Slave Trade On Slaves In America

Improved Essays
The Indescribable: Effects of the Atlantic Slave trade on the Slaves in America
“The African slave trade,” writes Gary B. Nash “is one of the most important phenomena in the history of the modern world.” Shown in Red, White, and Black the Peoples of Early North America, psychological, geographical and political means affected the lives of slaves; the masters subjugated the slaves by using those means. In other parts of the Americas as well as in the colonies, the slaves’ living conditions differed.
The psychological torture the colonists enforced upon the slaves affected their lives. It was the colonists’ fear that impacted the slaves. Whites lived in angst that the slaves would revolt so they used psychological affliction to try and restrain
…show more content…
“With relatively few institutional restraints to inhibit slave owners, nothing stood between new African immigrants and a system of total subjugation”. Even if the laws existed, they were ineffectively enforced. The master could treat the slave however he wanted; making the lives of slaves a living …show more content…
In the New World, the living conditions varied between the North and South. In the North, “only one crop a year was possible and winter brought slack times.” This meant that being worked to death over crash crops did not happen in the North. The northern colonies possessed a more civil attitude. Since conditions in the North “were never so inhumane as the in the South”, their chance of survival increased greatly Instead of working on plantations, slaves worked as people of the community.
In other parts of Americas the quality of life also increased. Unlike the North American colonies, the slaves in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies possessed rights. Even in Roman law they “recognized the rights of slaves and the obligations of masters to them.” They were recognized as human beings even if they were the lowest class in the social structure. The Spanish granted slaves freedom after they served a limited amount of time. The community even encouraged the Africans to earn their freedom.
The Atlantic Slave Trade is one of the most horrific events in human history. There were numerous factors that affected the lives of slaves, such as psychological, geographical and political factors. The environments for slaves varied between the colonies in America and different parts of the

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    The second chapter explores slavery and the transition from a mostly African-born slave to population, to a mostly American-born population, during the colonial period (late 1600s until about 1770). At the beginning of this time period, most slaves were imported and not born on American soil. After their forced immigration, these slaves underwent a process called ‘seasoning,’ or training, where they were “broken in” and made to realize that slavery would be their identity for the rest of their lives. As time went on,…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Frederick Douglass argues in his narrative that slavery dehumanizes both the slave and the slave master generating a dependency for each other. For slave’s, this dehumanization came in the form of having their name, culture and personal identity stripped away from them and for the slave master, the inability to function when deprived of slave assistance. In this essay, I will use Frederick Douglass’s narrative; along with, first-hand accounts to demonstrate how both the slave and the slave master became dehumanized through the institution of slavery. Using Frederick Douglass’s narrative, I will explain how slaves became exploited for cheap labor by the slave master creating a society depended on slaves.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In general, African Americans slaves occupied the British colonies and slavery was establishing law in the 1700s in which the “terrible transformation” started taking. In this transformation, millions of African Americans would be affected for generations. In short, new colonies were been establish and the locals became greater acceptance of race slavery were being founded and the older colonies were continuing to grow (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 66). Therefore, in this essay, I will discuss some discuss some factors on why this transformation took place locally and worldwide, analyze social roles, economic roles, and other factors the slaves played by the mid-eighteenth century. In short, during the second half of the seventeenth century…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The African slave lost their humanity from the very moment they boarded the European slave ship. When they arrived in the New World, they were forced into labor. Even a slave’s unborn child would be cursed into the institution of slavery since “slaves born in the New World had no experience or direct knowledge of what is was like to live as free people” The African slave has been a victim of negative stereotypes throughout the history of the United States. The foundation of this negative stereotype originates from the idea…

    • 1863 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Phillips present a “white supremacy” view. “Noting that “the planters had a saying … that a negro was what a white man made him.” Kolchin then describes in the 1950s authors Kenneth M. Stampp and Stanley M. Elkins differing interpretations. Stampp describing the mistreatment of slaves whereas Elkins describes the lack rebellions in the American South compared to actions of slavery in Brazil and the Caribbean islands. Elkins adds the Southern “closed” environment stripped them of their native African culture, and “turned them into childlike “Sambos” who almost completely internalized the values of their masters.” Kolchin contents in an effort to dispute Elkins and Stampp’s claims scholars in the 1970s and the 1980s decided to bring slave to the “center stage,” they “abandoned the victimization model in favor of an emphasis on the slaves’ resiliency and autonomy.” The result is that authors, instead of a presenting one sided views, they now present and analyze both sides, providing a complete history of slavery. This example presents Kolchin’s assertion of the historiographical…

    • 1068 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Atlantic Slave Trade was a dark time in history. This was a time in which a specific race of people were looked upon as less than human. Monarchs and explorers only cared for their selfish gains which lead to the dehumanization of an entire race of people. From the 1450s to 1870s there were million of humans taken captive and turned into slaves, most from Africa. The absence of humanitarian concern for these people influenced the treatment of slaves in negative ways. These negative ways of treatment due to absence of concern were kidnapping, hard labor, and treatment much like that of animals.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    African Slave Trade Dbq

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The slave owner would use any means necessary to force their slaves to work as much as possible without interruptions in production by disobedient slaves. The slave owners would punish their slaves in a variety of ways such as whipping, beating, breaking bones, confinement to a dungeon, slitting of ears, and castration as an example to their other slaves as to why they should obey(Doc 7). Cruelty was the weapon of the slave owners and with it, they were able to continue to oppress their slaves by fear of the same punishments happening to them. They “altogether [treated] them in every respect like brutes” (Doc 8). The slave owners dehumanized the slaves to the point that they hardly thought they were humans anymore and thereby made it so they felt like they had no right to disobey their…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To prevent another rebellion supported by “discontented men,” “Virginia authorities accelerated the shift to [African] slave on the tobacco plantations.” This rebellion was the turning point of depending labor force to African slaves. One of the differences between slaves and servants was their duration of servitude. As servants were required to work five to seven years, they “could look forward to a release from bondage.” They could be free men with privileges. For African slaves, they could be owned all their life. Also, because “slavery existed in the African states …it was sometimes used by Europeans to justify their own slave trade.” Thus, unlike indentured servants, African slaves would not revolt because of the lack of economic freedom that was not promised to them at the beginning of their slavery. This way, African slaves would not be as discontented in their freedom as English…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout world history, countless groups of people from different ethnicities and cultures have befallen to the trap of institutionalized slavery. From the beginnings of colonial America, European settlers have enslaved both the indigenous people and also Africans. When the general subject of slavery is discussed, people assume this refers to the 13 million Africans that were transported to the America, as part of the “Triangular Slave Trade” (Ojibwa). The massive, historical representation of African slaves disregards many other racial groups that were subjected to this dehumanizing treatment. Although, Africans did endure the harsh enslavement by their European owners for approximately 300 years, slavery in America began long before this.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In general, Africans were not the only peoples whom the Europeans would be enslave. In short, some immigrants from Europe was also slaves and they were known as Indentured Servants. The Indentured Servants were people who came to the New World under contract to serve for and work for the landowners for four to seven years in exchange in exchange for paid passage from England, as well as food, clothing, and shelter once they arrived in the colonies (Indentured Servants, “n.d.”). But, the African American were the only peoples imported as permanent, unfree laborers (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 26). In general, the African Americans resisted their new way of life and struggle to maintain their human dignity and to develop social institutions that would sustain them through the rest of their lives (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 27). For the most part, in the colonial societies, the African Americans were considered the lowest of the social order. In the colonists’ view, they were considered as imported human property in which their sole purpose was to work for those who purchase their rights. In fact, they were considered as a “bad race” in which the term originated in Europe and strengthened the American cause of why they should enslave the African Americans (Robin, Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p. 27). In contrast, the…

    • 1778 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All throughout History, we have continuously asked ourselves why African Americans lived a much more restricted life from that of the White. Most of us know that African Americans were enslaved workers and slave owners. Being a property meant that they had to follow every rule and do as told. Around the eighteenth century, the slavery of African Natives became a notable source of labor for the Southern plantation system. The development of plantations made the use of slaves more necessary. Due to the development of plantations, the idea of slavery was not only influenced among the people but it was also a profitable investment. Social factors including political and religious views also had a great impact on the growth of slavery in the colonies.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This paper will explain the methods of making a slave according to Willie Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. Willie lynch was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to the slave owners there. He gave his speech on the banks of the James River. Willie Lynch believed he had a foolproof method for controlling the negro slaves. He guaranteed everyone of the slave owners that if his methods were used correctly it would control the Negro slaves for at least three hundred years. It was in the interest of slave owners to study human nature, the slave nature in particular, with a view to practical results. Willie Lynch (1712) outlined a number of differences among the slaves and he takes their differences and makes them bigger, He used fear, distrust and envy for control purposes. At the top of his list of differences was age because it starts with an A. Second on the list is shade or “Color.” other differences that were on his list was size, sex, intelligence and the sizes of plantations and status. Willie Lynch assured the other slave owners that DISTRUST is…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine being worked close to death every day in the blistering heat, waiting your entire life for the one day you can pay off your debt and be a free man. The fact of the matter is, you are not actually free, you are constantly being judged, and although you own property you will never have the same rights as a white man. (Patricia Harms, Pg.1) These harsh truths made free African slaves absolutely…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dehumanization Of Slavery

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To illustrate, on auction blocks where they “were stripped, examined, and assigned meaning according to the brutal…slaveholding ideologies” , African-American slaves were dehumanized and “turned into products”. Slaves were denied their unalienable human right to privacy as every detail and flaw were scrutinized to degrade their self-confidence, making them submissive to their masters. Because African-Americas occupied the role of being slaves in American society, they laboriously served their masters like replaceable livestock such as “horses and other cattle” . They were understood to have no virtue or will of their own because of their skin color, making them perfect to control. Furthermore, “[s]lavery…was a system of unchecked brutality, made grotesquely visible on the suffering bodies of the slaves” as the slaveholders used violence to keep their possessions obedient. Slave Josiah Henson described how the one hundred lashes his father received for defending his wife from being raped by their master triggered his father’s mental deterioration into a detached person. Ultimately, dehumanizing the slaves into submission made it easy for the masters to treat them as property as they were “subject to his will in all things…[and had] no shadow of law to protect [them] from insult, violence, or even from death”…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    “The Atlantic Slave Trade” by Klein Herbert is a synthesis made to educate readers with extensive scholarly research from the past quarter century on the Atlantic Slave trade. This book was written to close the gap between popular understanding about the slave trade and scholarly knowledge. The Book systematically organized the Atlantic slave trade in eight chapters starting from “Slavery in Western Development” to “The End of the Slave Trade”. In the following review of Klein Herbert’s work “The Atlantic Slave trade” I will summarize the book’s content, and survey its major strengths, and weaknesses.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays