Slavery and racism

Yanling Hao

7/7/2020

Exploring Slavery and Racism in America

On July 4th of 1776, America declared its independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” America carried a mission to “serve as a refuge from tyranny, a symbol of freedom, and a model for the rest of the world.” Liberty became a universal entitlement to human beings created on this planet. However, liberty was a privilege only to Whites and it did not apply to African Americans. Blacks were slaves. Their population in 1776 was 500,000, 1/5 of the New Nation’s inhabitants. In American history, freedom and happiness for Whites were paralleled with slavery and misery for Blacks. The legacy of African slavery in America still impacts our society in the present. To explore the history of slavery and racism in America will help us better understand the existing divisions between Blacks and Whites in the present, which are being manifested by the current BLM protests in America. This writing is going to review two primary sources and one secondary source to explore the history of slavery and racism, to utilize the legacy to better understand one another as individuals and to explore the ways to bring unity between the two races in America.

Black slavery in America had a long history. Black slaves were miserably treated in the history. Atlantic Slave Trade started as Europeans found the New Continent, South and North America. Between 1492 an1820, 7.7 million Africans were “chained to decks by their necks and legs” to be brought to the New World. In America, after the declaration of independence in 1776, between 1777 and 1804, states north of Maryland slowly took steps towards emancipation. Between 1800 and 1840, market revolution and westward expansion occurred. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which quickly separated the seeds from the cotton. With rising demand of cotton, cotton plantation spread into south. With the prohibition of further importation of slaves from Africa in 1808, a massive slavery trade developed inside United States to meet the Cotton Kingdom’s labor requirement. Slaves were auctioned on New Year’s Day. Kids were taken away from their mothers. “She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all.” Transporting slaves in chains from north to lower south was a common sight. It was a “destruction of family ties, the breakup of long-standing communities, and receding opportunities for liberty.” Not until 1870, African Americans were recognized to be born as naturalized citizens. As a matter of fact, African Americans came together along with Europeans to this “free land”. They physically built America for free. The value they produced from cotton plantation financed “industrial development and internal improvements in the north.” They fought shoulder to shoulder with Whites against British during the 8 years of independence war for freedom. They did not get what they fought for and they were treated as personal “property, as marketable as the pigs on the plantation.” The equality in political rights, education, economic opportunity and living condition was only a privilege for Whites. They were not allowed to learn to read or write; they were not allowed to leave the plantation without their owners’ permission; they could not testify in court against Whites; and they could not own property or firearms. The argument that “owning slaves offered a route to the economic autonomy widely deemed necessary for genuine freedom” was brought up by Whites all through the slavery time. The freedom for Whites literally means the deprivation of basic necessity for Blacks.

African Americans were ridiculously stereotyped from the beginning. It made believe that Blacks were inferior to Whites. Even Jefferson believed that “blacks were unfit for economic independence and political self-government” The stereotype was carried through generations till today. The experiment of interviewing children in the video made by David Wilson was shocking and hard to believe. The preschoolers, as Blacks themselves, pointed at the black dolls as bad, ugly, unfriendly and unintelligent. They preferred making friends with the white dolls to the black ones. The superheroes the kids watched on media were all whites. David Wilson was born in the ghetto which was built after the riots in Newark. He was surrounded by drug dealings, violence and poverty. The kids witnessed the environment and they did not self-appreciate themselves and they were low self-esteemed. “The things around you tell you that you cannot succeed….If you feel you are not worth anything, you don’t feel that you deserve anything good.” He was the first kid in his family who made into college. He “escaped” the environment where he grew up.

“There is a crisis in black community. People are not talking about it.” “What’s wrong with black man in America?” was not an appropriate question to ask because there is nothing wrong with the people. There is something wrong with the system. With four hundred years of slavery, black people were deprived of freedom, self-esteem, property and education. Black David Wilson’s great great parents worked for their owner for free to make their owner rich. Three generations later, white David Wilson was born with a farm and a restaurant to run while black David Wilson was born in a ghetto. The crisis should be talked about with honesty. The obstacles the black communities are facing need be recognized by the society. The dialogue between Whites and Blacks need be opened to bring the unity.

African Americans have been through over four hundred years of slavery, segregation and racism. They carried their generations and culture till now. They have the strength to restore the positive image of who they really are. American history is not only about Whites’ building the country for liberty and pursuit of happiness. It is also a history of Blacks’ being slaved and building the country for free. By understanding the history, people will better understand one another as an individual American.