Charese Locke

HIST-2200-001
Professor Christopher S Case
May 6, 2014

African Americans in the Americanization Process
If southern farmers were to prosper, they needed workers to whom they need not pay
high wages and who had no lofty ambitions. (Olson & Beal, p 94).
It is believed that the first Africans set foot on American soil in the early 1400s,
while traveling with European explorers. However, it was about 200 years later, in
1619 that the first ship carrying Africans arrived in Virginia. They arrived as
indentured servants and were not treated any worse than their white counterparts.
They worked alongside the white laborers until they earned their freedom. It wasnt
until the mid 1600s that slavery became a solution to the labor crisis that colonial
landowners faced. Africans were strong, inexpensive and available in seemingly
unlimited supplies from their native continent. (www.everyculture.com/multi/A-
Br/African-Americans/TheFirstAfricansInAmerica) It was seen as an added benefit
that their dark skin made it easier to distinguish them from the poor white laborers.
The black slave trade had begun.
It is believed that over 10 million Africans were sent to America as slaves between
1650 and 1850. However, up to 40% of them did not survive the voyage.
Hundreds of slaves were crowded into the dark, damp holds of slave ships for
moths at a time, with little or no exercise, subsistence diets, and no sanitary
facilities. (Olson & Beal, p 96) Many died from disease, such as smallpox,
pneumonia, dysentery and the flu. Others died from such severe depression that
they lost their will to live while still more died from suicide.
The majority of slaves were held in Virginia, but in South Carolina the blacks
outnumbered the whites. This growth of the black population created fear in the
white landowners. The white landowners became terrified of a black revolt and
went to work creating legislation in order to control the Africans. In 1661 Virginia
extended the period of servitude to be lifelong. In 1671 they passed legislation,
which forbade Africans from owning guns or joining a militia. In 1692 a law was
passed to forbid sexual relations between English and Africans. In 1740 South
Carolina passed a law making it illegal to teach a slave to read or write. Slaves had
now become property to be punished as their owners saw fit for whatever
transgressions they chose to punish them for. They were prohibited from honoring
their African heritage, long held religious beliefs or cultural practices. The only way
for them to survive was to become submissive to their white masters.
(www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/African-
Americans/SignificantImmigrationWavesAndSettlementPatterns).
African Americans familiarity with animal husbandry, natural medicines and
farming, in addition to their backbreaking labor for no pay, helped build this country
into what it is today. They also fought alongside our soldiers in the Revolutionary
War, in exchange for freedom (Olson & Beal, p 99). Beginning in 1780, abolition laws
were passed in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York,
New Jersey and Ohio. By 1807 the Constitutional Convention had outlawed the
importation of slaves (Olson & Beal, p 100). Unfortunately, the Southern States did
not follow suit. They were opposed to abolition for economic and social reasons.
Blacks outnumbered whites in Mississippi and South Carolina and the population
was split almost in half in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia (Olson & Beal p
101). White southerners were still afraid of slave uprisings. They only way to keep
control was to keep them as property and allow them no freedoms.
After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the
Constitution was adopted and slavery was abolished. This change in law did not
create equality for African Americans. They were still faced with extreme
discrimination in every aspect of their lives, including housing, employment and
education. The Southern governments passed Jim Crow laws, which resulted in
egregious civil rights violations, aimed at African Americans. Interracial marriages
were illegal. Schools and public transportation were segregated. Building permits
were not granted to African Americans in white neighborhoods. The list is long
and the results were depressing. Caucasians continued to treat African Americans
like subpar human beings.
In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination based
on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. This law was meant to end racial
segregation and discrimination. Unfortunately, it did not solve all of the problems,
as it did not protect against police brutality or discrimination in private employment.
It took several years and additional amendments to really even the playing field for
African Americans in a legal sense.
African Americans continue to struggle today and a lot of that is due to the horrible
way they were forced to come to this country. For over 200 years they were treated
like property. They were abused into submission. The hardships they faced are
unimaginable to those of us who did not live through it. They were placed at such a
disadvantage from the very beginning and have fought for years to improve their
status in American society. Their assimilation was so thorough; that today very few
African Americans have any idea what their tribal origins are in Africa (Olson & Beal,
p 345). Our country and its citizens have benefited immensely from their sacrifice.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the African American slaves.
The great irony of black history, of course, was that African Americans were
in many ways the most American of Americans. Their families had lived in
the country as long as those of any other immigrant group; their labor had
helped build the American economy; and their yearnings for freedom and
equality had been prolonged and intense. They had encountered the worst
discrimination of all; the color line had been carefully drawn (Olson & Beal,
p 217)
Works Cited
Bigelow, B. C. (n.d.). African americans. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from Countries and
Their Cultures: www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/African-Americans.html
Olson, J. S., & Beal, H. O. (2010). The Ethnic Dimension in American History. West
Sussex, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.