Dehumanization of the Slave Trade

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Dehumanization of the Slave Trade

Bare feet walked across the rocky dirt road. Hands, feet, and wrists chained together. A long line of black people, men and women and even young maturing children. Beaded up hair from the water and sweat dripping from their filthy bodies from the hot desert-like sun beaming upon them. Dusty looking skin from the times they fell and tried so hard to get up. Empty stomachs; starving people; black people. Some naked and some clothed. They have been walking for some miles, being pulled along, whipped continuously, and told what to do; by the white man. Flies buzzing around them. Rotten smells of all sorts. Swollen feet and hands from the treacherous journeys and over-bearing labor that they had to endure. They were slaves.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the labor of African Americans was in higher demand. This was due to the insufficient amounts of white and Indian indentured servants, for the use of agricultural labor. During the 16th and 17th century time periods, Brazilian and Caribbean sugar plantations were very profitable and the use of African Americans as the laborers/workers provided a model for the European colonists in North America. (historychannel.com)

Africans served as guides and soldiers in the journey of Mexico, however when they were brought to North America they were instead used to produce export crops, such as tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton, which was a major source of wealth. Once this had begun the English settlers gradually begin to turn to black slavery to solve the labor shortage (history channel.com).

Spain and England engaged in the housing of slaves. In the 16th century Spain brought in 100,000 Africans. However England did no...

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...nized English, and religion, and the other aspects of the Western civilization, thereby creating their own unique culture that combined African with European elements. They tried to take over our minds, souls, and bodies, but only got what they gave us, nothing in return.

Bibliography

Funk And Wagnalls. "History of the Civil Rights Struggle: The Slave Era." History.com. 2005. World Almanac Education Group, A WRC Media Company. 17 Feb. 2006 http://www.historychannel.com/blackhistory/?page=history2.

Unknown. "People & Events Royal African Company established 1672." Pbs.org. WGBH and PBS online. 17 Feb. 2006 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p269.html.

Gaines, Ernest J. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. 63.

Gaines, Ernest J. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. 167.

Gaines, Ernest J. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. 192.

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