Essay: Enslaved African Americans and the Struggle for Equality

For centuries now, African Americans have been mistreated due to their race and national origin. They were known to be at the bottom of the hierarchy since they were powerless and did not have the capability of shifting the society towards equality. African American slavery in the United States officially began as early as 1619 when they first arrived in the newly founded colony of Jamestown and continued to as late as when the Civil War ended in 1865. Throughout those years, African Americans experienced brutal maltreatment and injustice.   Slaves were used for trading and were assigned to do manual labor. They were also divided into jobs depending on their gender. Women were doubly oppressed and used for breeding.  Meanwhile, men were assigned to work in the fields and do manual labor. White American men were on the top of the hierarchy scale, while African Americans were on the bottom. This caused African Americans to be overpowered and forced to follow any order given to them. It has been believed that African American slaves shaped America’s economic growth, which is one of the main reasons why slavery was long-lived. Many events involving the enslavement of African Americans occurred between 1619 and 1865 that sparked controversies over equality. The struggles for equality continued post 1865, as black segregation became the norm particularly in the south. African Americans were unjustly targeted as an aggressive anti black sentiment reigned in the US.
The first group of slaves arrived to Jamestown in the year of 1619. It was the first slave exchange that occurred in the Americas. A black American writer, J. Saunders Redding, described his arrival saying “she came, she traded and shortly afterwards was gone. Probably no ship in modern history has carried a more portentous freight. Her cargo? Twenty slaves.”  The triangle trade/ slave trade was a system that consisted of carrying slaves, crops and manufactured goods between Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The ships traveled from Europe to Africa to exchange manufactured goods, such as guns and cloth for slaves. The ships from Africa then traveled to the Americas and Caribbean to trade the slaves for raw materials. Finally, the ships from America returned to Europe with raw materials that included lumber, cotton and tobacco and sugar. The slaves were the most important factor of the exchange since the slaves created valuable materials like sugar.   Sugar was a material that was much needed for plantations throughout America. “New Orleans was a huge trading center for slaves and sugar, which were crucial to the plantations being built along the Mississippi.” Big cities, like New Orleans, heavily relied on the trade to keep up their plantations. Slaves also produced other important materials, such as cotton and tobacco. Tobacco, in particular, had a tremendous profitable production and its cultivation encouraged expansion.  Without slaves, no valuable productions would be available and there would be a steep decrease in the colonies economy. By midcentury, Africans helped make up nearly half of the population in English colonies.   This event sparked the beginning of African Americans struggle for equality. African Americans were instantly violated when Europeans felt they were justified in taking them away from their homes. During the journey by ship, slaves were treated as if they were cargo, not humans. The Europeans were only concerned about how much money they could make off of them. Equality was violated in all aspects during the entire slave trade.
In 1774, Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, promised freedom to Virginia slaves who joined the British’s side.   He claimed that if the slaves fought with his forces, they would be freed. His statement turned into a proclamation that was signed in December of 1775.  Many white Americans in the upper class worried about the proclamation and how it encouraged slave escapees. A report from one Maryland County stated, “The malicious and imprudent speeches of some among the lower classes of whites have induced them to believe that their freedom depended on the success of the King’s troop. We cannot therefore be too vigilant nor too rigorous with those who promote and encourage this disposition in our slaves.”  The upper class did not want the slaves to fight with the King because they are all slave owners. Hearing that the white lower class are encouraging the slaves to flight, made the upper class angry and want to avoid the lower class from promoting the blacks to fight. Once the slaves heard the proclamation, they instantly agreed to side with him, since it could be there escape to freedom and a reach to possible equality. This event showed how the upper class whites wanted to quell any support the lower class provided to blacks to fight. The lower class believed in giving blacks equality, but the upper class opposed since they helped the revenue of their plantations.
The Westward Expansion raised a controversy over whether or not slavery should be allowed in the new states. Every white American during the time had differing views on slavery since the expansion would affect the free and slave state balance.  Many Americans felt that slavery was still reasonable; Southerners thought that expanding west could create a new empire for slavery, while northerners and westerners imagined it would create more land and wealth for everyone.   The southerners always had strong opinions on slavery, and continuously believed it was the right way to improve America’s economy. At the end, the expansion of slavery occurred and slaves were carried into the southwest. Thomas Benton, a supporter of the westward expansion, believed that white Americans were superior to every other race  “The van of the Caucasian race now top the Rocky Mountains, and spread down to the shores of the Pacific. In a few years a great population will grow up there, luminous with the accumulated lights of European and American Civilization.”  Benton stated that the civilization from the east to the west would consist of Europeans and Americans, and purposely didn’t acknowledge any other race but his own. The only race he slightly acknowledged were the “yellow” races, which were the Mongolians. He accepted their race because they had trading routes to Asia, which helped organize a civilization.  Benton completely ignored the blacks because he believed they were far below the whites and completely irrelevant to the society. Benton was justified to think that blacks were nowhere equal to the whites.
Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, also known as the Fugitive Slave Clause stated that “any escaped slave or slave lawfully carried into another state could be discharged from service or labor, but had to be returned to the owner.”   Therefore, slaves who escaped into the north for freedom were required to be returned to their original territory. To enforce Article IV, Section 2, the U.S. congrats enacts the Fugitive Slave Law. It allows slave owners to cross state lines to recapture their slaves. They must then prove ownership in a court of law. In reaction, some northern states pass personal liberty laws, granting the alleged fugitive slaves the right to testimony on their own behalf. These northern state legislatures also pass anti kidnapping laws to punish slave catchers who kidnap free blacks instead of fugitive slaves.  Northerners took this as an offer to give slaves a chance to go jury by trial and give them a chance to explain why they should be free. This could be considered an opportunity for slaves to have equality. Though, it still didn’t allow the slaves to be considered a person other than property. Blacks continued to be slaves and continued to have no rights whatsoever as citizens or people.
In 1857, the Dred Scott Decision affirmed that there is no such thing as free slaves or territory.   Dred Scott was a slave who moved to Illinois with his master although the state prohibited slavery. A few years later, he moved again to Fort Snelling (Wisconsin Territory), which was above the Missouri Compromise Line. Scott filed for a freedom suit since he spent several years resided in a free state with his owner.   Scott argued he resided in two states where slavery was prohibited. Whether enslaved or free, slaves could not be American citizens since they were not born as a citizen to begin with. Robert B. Taney, the chief justice from Maryland concluded that “Scott could not bring the suit and that moving to free soil did not free Scott either, as slaveholders could take their property into territories, and any act of Congress regarding slaves would be an impairment of property rights guaranteed in the fifth amendment.”   In 1857 it was declared that, “the slave Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom because he was not a person, but property.”   As shown, slaves were not considered as people, instead they were considered as other people’s property. Although Dred Scott had a valid reasoning behind his freedom suit, it would have been impracticable for a slave to win a court case. The Dred Scott case was a clear example of the injustice African American slaves experienced.
The North and South had two opposing views on slavery. The North prohibited it, while the South depended on it. Publications such as the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, revealed the truth behind the southerner’s treatment to African Americans, which generated a shock to the northerners and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.   The story is about a slave named Uncle Tom was sold to an evil slaver master, Simon Legree. Uncle Tom worked a hard life in the field, and was beaten to death. Even in death, Tom forgives Legree and his other masters.   The novel completely changed how Americans viewed slavery and opened their eyes on the inequality slaves faced. After the publication, Free and slave states held more differing views that led to conflict. Southern states seceded from the Union (North) and formed the Confederate states of America (South), which caused the beginning of the Civil War. Free black men volunteered to fight along with the Union forces when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The declaration stated that free black men were permitted to enlist in the army. This was a turning point for many African Americans, since it was a gain of their freedom and they were finally being treated like humans instead of property. In 1865, General Robert E Lee surrendered with his troops, which marked the official end of the Civil War.  The end of the Civil war also marked the end of slavery and injustice to African Americans. Following the Civil War was the Reconstruction period, which was the process of readmitting former members of the confederacy to the Union, rebuilding the South and establishing a structure for the newly free slaves to live and work in as free men and women.  Unfortunately, years afterwards, racism and exploitation remained intact for African Americans, but the act of enslavement officially came to an end.
The road to freedom and equality for enslaved African Americans was prolonged and challenging. They endured inhumane treatment and injustice. Almost every white American viewed them as property or a source of money. Northerners and the lower class were the first to recognize them as people with human rights. On the other hand, it took southerners and the upper class a long time to accept it, since slaves were their method to economic success. It’s said that “even before 1600, when the slave trade had just begun, before Africans were stamped by it- literally and symbolically—the color black was distasteful…”  This showed that blacks, even before slavery, were perceived in a negative light and were never looked upon as an equal or dominant race. To this day, there’s still racial mistreatment, unfairness and segregation towards blacks. Though slavery has been largely abolished for much of the world, there’s still work to be done to eradicate the black and white divide that continues to plague the human race.