African American Slave Trade Essay

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The slavery era marked a time in human history that was marred with racial segregation. Slave trade is considered to be one of the most degrading human acts ever.The slaves originated from the races which were deemed inferior to others. The slaves were sold to masters with plantations where they would work under harsh conditions and with little or no pay. Most of the slaves were ill-treated, and a good number died in the hands of their masters. Solomon Northup describes his journey in the hands of slave traders up to the point that he is freed. His narrative begins from the point where he has been abducted and then sold into slavery. He goes ahead to describe one of the most touching stories as he narrates some of the experiences that he had …show more content…

The British had already left slave trade in their Caribbean colonies by 1833 while the French stopped the act in 1848. However, USA, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil still supported slave trade” (Foner, 2011, p. 213). The continuous slave trade meant more blacks were to remain under control of their white masters. Perhaps a countrywide crusade would be the only way for getting the slaves out of such situations. The working conditions were harsh, no pay, and treated like they were lesser beings. The continuous system of coercion and forcing slaves to be submissive involved punitive measures for slaves who were seen as rebellious. The fact that there was no constitution to protect the slaves from such acts worsened the situation. Brutality could have been seen as a means of suppressing the slaves and instilling fear in them so that they do not think of rebelling against their masters. However, from a slaver’s point of view, the slaves were valuable assets to them, and they could use them the way they deemed fit. Any skip of work by a slave could mean significant losses, and the only way of taming such a probability was by excessive

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