The Impact of Slavery on African Americans

Introduction

Hundreds of years ago, ships and water vessels started the transportation of millions of people from the African continent with an aim of turning them into slaves. The latter was mainly to aid in the provision of cheap labor for plantations and developmental activities in America. It followed that many years later when, blacks were cognizant of their rights, they started struggling for their emancipation and empowerment. The struggle continued until the end of the American civil war in 1804. It was until the end of the battle that the blacks were able to be accorded equal rights as those of their white counterparts. However, the struggle for equal rights has not been completely won, the notion among the whites that African-Americans are inferior to them because of their race or color is still an issue to grapple with because cases of racist treatments and discrimination are still reported (Patterson and Robin 17).

The African Slaves' Diversity

The Africans slaves came from varied geographical and cultural differences as they did not exist as one large family with the same cultural beliefs and practices. Moreover, they were speaking separate languages and had varying religious beliefs. However, the slave masters did not consider their differences, instead, they placed them together, made them work and it was upon them to get to know how they could communicate among themselves.

The Tragic Experiences of Slavery

Notably, the captives underwent a lot of tragic and horrible experiences; enslaved women were exposed to constant sexual exploitation at the hands of the slaveholders and overseers. Besides, the men got hard labor and thorough beatings if they did not comply with their masters’ instructions. It was also very saddening in the cases where partners were together; this was because one could be sold thereby, breaking the family unit that they had created among themselves (Huggins 27). Being that family was one of the sustaining factors of slavery, cases of separation were so disheartening for the slaves but they could do nothing since they were all at the mercy of the slave masters.

Factors Fueling Slave Trade

One of the major factors that helped fuel the slave trade was the rise in the demands of crops and goods. European consumers piled pressure on the producers to increase their outcomes in order to sustain the rapid growth of population in the European countries. No other source of labor could be found except the use of the slaves. The individuals were considered to be strong and capable of working under extreme weather conditions. The latter explains why each time there was a need for the increase in the workforce; the first target was among the slaves (Patterson and Robin 24). It was not until the year 1804 that the northern states in America decided to abolish the act and set the slaves free; many southern states also followed suit thereby, beginning the eradication of slavery and slave trade in US. Prior to that, countries in the Caribbean such as Holland, Portugal, England, and France delivered slaves in exchange for sugar and tobacco (Huggins 34). The products formed major commodities used in the entire trading period.

Historians' Views on Slavery

Many historians and philosophers have come up with different theories and explanations of what caused the slave trade and factors that contributed to its growth and spread world over. The individuals tend to expound on different analogies and viewpoints in order to help prosecute the effects and the negative impacts of the act. Some of the historians include Orlando Patterson and Nathan I Huggins. Patterson and Robin on their writings provide a comparative examination of slavery across different times and space holding that oppression and race are tangentially joined by the historical circumstance whereas, Huggins viewpoint holds that they are mutually built a particular historical circumstance.

The Founding Fathers and Slavery

The founding fathers of the United States, in their quest to establish a more free society that respects and protects the rights of the minority created a written constitution, checks and balances, judicial review, and bill of rights. However, in all the instruments, there was no open and frank approach to the atrocities that bedeviled the African American community and the society at large. On this issue, they considered to let the matter stay buried without upfront consideration and tackling of the misgivings that arose with it. American historians have also fallen victims to the misrepresentation of the historical happenings.

Misrepresentation of History

The diversity in the population present in America has promoted the universal viewpoint in which the founding fathers decorate it as a progressive nation with respect to rights and rule of law. A conspiracy of chauvinism, myth, and history is what the writings of many historians expose to right thinking and analytical minds. Huggins states that it makes no reference to the major roles the country played in promoting slave trade and the real eventualities that took place in the ancient times (41). Consequently, recent writings have highly concentrated on exploring and exposing the inner facts of slavery with different scholars having varied opinions.

Theories on Slavery

Orlando Patterson, a sociologist, opines that forced labor was the common characteristic of the intended and deliberate social debasement of the slaves throughout the history. In his argument, the author states that slaves were the most downtrodden of the society and they represented the least status in life. Patterson and Robin maintain that slavery was a symbol of social death since they were living at the mercy of their masters (38). The latter was because they did not have any right of thought and decision making. As such, the argument in Euro-American circles was that the individuals were captives from wars, and; thus, their masters are genuine buyers from the captors can be explained by the theory. Much of the theory finds support from the historical recordings of how African slaves were treated and debased beneath the elemental human dignity. The institutionalization of the racial slavery got a boost from the United States’ chief justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney who in the mid-nineteenth century wrote in a ruling that African Americans had no rights, which the white man needed to respect (Huggins 45). The act meant that, whether free or slaved, all blacks were confined to one form of treatment and that was a life of discrimination. Orlando’s explanation is, therefore, a perfect representation of the real challenges and the status of slavery in pre-civil war America. Furthermore, the racial discrimination and unequal treatments have lasted past the period of oppression; thus, entrenching the social death argument from Patterson.

In contrast, Huggins presents an argument that the predicaments that befell the black community were as a result of the historical orientation and happenings that excluded the Negros from the societal set up that favored racial privilege to the whites (42). He further argues that the rise of the civil rights movements and the eruption of the American war did little in reversing the effects of racial dominance that the whites had preferred for themselves. The perceived events brought discrimination in the cases of education, housing, and employment. In essence, whites were unwilling to cede any of the enjoyed privileges because they had a mindset that if the blacks were empowered, they could end up overpowering their masters. In as much as Huggins theory tries to provide the superficial social tenets of the effects of slavery, it does not deeply express the actual physical and emotional challenges that the blacks underwent. Therefore, the Orlando Patterson’s viewpoint represents a true depiction of historical injustices and challenges African Americans were exposed to in the hands of their white masters.

Conclusion

In summary, slavery and the whole idea of oppression represents one of the darkest moments of American history. Scholars and historians who have not done any good to the country by alienating certain facts that are deeply engraved in the nation’s past events. The viewpoint pushed by Patterson offers a critical analogy of America’s antiquity which if well considered gives the people a chance to look at the current challenges and work in the path of finding better solutions. Complementarily, Huggins’ theory can be applied in case of understanding the scope, within which racial discrimination and social debasement impacted the lives of blacks. It can also explain the reason why, in most cases, the whites still seem superior to their counterparts, for instance, in employment scenarios, there are companies that still discriminate on payments where the whites are paid more than African-Americans in the same job position. Therefore, Orlando Patterson’s theory is more intensive in the historical description of African-American predicaments during the slavery periods.

Works Cited

Huggins, Nathan I. "The deforming mirror of truth: Slavery and the master narrative of American history."Radical History Review 1991.49 (1991): 25-48.

Patterson, Tiffany Ruby, and Robin DG Kelley. "Unfinished migrations: reflections on the African diaspora and the making of the modern world."African Studies Review 43.1 (2000): 11-45.