history of where they come from; while also destroying the image of a person of color. Here in America we see tons of black men who don’t date black women as they do in other countries. Many misconceptions of prejudice and stereotypes nature have been held about Africa as a continent and its people.
Notably, Africa, as the second largest continent after Asia, had the largest population targeted by the white imperialism to work in their European farms like the Portuguese sisal plantations. African nations suffered great colonialism in the system of slavery and servitude which was at its climax in 17th – 19th century. However, targeting and capturing slaves was not a one-day affair. They were enticed to debt and employment-related activities in a kidnap disguised mechanism. The captives were then forced to work as debt slaves and military slaves offering domestic services as “training” before being deported to European nations.
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The most affected slaves who were deported to European countries were from coastal regions and West Africa. This is because of the convenient of the good harbours offered in the coastal area by the Indian oceans and the proximity of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea (Eltis & David).
The American population constitutes people of different nations. (Adeleke) argued that the black Americans are deeply rooted in the products of African slavery. The argument further suggests North Americans originated from Scandinavia while Mexicans were derived from Ethiopia, a country in Africa. Interestingly further analysis by (Aad et al.) reveal Jesus lineage is traced to Africa, Jesus of Nazareth and Nazareth is a town in Egypt. It is no wonder; the Europeans have a stereotype that Egypt is not in
Ever since there has been humanity, slavery has been a mechanism used by people in order to subjugate and dehumanize other individuals. Abina and the Important Men is a book that illustrates how slavery was still able to manifest, even after it had been abolished within British society. By enslaving young women under the false pretense that the individuals were wards, powerful African leaders and British rulers were able to maintain a social hierarchy where African women occupied the lowest rung. The trafficking of Africans through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, brought wealth to European and other western nations as well as African leaders who were willing to cooperate. Europeans, such as the Portuguese, British, and French, first began arriving to Africa in the 16th century since they were drawn by the valuable resources that could be found in coastal, African societies.
In all of the nations dependent on forced human labor, the enslaved were generally African/Middle Eastern or of African/Middle Eastern descent. In the Ottoman Empire, slaves were most commonly used as soldiers, janissaries, and Harem guards. Since the Ottomans believed it controversial to their religion to enslave other Muslims, Jews, or Christians, they found the best solution was to enslave the Pagan Africans in the nearby African tribes. In Africa, a popular trading route was the trans-Saharan Slave Trade. Much like the Atlantic Slave trade, but over the desert rather than the ocean, the Saharan slave trade system transported large quantities of slaves across Africa and continued to thrive until well past the end of the era.
Beginning of the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans began to explore in the Atlantic Coast of Africa. They were mainly lured into the excessive trade in gold, spices and other goods without knowing about slaves in Africa. Nonetheless, Europeans had no success of taking over these African states to achieve all of these goods but later they did take over various regions in other areas. Africans seems to be willing to sell as many as 11 million people to the Atlantic slave trade to the Europeans. Thus, this makes them the first people to have slaves not the Europeans that forced them into this trade. Furthermore, at the start the Africans seems to have full control of the slave trade, but the Europeans came in and slowly dominated the trade without the Africans knowing. Later on, the trade was overturned and everything went back orderly.
Concerning the nature of myths, one can often find that they are built on broad generalization lacking the premises necessary to make a solid conclusion. Such was the same myths, Pier Larson sought to disprove in his essay “The Student’s ‘Ten Commandments’.” Larson discuss damaging and caustic stereotypes that have worked their way throughout history to create a narrative that often subordinates Blacks when promulgated by a more affluent European society . One myth in particular appears to be quite troubling for its contradictory nature-that being the myth: all Africans are Black. Additionally, to be African is to be Black, Africans are not culturally diverse, and that Africans share one, essentially unified culture. Not only do I find these troubling for their outright abasement of African culture, which is plain to see, but rather for the duplicitous logic that lead to the creation of such myths, and why they remain so harmful when they are continued to be spread in contemporary.
In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization
African slaves were brought to the America’s by the millions in the 17th and 18th century. The Spanish and British established lucrative slave trades within Africa and populated their new territories with captured and then enslaved Africans. The British brought the slaves to their new colonies in North America to work on the large plantations and the Spanish and Portuguese brought the slaves to South America. Slavery within North and South America had many commonalities yet at the same time differences between the two institutions.
The author suggests that racial distinctions are obscured due to the fact that one population is forced to live amongst another population and do not comprehend the repercussions of this act; for example, slaves that were taken from West Africa and put in the Southern United States. Hacking goes on to say that it is possible that “the desire of one racial group to dominate, exploit or enslave another demands legitimacy in societies” (104). Due to the history of the United States, it is clear that the white race has considered themselves superior over other races. In fact, according to Ian Hacking, most anthropologists believed there were only five races. The races were named geographically but recognized by color. Caucasian, Ethiopian, Mongolian, American and Malayan were the five
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
In the beginning of the movie Haley described man who saw white men and where token by them and carried away. This was a very accurate historical because white men did kidnap slaves during that time period to sell them. Europeans purchased from different tribes such as African tribes who captured slaves themselves. European traders captured some Africans in raids along the coast, but bought most of them from local African or African-European dealers. The Europeans also played a role in kidnapping of Africans. In many cases the European would instigate wars between African tribes so they would sell each other into slavery. And while African fighting each other, Europeans would sometimes target weak tribes to kidnap. Also some of the European Christian missionaries tricked some of the African chiefs into selling their prisoners of war and criminals. Europeans began exploring and establishing trading posts on the Atlantic west coast of Africa. The first major group of European traders in West Africa was the Portuguese, followed by the British and the French. In the 16th and 17th centuries, these European colonial powers began to pursue plantation agriculture in their expanding possessions in the New World North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean islands, across the Atlantic Ocean. As European demand grew for products such as sugar, tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton, and as more New World lands became available for European use, the need for plantation labor increased as state on http://encarta.
Next is John Henrik Clark, who refers to African America Studies as Africana Studies because he believes that Black tells you how you look, not who you are. He goes on to state that he calls African American Studies “a dilemma at the crossroads of history” (Clark 32). This is because European people knew history well enough to distort it and use it, as well as political weapons such as the gun and bible, to control the world. This is the reason why a look at African culture will show what Africana Studies are about or should be about. Africana Studies should embrace the Africans all around the world, in places like Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean Islands even those in Asia and the Pacific Islands. Clarke states that Africa is
“Different but Equal” is a video in which Basil Davidson, the narrator, attempts to expand and heighten the understanding that Western civilization has about Africa. Often thought of as underdeveloped or uncivilized, Basil focuses mainly on the accomplishments of Africans throughout the years and uses them to contrast the surprisingly popular belief of African inferiority. Just a few of the main issues being brought up are how Europeans routinely discredited African accomplishments, the often disputed race of the Egyptians and their society, and why the thought that Africans are ‘uncivilized’ isn’t accurate. The video uses science, archaeology and history combined with the input of well-known researchers to give a more accurate depiction of
As the years go by we can see the aftermath of what slavery, segregation and racism toward African Americans have done to Blacks. African Americans have suffered many brutal treatment that has affected us physically and mentally and we are still dealing with the repercussion of the many years of oppression. The Declaration of Independence was written hundreds of years ago stating all men are equal but African Americans are still socially and racially unequal to White America. Until now Blacks have been given insufficient credit of the basis of where humanity and civilization started. Throughout our educational history we’ve learned that the Egyptians created Egypt not including the Egyptians were African Americans and we’ve also learned from textbooks the European’s created many inventions, founded many countries and established these intelligent philosopher’s and writers we study from today basically making Europeans the superior race for many Countries but not even mentioning the contributions of African Americans and what they have done and how much they have accomplished for civilization. When we look at film and literature we can dissect and repair the image of African Americans by looking at written evidence, documentaries and movies to see the hidden truth.
Slaves have always contested their capture and enslavement, on various levels. Some fought back in small ways and others paid with their lives to oppose being made into property. Although slavery has been incorporated in every culture and some form of slavery existed among all ethnicities and nations, Europeans were exceptionally cruel and barbaric in their form of slavery being race based when involving Africans and people of colour. They [Europeans and European decedents] especially Americans, created and mastered a science of enslavement, attacking both the body and mind, while profiting and damaging generations and generations of its slave victims.
It is generally accepted by scholars and scientists today that Africa is the original home of man. One of the most tragic misconceptions of historical thought has been the belief that Black Africa had no history before European colonization. Whites foster the image of Africa as a barbarous and savage continent torn by tribal warfare for centuries. It was a common assumption of nineteenth-century European and American Whites - promoted by the deliberate cultivation of pseudoscientific racism - that Africans were inferior to Whites and were devoid of any trace of civilization or culture.
Before the slave trade began, Europeans had ideas about Africa, before discovery, which varied with “time and pace” (Davidson, 23). Africa was extremely foreign to Europe, as the only information they has was from a memoir written by a traveler titled “Inner Africa” in 1447. The information in the memoir is known as “caravan gossip” which was picked up by a traveler named Antonio Malfante, was wildly untrue. Malfante told Europeans that in the south of Tuat and the deserts surrunding Tuate: “there are black people who have innumerable great cities and territories” (Davidson, 24). He explained further that Africans were “carnal, and “act like beasts” he even told some that they were cannibals. It is because of these sorts of misconceptions lead on by “travelers” like Malfante, that Europeans built false understandings of places less traveled, like Africa.