Slavery in Africa had existed for many centuries before the start of the Atlantic Slave Trade in the mid 1500’s, however, like cultures and languages, slavery was different depending on where you were. Europeans, who became the controlling society in the Atlantic slave trade, took it upon themselves to colonize, assimilate and relocate all whom they encountered. Europeans forcibly took Africans from their culture and their home, relocating the across the Atlantic into existing European colonies, as a supplement of labour. When the people of African decent were introduced to the America’s, not only were they exposed to Eurocentric racial views, but pre-determined social structures as well, foreign to their own, ultimately changing their identity
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This view became visible in day to day interactions with African people and partly led Europeans to the conclusion that they had a right to enslave these “inferior” people. Blacks, although human, were not considered as such and therefor inadequately treated. An account from a slaver ship reveals that when “brought aboard the ships, [Africans were]… fastened together,… by handcuffs on their wrists, and by irons riveted on their legs.” Cramped living spaces, along with atrocious treatment and punishments such as being flogged, were the general conditions all Africans endured on their journey across the Atlantic. Such treatment further disassociated black people from the whites in the America’s. Through acknowledging primary sources, any account of an African was written from a racial, white supremacist, view. Pinckney talks about the “loss of a ‘Negroe’ man.” Walker mentions how “the ‘Negro’ bared his breast to the bullet.” Any one from African decent in the colonial slave codes were referred to as ‘Negro’, instead of a politer term such as ‘black’ or ‘African.’ Even in the newly created ‘United States,’ racial views continued with the refusal of enlisting any black’s into the war of independence, as any that “fought for the freedom of America could hardly… resume his ‘properly submissive’ position of servitude after the war.” This racial discrimination carried over into social class structures, as when Africans were introduced into the America’s as a supplement of labour, American slavery became unique as it became specifically tied to
This view became visible in day to day interactions with African people and partly led Europeans to the conclusion that they had a right to enslave these “inferior” people. Blacks, although human, were not considered as such and therefor inadequately treated. An account from a slaver ship reveals that when “brought aboard the ships, [Africans were]… fastened together,… by handcuffs on their wrists, and by irons riveted on their legs.” Cramped living spaces, along with atrocious treatment and punishments such as being flogged, were the general conditions all Africans endured on their journey across the Atlantic. Such treatment further disassociated black people from the whites in the America’s. Through acknowledging primary sources, any account of an African was written from a racial, white supremacist, view. Pinckney talks about the “loss of a ‘Negroe’ man.” Walker mentions how “the ‘Negro’ bared his breast to the bullet.” Any one from African decent in the colonial slave codes were referred to as ‘Negro’, instead of a politer term such as ‘black’ or ‘African.’ Even in the newly created ‘United States,’ racial views continued with the refusal of enlisting any black’s into the war of independence, as any that “fought for the freedom of America could hardly… resume his ‘properly submissive’ position of servitude after the war.” This racial discrimination carried over into social class structures, as when Africans were introduced into the America’s as a supplement of labour, American slavery became unique as it became specifically tied to