The enslavement of African Americans beginning in the 1600s represents the most significant denial of rights. The first Africans were brought as indentured servants from the Dutch at Jamestown. Later on, many Africans were purchased and sold as a source of slave labor. The slaves work for long hours, rarely ever got rest, and faced harsh discipline from drivers who carried a whip. If a master had a sexual demand, the slave women had no protection against it. Slavery took away the human right of property. In fact, slavery makes a person a property of someone else. Slavery also takes away a person’s liberty. The slave is forced to live where the owner wants and can be punished if they tried to escape. During this time period, freemen were often
