Johnson goes into depth about the process of the slave markets, and explains the
Again, the slave owners of the American slave system saw their slaves as property and were known to discriminate against skin color, as mentioned in document 7. Also, they saw slaves less as people and more as “resources”. This “resource” was wanted by participants of the slave trade. This “resource” could be compared to gold during the Age of Exploration. Seeing the slaves were seen as nothing more than property, they were transported from place to place in horrible conditions and then, once they got to their destination, were put through the most strenuous work.
Some of these stories tell of how the slaveholders managed and operated their plantations, how slaveholders separated families one from another, and what types of relationships that fit within the moral parameters of the slaveholder (a moral compass was not a part of the reality of a slaveholder), and what types of relationships were unbeknown to the slave master. Family separation was a fact of life during the enslavement period. Pension files again show many a story of these separations of families one from the other. Heartbreaking stories of family members being moved to another plantation sometimes locally, but then there were the slaves being traded away too far off places.
Douglass’s biological father is unknown, but there is a suspicion the father was his slave master. (Douglass Narrative 15)
He also provides how slaves were not having equal rights such as other people, some slaves wanted to get education but they could not only rich white people could. It shows how Frederick Douglass threw light on people who were against slavery such as the slave
Web. 08 Feb. 2017. Helps understand why slavery happened
These sources mainly reinforced the thoughts about slavery. Slaves were considered less than human, and in turn were treated as such. Slave men and women and women had absolutely no rights . Their lifestyle was entirely dependent on their owner. They were considered "property".
Douglass tells about his own childhood and how his father might have been a slaveholder. He explains
The whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slave the double relation of master and father” (947). “Douglass ' Narrative begins with a few facts about his birth and his parentage. Douglass father is a slave owner and his mother is a slave named Harriet Bailey. When Douglass
Slavery can easily be determined as one of the most blatant acts of dehumanization. In the narrative titled “Narrative Of The Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass is easily able to portray this by quoting, “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man”, Chapter 10 page 45. The quote overall does illustrate to the reader the narrator’s reflection to slavery as a whole as he states they were deprived of not only their basic
Slavery has been such a horrific part of history as it documents the human violations Africans have endured, which have been depicted through films, televisions, and all sorts of the media. The transformation of slavery from simple servitude to race-based slavery happened almost immediately after the New World was “discovered.” Slavery in Africa was based not on color or race but on the winners and losers of wars. There were four things that greatly contributed to African, race-based slavery: the European attitude towards Africans, the European attitudes toward slavery, the overall labor shortage in the New World due to the failure of European and Native American laborers, and the great ease that the Europeans had in getting slaves in Africa. Slavery initiated within Colonial America due to economic, social, and political factors, having an effect
In early 19th century America, Antebellum reforms grew and spread across America attempting to bring democratic ideals to all parts of the American society, in giving equality to women, rehabilitating drunkards, and freeing blacks from slavery in the eyes of the whites and the blacks. Woman in Antebellum America wanted suffrage and equal opportunities in education and employment with men. Many wives and church members sought to convert and reform drunkards from their sinful drinking. The white abolitionist proclaimed equal rights for blacks, however, they wanted to limit the expansion of black rights to only abolishing slavery. The black abolitionist strived for the ultimate goal of freedom and equality for all blacks in America.
The enslavement of Africans and Native Americans played a crucial role in the development of the new world economy. Slave provided the labor and power necessary to settle and develop the new world. Slaves were viewed as material that could be profitable. Because they were dark skinned they were viewed as inferior to whites. African were a form of commodities and no
Slavery was different for America then it was for the rest of the world. For the rest of the world, it wasn’t a race thing they just enslaved the people that they had conquered. They did not care what the color of their skin was it was just about the need for labor. In the article “New of New World Slavery” it explains how slavery was different in America than in Europe. “Slavery in the classical and the early medieval worlds was not based on racial distinctions”.
The institution of slavery in America was unique and the most inhumane abuse of human rights. Not only were African Americans slaves but also were denied their freedom and treated as chattel. They became critical to the economy in the southern states and were used as a raw material for production on plantations. Slaves in America were seen as beasts, similar to horses, and were administered in a similar way. There were professions in America that's primary responsibility was maintaining this system and was accomplished in a variety of ways.
