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African Americans In South
African Americans In South
As a social and economic institution, slavery originated
in the times when humans began farming instead of hunting and
gathering. Slave labor became commonplace in ancient Greece and
Rome. Slaves were created through the capture of enemies, the
birth of children to slave parents, and means of punishment.
Enslaved Africans represented many different peoples, each with
distinct cultures, religions, and languages. Most originated from
the coast or the interior of West Africa, between present-day
Senegal and Angola. Other enslaved peoples originally came from
Madagascar and Tanzania in East Africa. Slavery became of major
economic importance after the sixteenth century with the
European conquest of South and Central America. These slaves
had a great impact on the sugar and tobacco industries.
A triangular trade route was established with Europe for alcohol
and firearms in exchange for slaves. The slaves were then traded
with Americans for molasses and (later) cotton. In 1619 the first
black slave arrived in Virginia. The demands of European consumers
for New World crops and goods helped fuel the slave trade. A
strong family and community life helped sustain African Americans
in slavery. People often chose their own partners, lived under the
same roof, raised children together, and protected each other.
Brutal treatment at the hands of slaveholders, however, threatened
black family life. Enslaved women experienced sexual exploitation
at the hands of slaveholders and overseers. Bondspeople lived with
the constant fear of being sold away from their loved ones, with no
chance of reunion. Historians estimate that most bondspeople were
sold at least once in their lives. No event was more traumatic in
the lives of enslaved individuals than that of forcible separation
from their families. People sometimes fled when they heard of an
impending sale.
During the 17th and 18th century enslaved African Americans in
the Upper South mostly raised tobacco. In coastal South
Carolina and Georgia, they harvested indigo for dye and grew rice,
using agricultural expertise brought with them from Africa.
By the 1800s rice, sugar, and cotton became the South's leading
cash crops. The patenting of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793
made it possible for workers to gin separate the seeds from the
fiber some 600 to 700 pounds daily, or ten times more cotton than
permitted by hand. The Industrial Revolution, centered in Great
Britain, quadrupled the demand for cotton, which soon became
America's leading export. Planters' acute need for more cotton
workers helped expand southern slavery. By the Civil War, the
South exported more than a million tons of cotton annually to
Great Britain and the North. An area still called the “Black Belt”,
which stretched across Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana,
grew some 80 percent of the nation's crop. In parts of the “Black
Belt”, enslaved African Americans made up more than three-fourths
of the total population.
Even though slavery existed throughout the original thirteen
colonies, nearly all the northern states, inspired by American
independence, abolished slavery by 1804. As a matter of conscience
some southern slaveholders also freed their slaves or permitted them
to purchase their freedom. Until the early 1800s, many southern
states allowed these emancipations to legally take place. Although
the Federal Government outlawed the overseas slave trade in 1808,
the southern enslaved African American population continued to grow.
By 1860 some 4 million enslaved African Americans lived throughout
the South. Only Southern states believed slavery to be a major,
and essential, economic factor. Whether on a small farm or a
large plantation, most enslaved people were agricultural laborers.
They worked literally from sunrise to sunset in the fields or at
other jobs. Some bondspeople held specialized jobs as artisans,
skilled laborers, or factory workers. A smaller number worked as cooks, butlers, or maids. Slavery became an issue in the economic struggles
between Southern plantation owners and Northern industrialists in
the first half of the 19th century, a struggle that culminated in
the American Civil War. Despite the common perception to the
contrary, the war was not fought primarily on the slavery issue.
Abraham Lincoln, however, saw the political advantages of promising
freedom for Southern slaves, and the Emancipation Proclamation was
enacted in 1863. This was reinforced after the war by the 13th, 14th,
and 15th amendments to the US constitution (1865, 1868, and 1870),
which abolished slavery altogether and guaranteed citizenship and
civil rights to former slaves. Following the Civil War, Southern
states passed laws called "Black Codes". A Black Code was a law which
limited or restricted a certain activity or way of life for the African Americans. Mississippi banned interracial marriages with the threat
of certain death if the law was broken. Other codes restricted where
the Blacks could own land. All were attempts to keep the government
from giving the "forty acres of land" to former slaves. Since a
majority of the Southern population was made of Blacks, whites
feared they would eventually "take over". This led to the brutal
killings of many Blacks by the KKK and other white supremacist
groups. Blacks who tried to exercise power were either killed or
had some other form of physical action taken against them.
Although in 1880 voting booths were open to all, only some Whites
let Blacks vote, usually when this happened, they were watched
under the careful eye of a KKK leader. Sadly enough a Black trying
to pursue his right to vote was often met with death or loss of
income. According to the Ku Klux Klan, they stand for five "simple"
views. The first being "The White Race" being the Aryan race and
its Christian faith. The second, "America First" states that
"America comes first before any foreign or alien influence or
interest". "The Constitution" as they believe should be followed
exactly as written and intended, and is considered by their
group "the finest system of government ever conceived by man". The fourth, "Free Enterprise" was the end to high-finance exploitation.
And finally, " ositive Christianity" was the right of Americans
to practice their Christian faith, including but not limited to
prayer in school.
Preconceived notions are quite arguably the
most widely acknowledged form of racism today. Use of derogatory
terms, such as the quite offensive "n-word" and slang such as
"spook", "porch monkey", etc. are all terms people of all race's
use to refer to Blacks. Even situations can become unnecessarily
frightening because of preconceived notions we have been led to
believe about Blacks. For example, if a white woman has gotten
lost while driving and stumbles into a predominantly "black"
neighborhood, she would be more likely to panic and become
frightened then if she were lost in a neighborhood considered to
be predominantly "white". Fears and ideals such as these have been
instilled in our society for years, which leads to the occurrence
of racial hate. It is obvious that racism still exists in many
forms throughout our nation and throughout the world.
Example of this racism is present in almost every aspect of
society to this day. Although slavery was outlawed in our country
following the Civil War, African-Americans have never been able
to enjoy the freedom that Caucasians have, and probably never
will. Years and years of oppression have led to an
attitude of inferiority by the African Americans that will,
quite possibly, never fade. What humility to society in general
that this institution existed. |
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