You are just a little child. You’re playing outside your hut on a hot sunny day while your parents put something together for dinner. Suddenly strange men approached you and take you and your family away. The things you were playing with lay where you dropped them. You have heard your parents concern of something such of what is happening to you all right now. You know what is going to happen deep down but you try to push the thought away. Next thing you know you and your parents on on a boat to America with other African people like you from villages near and far. Some speak of this thing called a slave trade but you try not to listen because it sounds frightening. After weeks upon the boat you arrive in America only to be roughly treated and taken to a strange place where you soon find out you and your family are being separated and most likely will never see eachother again.
It seems so long ago that something so irrational like slavery could exist in America. It is difficult to even imagine something of the sort could have ever happened in this country at all, considering the modern day culture and occurrences that now take place. Slavery is when one is forced to do harsh work with little pay or reward, often living in tough conditions. To give you an idea of how they were treated, it is noted they were often treated like property. This once existed in America and was not thought wrongly of.
It started from the beginning of colonists settlement and last until 1865 when the 13th amendment was amended into the Constitution. Those who were enslaved by plantation and small farm owners were of African American Origin. The life of a slave was far from easy. They were treated like property and often separated from their loved ones, never seeing them again. A slaves life consisted mostly of living in shacks that rarely had furniture and often had dirt floors. Working six days a week from sun up to sun down left little time for them to do anything else besides concentrate on their duties. A slave did as they were told too or they would be beaten or punished for not obeying their owner. Slaves were sometimes even killed when they disobeyed. Some tried to run away but if they were caught the punishment was severe and there wasn’t much place for them to go. Not everyone owned a slave, but slavery was definitely more supported in the south. Actually only two out of the first ten presidents never owned slaves.
Although slavery was slowly becoming a questionable thing as time went on, it often caused difficult debates and many arguments. It is actually one of the main causes of the Civil War that took place between the North and South. The civil war was the last straw though. There were many other attempts to end slavery before the thought of war even came about. Some African Americans believed they deserved the right to share the same freedom as a white man. They argued the point of also being part of the building blocks in what had formed the country. Anti-slave societies existed, but never had much of an impacted until abolitionists began to take a stand. Abolitionists were activists who devoted their life to the cause of ending slavery. Some even died due to their actions. They sent petitions to Congress, campaigned for change and even tried to find ways to overthrow slave owners. They were a minority that slowly changed from peaceful to aggressive.
One slave by the name of Nat Turner even planned a rebellion after claiming to receive visions from God telling him to organize a rebellion of slaves against slave owners. About seventy slaves got together and went from one plantation to the next killing about seventy-five white men before they were stopped. Due to the situation, Turner and eighteen others were hanged. Restrictions on slaves were also tightened. This was just one of many slave rebellions in history as well. Another abolitionists by the name of Federick Douglass was a former slave who escaped slavery at the age of 21. As a former servant and slave, he was able to read and write so well that he spoked out against slavery. He did such a good job some people even questioned his past life of a slave.
Slavery was an exponential part of American history, even though it was completely inhuman. Although I don’t agree with it I would say that the impacted it had on our history certainly helped to mold the country we live in today. It also gave us a foundation to learn from and history would be completely different if it never happened. Sometimes light comes out of the darkest things with just a little time.
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