The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database claims that around 12.5 million enslaved Africans were brought to America between the years of 1525 and 1866 (Transatlantic Slave Database). It is also estimated that out of the 12.5 million brought over, only 10.7 million were able to endure what is known as, “Middle Passage”. For 245 years those Men, Women, and Children worked as Slaves on large southern plantations for no money at all. Brutally beaten, whipped, lynched, and killed, if they tried to escape, or seek help. African Slaves single handedly were the backbone of America’s economy for those 245 years, and to this day, have not earned a single penny from it. To this day, the Black community is one of the most impoverished communities in the United
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One of them being because of how slavery affected the economy. One article points out that slaves were the nation’s economy. ¨most slaves worked on southern agricultural plantations that produced cotton, rice, sugar, tobacco, and other crops. These crops made the United States a wealthy nation. Slave labor proved so economically successful that cotton became the mainstay of the South’s economy, providing about 75 percent of the world supply in 1860 and earning enormous fortunes for suppliers and traders¨ (Robinson, Reparations Should Be Paid to the Descendants of African Americans). Slaves were not only the foundation of America’s economy, but were also the foundation of the global economy. In the 90’s two professors from the University of California concluded that the debt was somewhere around $9.12 billion (Huffington Post). They concluded that the slave trade profited at least $3.4 billion during its active years. After adding an annual interest rate of 5% they concluded that it was somewhere around $9.2 billion. Larry Neal, who is an economist at the University of Illinois concluded that the debt is somewhere around $6.4 trillion (Huffington Post). With this kind of money, the black community would have the chance to prosper in this society. In an article from the Huffington Post, author Julia Craven, a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill states, “The figures mentioned also don 't include compensation for housing …show more content…
The descendants of African Americans continue to live a substandard life in the United States while the descendants of slave owners continue to reap financial dividends from the same slave economy. In an article found on the Opposing Viewpoints database it discusses the injustice faced by enslaved americans. “Economic and cultural disparities are rooted in the injustices of slavery and racism, advocates say that reparations are owed to descendants of slaves. If slaves had been able to control the profits of their labor, according to this view, their descendants would have had economic opportunities allowing them to share more fully in the country’s prosperity” (Opposing Viewpoints, Slavery Reparations). The same article even points out statistics that blatantly prove the point. “In 2000 about 26.5 percent of the country’s African American population lived below the poverty line, and 91 percent who reached age seventy-five had spent a year or more of their adult lives in poverty” (Opposing Viewpoints, Slavery Reparations). The institutional racism created during slavery has caused generations of Black individuals to remain in poverty. An article from, The Atlantic, sums it up best when it says, “Until America reckons with the moral debt it has accrued--and the practical damage it has done--to generations of black Americans, it will fail to live up to its own ideals” (Coates, The Case for
One of them being because of how slavery affected the economy. One article points out that slaves were the nation’s economy. ¨most slaves worked on southern agricultural plantations that produced cotton, rice, sugar, tobacco, and other crops. These crops made the United States a wealthy nation. Slave labor proved so economically successful that cotton became the mainstay of the South’s economy, providing about 75 percent of the world supply in 1860 and earning enormous fortunes for suppliers and traders¨ (Robinson, Reparations Should Be Paid to the Descendants of African Americans). Slaves were not only the foundation of America’s economy, but were also the foundation of the global economy. In the 90’s two professors from the University of California concluded that the debt was somewhere around $9.12 billion (Huffington Post). They concluded that the slave trade profited at least $3.4 billion during its active years. After adding an annual interest rate of 5% they concluded that it was somewhere around $9.2 billion. Larry Neal, who is an economist at the University of Illinois concluded that the debt is somewhere around $6.4 trillion (Huffington Post). With this kind of money, the black community would have the chance to prosper in this society. In an article from the Huffington Post, author Julia Craven, a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill states, “The figures mentioned also don 't include compensation for housing …show more content…
The descendants of African Americans continue to live a substandard life in the United States while the descendants of slave owners continue to reap financial dividends from the same slave economy. In an article found on the Opposing Viewpoints database it discusses the injustice faced by enslaved americans. “Economic and cultural disparities are rooted in the injustices of slavery and racism, advocates say that reparations are owed to descendants of slaves. If slaves had been able to control the profits of their labor, according to this view, their descendants would have had economic opportunities allowing them to share more fully in the country’s prosperity” (Opposing Viewpoints, Slavery Reparations). The same article even points out statistics that blatantly prove the point. “In 2000 about 26.5 percent of the country’s African American population lived below the poverty line, and 91 percent who reached age seventy-five had spent a year or more of their adult lives in poverty” (Opposing Viewpoints, Slavery Reparations). The institutional racism created during slavery has caused generations of Black individuals to remain in poverty. An article from, The Atlantic, sums it up best when it says, “Until America reckons with the moral debt it has accrued--and the practical damage it has done--to generations of black Americans, it will fail to live up to its own ideals” (Coates, The Case for