Role Of Slaves In American Culture

When black slavery first started in the United States, all the slaves were being imported from Africa. Slowly overtime slaves were being born in the United States instead of solely being brought from Africa. The birth rate of the slaves was not high enough to depend on the reproduction of slaves in the south though. This resulted in a combination of both American-born slaves and African-born slaves on plantations. Eventually, there was a division between the two groups of slaves in the Southern part of the United States.

In today’s society, many negative connotations of slavery are perpetuated in American culture. Some of the most popular stereotypes are the content slaves which are manifested in the Sambo and Mammy figure. Other slaves formed bonds of resistance against slavery through the invisible institution of religion. As more slaves came to America, white slave owners decided to divide the labor. Development of slavery expanded beyond plantations to rural, urban, and university settings typically in the southern region of the United States. Urban slavery grew at a lower rate compared to rural slavery, due to the southern regions reliance on agriculture and the lack of industrialization. Even though urban and university slaves were considered to have it better than rural slaves, they still did not have power since they still had to adhere to the rules of slave owners.

The Unites States during the 1850s was a harsh time for African Americans, not only were they treated extremely harsh; but many of them were slaves as well. Slavery was the topic of every discussion during this time period and the United States was literally split on the issue of slavery. A lot of the Southern States wanted to continue slavery because it was a way of life. Many of the southerners depend on slavery to help grow and harvest crops that were on acres and acres of land. Northerns, on the other hand were against slavery. Slavery to them were not only inhumane, but Northerns rarely depended on slaves. Abolitionists were present throughout the United States, they created escape routes and safe houses for slaves who wanted to escape. The Underground Railroad was a prime example of this, not only was this risky for the slaves themselves but it was also risky for the people who helped them along the way. With the Fugitive Slave Act in full affect, Abolitionist were indeed breaking the ‘law’; but for equality for everyone no matter the skin color was a risk many were willing to take and die for.

In modern society, people often try for minority groups to feel equal to majorities, however, when slavery existed, blacks were undermined and denied many freedoms entitled to them under the Constitution. There were many topics argued about, but slavery caused the most dispute within the country. In the 1850’s, the pro-slavery South and the anti-slavery North collided when the case of Dred Scott, a black slave who attempted to gain liberation, was brought to court. The North and South had vastly different views on the subject of slavery, Scott had resided in the free state of Illinois with his master, illegally, after being taken from the slave state of Missouri. His residency in Illinois, which was a free state, automatically nullified

Being a slave was never easy, because the will never be free and will continue to be slaves forever even for the master’s unborn child. In addition, colonies was skeptical about the slaves they were taking in each season. Colonies didn’t trust slaves that come from other places except Africa, because they believe the ones that was sent from the other countries were to escape and even attack. Although statistics say slaves commits less crime than whites, colonies made improvement to their systems to keep slaves in check. On the other hand, slaves could be free if their masters wish them to be free, however, even to get free slaves have to do extra work to secure their freedom.

Slavery played a huge role in shaping America as we know it today. 1619 was the beginning of slave trade when African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Slaves were more popular in the southern states than the northern. In 1860, 89 percent of the nation’s African Americans were slaves (Mintz). Tobacco, rice, and indigo plantations are the main resources slaves worked towards (history.com staff). Slaves weren’t even counted as an individual of society, they were only considered three-fifths of a person (history.com staff). According to history.com, most slaves lived on large farms or small plantations. Slave owners wanted slaves to feel helpless and dependent on their owner for survival. Slaves were restricted from learning to read and write as a tactic by slave owners to ensure that the slaves had no other opportunities.

During the early 18th century colonial America’s demand for slaves grew ever more as each colony has a different manner of creating a stable economic income. Although the prime economic factor was having cash crops, each colony had a dissimilar cash crop which meant a distinct and specific slave system to accommodate their demand. As a result of the there were three perspicuous ways of slave system ranging tobacco- based plantations slavery, rice based plantations in South Carolina and Georgia, and non plantation based slavery in New England and the middle colonies. Tobacco- based plantation systems of the Chesapeake was the oldest and largest with a population of 270,00 in 1770, nearly half of the region's population. The rice based slave

The Atlantic slave trade dismantled Africans family structure, because it was legal to sell husband, wives, and children separately. Due to the U .S law not recognizing them as humans or families. Also, when children were taken from their parents, they loss their primary connection with their African culture. This left them with no reliable opportunity to obtain their beliefs, and values of their origin. Consequently, as they grew older they were unable to provide their children with enough knowledge of their culture, because they did not receive nor experienced it themselves. According to activist Assata Shakur “Black Americans have no genealogical blueprint from which to draw a family history or bloodline, no accurate records kept, and no way to effectively trace our roots without hitting a dead-end of red tape or a white family tree.

Anthropology findings continue to educate people on how human beings before our time used to live and run their societies in the past. While searching online for an article, I was able to find a recent anthropology related article on slave findings at the Magnolia Plantation in Louisiana. The name of the article that I found was called Slave Culture Research Showcased at New Smithsonian Museum written by Katelyn Kenny. This article interested me the most because I am very interested in African American culture and the history of African Americans and how they were treated as slaves, which is why I choose to write about this particular article for my extra credit assignment.

Slavery in America caused African families to live under brutal living condition and living under another power. In America, an African family has live under vastly different circumstance. They are forced into slavery that destroyed their national origin and religion that couldn’t be replicated in the New World. The slave trade was responsible for breaking up African families and occurred more problems in their life. African slave’s life, they are not legally married between men and women. They had no right to live or stay together, no right to have own children, and slave parents and children will be separate. Parents could not protect their children from the will of the master, who could separate them at any time. Form Countries Quest, “About

Africans were striped away from their native lands and forced to live in a foreign place that held no trace of familiarity. In the Americas, conditions on the plantations varied, but usually they were far from ideal. The institution of slavery imposed physiological and social damages to the slaves. Still, they were able to use cultural forms to lighten the burden of oppression. Many of them remembered their native languages, songs, and folk tales. This alleviated them from all of the emotional damage that the institution had enforced. However, as the generations of African-American children were born, it became harder to hold on to native customs solely. Eventually, African Americans were engulfed into European culture but added a great amount

Slavery had also been present in New York from the earliest days of Dutch settlement. As their role expanded so did slavery in the city, 30 percent of its laborers were slaves. Most came from different cultures, spoke different languages, and practiced many regions. Slavery allowed different individuals who would never otherwise have encountered, their bond was not kinship, language, or even race, but the impressment of slavery. They eventually came together an created a cohesive culture and community that took many years, and it processed at different rates of speed in different regions.

Slaves are people that are forced to do harsh labor with no pay. The slaves in the colonies came from many different places, but most came from Africa. Slaves came from the Caribbeans, Africa, Native Americans in the New World, and prisoners in Europe.

I loved that you were able to interview your grandmother. If she is anything like mine she will have plenty of stories up her sleeve. It is very interesting how things where when they were children compared to us now. I was able to paint a picture in my mind of you sitting with your grandmother listening to her stories. I also chose slavery as my topic for part two. Slaves played a major role in American History. You did a great job. I enjoyed reading your post!

Fashion, cotton, tourism, and textiles have all become so ingrained in Western culture that it is difficult to imagine these commodities coming from anywhere else. Sugar production and the distribution of it in European countries, however, came out of the slave trade. As a means to create a common culture among a people ethnically different, African slaves in the United States re-engaged in traditional musical styles and created some of their own in the process. In Europe, fashion was not something to be concerned with in the middle class and below, but the rise in the demand of Indian cotton textiles made the wearing of cottons like chintz to be accessible to the less wealthy. Because the demand for coal grew and the ability to ship required the development of the steamship, passenger lines, and what one would now call tourism, became another form of commodity chain. Commodity chains have inspired and fostered the development of cultural production in both the West and East.