DOCUMENTS Narration of slavery (17th – 20th) Influence It has today

1. « Historical California law
established path to reparations
for Black people, descendants
of slaves »
2. Black cornrows (Pinterest)
3.wrestler having to cut his
dread locks
4. graph: Number of African
slaves brought to British North
America and the US
5. A Boston advertisement for a
cargo of about 250 ‘fine
healthy negroes’, recently
arrived from Africa on the slave
ship Bante Island.
- 1619 : first slaves in Virginia
- 1765-1791 : revolutionary war =>
economic crisis => increase in
slavery rates (cheaper)
- 1763 : Fugitive Slave Act
- mid 19e : underground railroad
(Harriet Tubman)
- 1860s: Abraham Lincoln = during
the Civil War (North. South), he
issued the Emancipation
Proclamation (1.1.1863) => slaves
declared « thenceforward and
forever free »)
- 1865 : 13th Amendments +
14/15th /
- 1877-1964 : Jim Crow Laws
- racism/racial slurs (slave
mentalities => controversies (N-
Word)
- Braids that have a deeper
meaning
- US population today
- African American not knowing
their origins => tensions between
Africans and African-Americans
(African booty scratcher/ Akatas)
DOC 3/4/1/2

DOC 4/5/6

THE IMPACT OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES: TO WHAT EXTENT HAS (BLACK) SLAVERY
SHAPED THE AMERICAN SOCIETY?
« It is clear that there are certain people who are free and certain people who are slaves by nature, and it is
both for their advantage and just for them to be slaves » - Aristotle. In the course of human history, slavery
was a typical feature of civilization and was legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries
of the world (India, China, and North Korea => modern slavery). Thought black slavery and slave trades
started in Europe in the 13th century, slavery was established throughout European colonization in the
Americas in the 17th century. Slavery is the condition in which one person is owned as property by another
and is under the owner's control, especially in involuntary servitude.
1619 was the year the first African slaves set foot in the British colony of Virginia after being captured from
a Portuguese ship and forced to work as servants bound to a “master”. Their population kept growing
reaching one fifth of the US population by 1790. They were forced to hard labor and work on plantations
and crops such as cotton, rice, or Tabaco, and this concerned adults and even children. (DOC 4/5)
The rate of slavery then peaked due to the economic crisis following the Revolutionary War (1759-1791).
Slaves were sold for less money, which lead slave’s owners to purchase even more of them, agriculture
being the primary economic activity of the country. As slave’s work was getting tougher and tougher, new
inventions were created to help enslaved people.
In the mid-19th century, the Underground Railroad was created, a network of clandestine routes used by
enslaved people to escape to the Free states in the North or to Canada. Famous historical figures are
known for this such as Harriet Tubman (born into slavery) or Frederick Douglass (enslaved at 8 and ran
away at 20). During that period, something that was used by slave was their hair. Black people braided
routes to freedom into hairstyles, which are also called cornrows. (DOC 2) different tools were also used as
a way to communicate (AAVE)
In the 1860s, Abraham Lincoln was elected and issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1.1.1863) that
declared that "all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free " ((The document applied only
to enslaved people in the Confederacy, and not to those in the border states that remained loyal to the
Union)) and after the Civil War, over 4 million of slaves gained their freedom.
And a few years later, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Senate, abolishing slavery, and ratifying it
all throughout the country. But even, with different laws passed there were still a crystal-clear difference
made for black people such as the Jim Crow Law era. Colored people couldn’t eat at the same restaurant,
go to the same schools… => racism. Even today, racism toward black people is still a persistent issue in
the American society in the 21st century.
Some things (objects = cotton gin (Eli Whitney)/language) which take their roots in slavery are still common
and used today but a lot of people ignore where they come from but even when people know where it’s
from, it still creates controversies. Such as the usage of the N-word (DOC5) or braids that I mentioned
earlier.
Braids of various styles are still very present in the black community but are also used by other race
(DOC2) => cultural appropriation but we know that it’s not just hair/something on your hair but rather
have a much deeper meaning. It represents a whole cultural background and history. That is one of the
main reasons why the (DOC3) caught social media’s attention. The white referee was accused of racism
and later got expelled.
Slavery is also the cause of the black population in the US today which represents over 13.6% (2022) of
the population of the entire country (DOC4).
African-American being the descendants of enslaved Africans who are from the United States, are today