African Americans In The 17th Century

In short, the experiences between African Americans in the 17th century were different than the ones in the 18th centuries because laws and people beliefs started to change. For the most part, slavery was legal in every colony during the seventeenth centuries but majority of the blacks lived in the Chesapeake region, where they made up more than 50 to 60 percent of the overall population (Introduction to Colonial African Life, “n.d.”). In contrast, came to the New World by force and was uprooted from their families and transported millions of miles to work in plantation fields or the Master houses. In my research, I learned that the first African Americans arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 and they worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Overwhelmingly, tobacco …show more content…
The life a southern slave was hard because of the working conditions and the punishments they received. In fact, majority of the southern slaves were subject to brutal punishments because they were viewed less valuable than urban slaves (Introduction to Colonial African Life, “n.d.”). In short, the Atlantic trade move up to the Northern colonies, but it didn’t evolve into a slave society because the crops suitable for plantation cultivation were not common in that area and the mixed economy was developing that used slaves on farms (Introduction to Colonial African Life, “n.d.”). In fact, the slaves in the North didn’t work in fields because tobacco wasn’t their main resource as their counterpart in the south. The slaves in New England worked in lumber yards and ship yards, on the docks, onboard ships and servants for the wealthy merchants (Reich, 2011, p. 124). In short, the working conditions in the North were more bearable than the hot dry temperature in the South and planting and picking anything that would grow that their master can make a profit