Slavery in America

Running head: SLAVERY IN AMERICA
Slavery in America
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Author Note

1
SLAVERY IN AMERICA
Slavery in America commenced in 1619 as it was brought into practice by The White
Lion, the privateer. He brought 20 African slaves to Jamestown, Virginia which was the then
British Colony. The Africans who were enslaved were captured from Sao Jao Bautista, the
Portuguese ship. During the 17th and 18th century, many people were abducted from the African
continent and brought into the American colonies by force to make them serve as labors and
servants. They were made to work as indentured labor for producing crops such as cotton and
tobacco. During the 17th century, the settlers who came from Europe to America, exploited the
people from Africa as slaves as it was cheaper as compared to the Europeans. Historical accounts
estimate the figures to go as high as 7 millions of people to have been traded from African
continent to the then New World, as slaves in the 18th century alone. These men and women from
Africa were considered to be the most suitable and physically abled, to take up the works which
required strength and labor. Black slaves were primarily made to produce rice, tobacco and
indigo in the colonies.
Before the Civil war, slaves constituted about one third of the total population of the
south, put together. Most of the slaved had their basic livelihood based on small farms and large
plantations1. The people who owned the slaved made it a point to make them dependent on them.
Therefore, they tried to bind the slaved to restrictive forces which governed their actions and
lives. Their movements and behaviors were also controlled by the slaves which also constrained
them from reading or writing. It often happened that the masters took advantage of the powered
which they had over the slaves and took sexual liberties. The victims in such cases were mostly
1 Shi, David E., and George Brown Tindall. America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company, 2016.