...Rape During The Antebellum Period The first African slaves arrived in Virginia, North America in 1619. As the plantations of the antebellum south flourished, the African slave trade gained momentum. Between the 16 and 19th centuries, America had an estimated 12 million African slaves (Slavery in the United States, Junius P. Rodriguez ). Enslavement of the African Americans formally commenced in the 1630s and 1640s. By 1740, colonial America had a fully developed slavery system in place, granting slave owners an absolute and tyrannical life-and-death authority over their slaves or 'chattels' and their children (Slavery in the United States, Junius P. Rodriguez ). Stripped of any identity or rights, enslaved black men and women were considered legal non-persons, except in the event of a crime committed. Documents and research on the slave era in the antebellum south are awash with horror stories of the brutal and inhuman treatment of slaves, particularly women (Slavery in the United States, Junius P. Rodriguez). Considered 'properties' by their masters, enslaved black women endured physical and emotional abuse, torture, and sometimes even death. By the 1800s, slavery had percolated down mainly to the antebellum south. While a majority of enslaved men and women were designated as 'field servants' performing duties outside the house, a smaller percentage, particularly women were employed as domestics or 'house servants', mammies and surrogate mothers. In the absence of any security...
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...Bibliographic Essay on African American History Introduction In the essay “On the Evolution of Scholarship in Afro- American History” the eminent historian John Hope Franklin declared “Every generation has the opportunity to write its own history, and indeed it is obliged to do so.”1 The social and political revolutions of 1960s have made fulfilling such a responsibility less daunting than ever. Invaluable references, including Darlene Clark Hine, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); Evelyn Brooks Higgingbotham, ed., Harvard Guide to African American History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001); Arvarh E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., eds., The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001); and Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, eds., Dictionary of Afro- American Slavery (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1988), provide informative narratives along with expansive bibliographies. General texts covering major historical events with attention to chronology include John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000), considered a classic; along with Joe William Trotter, Jr., The African American 1  Experience (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001); and, Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold, The...
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...Abolishment of Slavery in the Northern States Abolishing Northern slavery was a result of the Declaration of Independence. Ending Slavery in the North was not easy, and is something that should not be taken for granted. [1] Importing slaves to the North fell off shortly after 1770, and internal trade in blacks rose in importance. The change in the economy helped the North to give up its direct involvement in expanding slavery, without giving up its fortune they already made. The army commanded by Lord Dunmore, the Royal governor of Virginia, became the first refuge of African Americans who hoped, by serving the Crown (or just by escaping their masters), to gain permanent freedom, encouraging the Rebels themselves to enroll free blacks and slaves in their armed forces- and to promise some of the slaves’ freedom if they served for the duration of the war. The actual taking up of arms by the Royal forces encouraged slaves to run away. These runaways certainly gave Lord Dunmore the idea to officially encourage runaway slaves to leave their masters. Dunmore’s proclamation of November 1775 freed only the slaves of Rebel masters and only those who actually joined the British forces. Rumors that the British would employ blacks to control rebellious whites were circulated in London and at home, from Virginia to South Carolina. Dunmore did not want to encourage wholesale slave rebellion, which would have angered loyal Virginian slaveholders. But he did want to make the Rebels as vulnerable...
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...Running head: Essay #2 Essay #2 Darius McPherson Post University Essay #2 The Harlem Renaissance literature was a spark to African American which created many opportunity for black people to be inspirer to speak out. This allows poets to express them feeling against racism and that equality should be given to the black community. The literature of the Harlem Renaissance gave black people a chance to allow themselves to be heard. This gave hope to the black people an idea to use the (“cultural uniqueness through literature and art”). The Harlem Renaissance wanted the concentration to be on the literature which was used with creativity by the black people to portray black people life. The Renaissance made African American in a way that got them to a higher level to use music, and art to form the start of their own literature which created the new Negro movement. Everything was progressing for the black community as African American started using the visual of art which led them to the creation of jazz music and the approach of literature that shook the cultural into new ideas. With the Renaissance getting the recognition, Langston Hughes was a upcoming writer who would seem to become one of the best writer, poets of his time. Mr. Hughes was an inspire writer in which he wanted African Americans to feel good about themselves. Langston Hughes career as a writer, he talks about the “hardship, poverty, inequality”...
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...Patterson (1983) defined slavery as the dismissal of all rights of freedom and the pursuit of objectification. There were many attempts to keep the enslaved blacks under control, however, these enslaves opposed slavery. The reification of black people came about through customs and traditions, seasoning, degradation and punishment. The blacks responded with day to day resistance, revolts and marronage. This essay discusses the ways in which the whites control the blacks and how the blacks reclaimed that control. Firstly, customs and traditions were set in place to make the blacks feel less than a man or woman so the owner’s and the whites would refer to them as boys and girls. Enslaves were also denied the privilege of being called “Mister or Mistresses” and even “Brother or Sister”. The whites ensure that they felt no importance and this also assisted the whites in portraying inequality amongst themselves and the blacks. According to Meltzer (1993) Seasoning was a process that sometimes took place after the transatlantic slave trade, where whites tried to break the blacks, making them feel as if they were nothing and weren’t good enough. During the process the whites renamed the blacks and made them adjust to their new way of life. In this way the whites conditioned the blacks exactly the way they wanted them in order to have control over them. Degradation of the blacks by the whites made them feel like animals. The whites ensure that the blacks were humiliated and had no...
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...Essay The essay gives you the opportunity to go in-depth into an issue in American culture. Your three possible topics are: (1) relations between blacks and whites; (2) the status of women; and (3) relations between the U.S. and the rest of the world. You pick one of these topics and, using only our textbook, write 1800-2000 words on how you have seen that topic throughout the course, from the beginnings to the present. How has it changed? What were the big events or people involved in it? What analysis can you bring to the topic, in order to assess it critically? The essay is to be critical and not just a summary of sections in which your topic is mentioned in the textbook. The essay should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and a 12-point font. Frequent citations (probably one or two per paragraph) to the textbook are essential for each point you find from the textbook. Use Turabian or MLA for your citation format and be exact in your citations, including page numbers for each one. No title page or works cited page are needed. In the beginning of the African American history, there were many obstacles and struggles that the colored people had to face. They were being mistreated, sometimes even less than a white man’s dog. It all began in 1619, the first African slaves were brought to Virginia. Once a person becomes a slave, they were slaves for life and so were the next generation. The majority of the slaves worked in rice or tobacco plantations in dangerous...
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...were dominant in America. The most afflicted people were the Africans and the African Americans. However, not everyone supported the idea of slavery in such a first-class nation. Some were against it, and they struggled to ensure that the inhuman act was stopped. Thomas Jefferson was against the institution of slavery in America. His personal views can be well traced from notes and letters he sent to various leaders. For one, Jefferson was against slavery because he believed that all men were created equal. No man is superior than the other, and hence slavery was an inhuman act that set the victims to pain and torture. He thought that white man was just as equal to black man and there should be no difference in the manner that the two are treated. In his reply letter to Mr. Benjamin Banneker on August 30, 1791, he expressed how a black man has equal talent as a white man (Letter to Benjamin Banneker). None of these individuals should live in degraded conditions. Color does not justify slavery of the Africans and African Americans. To Jefferson, the institutions of slavery were a source of division. The white men intended to retain and enslave black men in American so that they would save the...
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...stories and poems. Of course slavery was a very common topic but there were others such as inequality between the races and sexes, injustice and resentment, the black identity, and a strong faith and religion. Even though the words can be separated in the end they all come back together. There were many narratives written by fugitive slaves before the Civil War and by former slaves in the postbellum era. These narratives document slave life from the perspective of first-hand experience. The stories they tell are dark and ugly. The authors like Douglas and Jacobs reveal the struggles, sorrows, aspirations, and triumphs of slaves in absorbingly personal story-telling. Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman. In it she describes her experience of the sexual exploitation that made slavery especially oppressive for black women. She also recounts her life in slavery in the context of family relationships with her escape and her struggle to free her children. Fredrick Douglas who wrote Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave, Written by Himself depicts the grim life of slavery as well. He vividly describes the brutality that slaves endured, the meager rations they are allowed for nourishment, and even the murder of a slave. He also hits on the common practice of slave owners raping the enslaved women. Douglas also writes of his escape from slavery and fleeing north. This...
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...of the blacks in the South. With the start of segregation of blacks the civil right movement started. The peak of segregation was during 1950s. The South promoted segregation with saying that the segregate but the facilities, which the blacks had to use were equal. This was a big lie. In this essay I try to explain the major reasons why there was segregation in the South during the 1950s. Before the American Civil War the South had a big plantation economy, where they planted rice, sugar, cotton, tabacco and the major plantation economy in the South, sugar. The plantation economy was the biggest economy in the South due to the climate and it was the closest point to Africa from the New World called USA. The short distance to Africa pushed Slavery in the USA. All the owners of the plantation had African slaves who worked for them. This changed after the Civil War when Slavery got abolished and therefore the plantation economy ended. The plantation economy ended because the whites believed that this was only a job for blacks. As I mentioned earlier was the plantation economy the biggest economy in the South but when Slavery ended the South got poor, farming rural area. Moreover the South believed in the supremacy of the white race and they were in fear when slavery ended that this system could get mixed up therefor the South introduced Jim Crow laws. Laws which segregated the blacks from the supreme white race. One way of segregation were voting limitations for blacks. Blacks...
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...which are looked at as being intolerable. Seeing one race less important than another is dehumanizing but it is within the definition of racism, inferiority and superiority are stated. According to the Oxford dictionary, racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. This mentality of having superior and inferior races began in the 1600s where slave trade was considered to be normal. Slavery was not based on racial discrimination against one specific race or ethnicity but it was based on what was available. Eric Williams, author of the book called “Capitalism and Slavery,” states beautifully the role racism played in slavery. He states that, “[s]lavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery” (7). Racism was never the intention of slavery but the product of it. Once slavery had...
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...Essay #3 Throughout history many races and cultures have been discriminated against for various reasons and there have been many different methods used to discriminate against them. To focus on one race in particular the African American race was discriminated for a long period and was discriminated in various ways throughout this time. The longest and most prominent method used was slavery, then after slavery ended segregation was another method, and lastly African Americans not being treated equally or having the same rights was another method that was used to discriminate against the African American race. To start with, the first method that was used to discriminate against was slavery which was the most prominent and abrasive method used to oppress the black race for hundred of years. Slavery caused the black race to basically be treated as property and not a person for hundred of years and even when slavery finally ended blacks still were not treated equally and were discriminated against. Slavery was also the most brutal of methods used to oppress the black race and the longest method used to discriminate the black race. During slavery blacks had no rights what so ever and and no say in what they did because there masters told them what to do and when to do it and they had to follow their orders. Also, during slavery blacks were not able to be their full potential because they were not even considered to be people and were treated as property. Also, during slavery slaves...
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...improved highway in the United States to be built by the federal government. Connection between the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and a gateway to the West for thousands of settlers. • Communication Revolution- Samuel Morse invented telegraph. • The Market Revolution- improvements in how goods were processed and fabricated as well as by a transformation of how labor was organized to process trade goods for consumption. • Porkopolis- Cincinnati was the country's chief hog packing center, and herds of pigs traveled the streets. • Labor theory of value- The value of a commodity is only related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity and not to other factors of production • Second Party System- 2 party system • Democrats- white men democracy. Free markets, no limits on hours/wages. Expand religious liberty. • Whigs- strong, economically involved central gov. • Andrew Jackson- 7th president. Democrat. • Indian Removal Act of 1830- The act authorized Jackson to negotiate with the Native Americans in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange...
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...African American's Journey Essay Below is a free essay on "African American's Journey" from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples. “African American’s Journey to Freedom” Charity Johnson HIS204: American History since 1865 Instructor: Leslie Ruff February 11, 2013 “African American’s Journey to Freedom” To some African Americans it may seem ironic that The United States of America is known as “the land of the free” considering that majority of their ancestors entered the US as slaves. African Americans were brought to North America via the middle passage which originated during the fifteenth century. They were enslaved for approximately 400 hundred years until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Although African Americans were enslaved in America, they were determine to survive and one day be freed in this great country. During The African American’s journey to freedom several significant events took place which was inclusive of but not limited to: The Civil Rights Movement of 1865-1877, Separate but Equal Legislation (Plessy vs. Ferguson court case) in 1896, The Harlem Renaissance of 1920, Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, The March on Washington Movement of 1963, and The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970. I will discuss the significance of these events in relation to the African American journey to freedom and how they have help shape American society today. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF 1865-1877 Frequently when...
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...Many people, including myself, always thought of Lincoln as a strong advocate for the abolishment of slavery, and in some ways he was, but he was also “a man of his time.” During that time there were people that that saw the world as more of a grey area, such as Lincoln, but there were also those that saw the world in black and white, pun intended, such as Garrison and Robinson. Garrison believed that if they “give them the same chances to improve, and a fair start at the same time, and the result will be equally brilliant, equally productive, equally grand." To him if the blacks were given the same opportunities/rights as whites then society could benefit greatly from it. Robinson on the other hand believed the polar opposite. “Our Heavenly Father has made us to rule, and the Negroes to serve…” Now Lincoln didn’t necessarily believe that exactly but he did share some similar views....
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...Robert Marra Section 103 The Origins of Slavery in America The institution of slavery is a black mark on the history of America. The atrocities that were allowed to occur for hundreds of year are revolting to think about. History books and classes often detail the horrors of slavery, and the effects it had on our agricultural economy. However, they do not really explain why the practice of slavery was allowed to flourish in the colonies. They just present the facts of its occurrence. They do not consider the mindset of the people who thought it was justifiable to enslave a specific race. This paper seeks to answer this question using evidence from the studies of Degler, the Handlins, and Morgan. Slavery was not brought into existence by any one singular variable. It is a combination of attitudes and circumstance. Specifically, a preexisting discrimination of darker skinned people by the British and colonists led to the foundation and inconsistent growth of slavery, while the economic factors caused for its widespread acceptance. For instance, there are many more cases of blacks being treated as slaves before the legal status of slave came into existence than there are of whites. In Degler’s article Genesis of American Race Paradox, he argues that racial discrimination was present from the beginning and that the institution of slavery was just the law catching up with the practice (Degler). This essay agrees with and will use many of the points he makes to argue how...
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