Reflections Blog on Unit One

To start, we learned about the slave trade. We learned how it began and how it continued throughout time. It started with the Europeans, continued in with the people of West Africa, and continued in the New World. These slaves weren't just of one decent, but most of the slaves did come from the West Africa region. They were made to endue the Middle Passage, also known as "The Triangular Trade", which was a time where they were beaten into submission, forced to make a journey to the coast, all while watching their own people and other tribes be murdered for not submitting to those who have taken them, and then forced onto this ship to be taken. These people endured harsh conditions and most didn't make it to the new world, but those who did endured a life of harsh treatment, punishment, and were made to throw away their own cultures.

We also learned the differences in the conditions for slaves from one area to another. The slaves in Africa and some in Europe were treated more like servants than slaves. If you were a child or young, the family that you were with would treat you like their own child. In this area as well you were allowed to practice your own culture and religion. Some people were even able to expand on their own culture, learn others, and sometimes even learn other languages. However, once they endured the Middle Passage, they were treated as they were nothing. They were made to live in filth and abused severely. They were made to work in harsh conditions and most of them weren't able to stay with their families throughout being bought and traded off.

Next we learned the difference of what became of those who were slaves and those who were indentured servants. They mostly went through the same conditions, but the slaves were there for life. They were sold and traded like crop, whilst indentured servants were only there for a portion of time and were given their freedom once they worked off any debt they had accumulated. Slaves were never allowed this freedom. Sometime later there were laws put in placed to protect those in servitude, whether they were slaves or indentured servants. Collectively, these were called slave codes.

Up until this point, the America's still were extensions of Europe. They were still colonies in the New World. And at this point was when the American Revolution started. To say the least, the Americans were jerks to people of color during the revolution which I believe was the forefront of their treatment later in time. The first battle in the revolution was the Boston Massacre, and the first person killed was a man of color, Chrispus Attucks. During the revolution, people of color were put on the front lines. After the revolution, and the way that it played out, it set out expectations of those in the Americas and it started what was the different treatment of slaves in different areas. In the northern states of America, slaves were treated better than in the south, and most of them gained their freedom at some point. This is when I believe that the northerners realized that these people cared about this land just as much as they did, whilst in the south, they didn't care how the slaves were treated, they just wanted their stuff to be done by someone other than themselves.