Slavery

             Slavery developed into a full scale human trade machine from its inception in 1619 until the Civil War ended. It started as indentured servitude and slowly become slavery. A majority of Africans who were brought to America would never see freedom again. They were treated as second class citizens and were denied all basic human rights.
             In the early colonial days, Africans were not seen as lesser human beings. They were considered equals if they were Christians. They may have been indentured servants, working to pay a specific debt for their travel to the new colony. These indentured servants were never enslaved for their whole lives. The African indentured servants worked alongside the European indentured servants and were treated as human beings and not as animals or, even worse, machines. Things slowly began to change.
             In 1619, a Dutch ship stole Africans off of a Spanish vessel. The Africans were traded for food and this was the beginning of the slave trade as America would soon know it. It still took quite a while for a change in beliefs to take place. It was still the idea that the color of your skin had nothing to do with your servitude sentence. Servants were still paying back the debts that they owed and nothing more. "If you were a servant, your color did not improve or exacerbate that situation" (page 39). Blacks and whites were not seen as unequal at this time. Africans like "Antonio the Negro" were inspiring people of their time. Anthony was lucky enough to live in the colonies before laws on slavery were enacted. He and his wife worked very hard to gain their freedom. Eventually they even become landowners themselves. They owned two hundred and fifty acres of land by 1650.
             During the mid 1600's things in America soon began to change. Skin color began to become a characteristic that could be discriminated against. Physical differences are easier to notice than emotional or cognitive differe...

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Slavery. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:46, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/6823.html