Why Did Whites Chose To Enslave Blacks!
The impact of black enslavement remains clearly visible in the protracted living conditions in black communities across the nation. The financial impact was and continues to be unbelievable beneficial to whites and others around the world. Over the years, social scientists have written volumes of material depicting slavery and its impact on both blacks and white Americans. They have described in minute details blacks’ struggles and the failures of race relation. What they have neglected to answer is the core question: why were blacks, above all other population groups, singled out for and successfully kept in slavery for such a protracted period of time?
Since black enslavement was such a unique experience was such a unique experience, black Americans need to thoroughly understand why they were chosen to serve as slaves by clearly understanding the strategies and decisions whites and others used to conquer and use them as fodder to domestic and global economies, blacks will be able to prevent such abuse from ever happening to them again. In addition, blacks will be able to better articulate why white America should never again minimize the impact of black enslavement and Jim Crow---ism and never again equate other so called minority grievances with the afflictions that it has heaped upon blacks.
The practice of human enslavement is a phenomenon of mankind that extends back to prehistoric times. However, the enslavement of black people in America has been so totally unique in its role, scope, and consequences that historians, politicians, and social scientist peculiar because it defied all accepted religious precepts and secular standards of normative behavior. It did not comply with traditional justifications for human enslavements. Moreover, black’s slavery did not end in the traditional manner.
The white slaveholders did not voluntarily free blacks. Nor did the slaves successfully rise up in revolt to free themselves. It took a 4 year civil war, costing nearly half million lives, with whites fighting against other whites, and still the southern white’s economic and psychological dependence on black people could not be totally broken. No other human enslavement has engendered such intense emotional attachments, conflicts, hatreds and wealth for as many nations as did black enslavement.
Was there something that was uniquely different about black people that caused nearly the entire world to support and profit from their enslavement? The answer to this question is critical towards helping blacks to better understand the dynamics of slavery and its impact on current and future events. If blacks were enslavement simply because of skin color was beyond the control of blacks.
On other hand, if weaknesses or other conditions made blacks targets, then blacks must study those conditions and ensure that they never again be so vulnerable. Blacks cannot yet afford to put slavery behind them, as numerous blacks and white leaders suggest. Black enslavement must be a constant reminder of ramifications of lack of collective unity, strength and self determination.
Mankind’s Historical Enslavement
Historically, human enslavement like other human activities was purposeful. In both ancient and modern enslavement, humans were randomly enslaved. The enslaver or mater normally enslaved individuals or group as a result of personal debt, religious differences, or a imprisonment stemming from war. Besides being a form of social punishment, slavery was enforced to comfort the master and provide free labor. Since ancient times, wars and religious conflicts have followed mankind’s development produced a constant flow of slaves and masters. The Hebrews enslaved and were enslaved by the Egyptians. Victorious Romans and Greek armies conquered the Mediterranean area and made slaves of nations and men regardless of race, ethnicity or color. Human enslavement became so common that even the poorest people became slave masters.
The commonness of human enslavement caused the roman society and the Catholic Church to establish policies and laws to provide parameters for the practice of human beings. Under the old roman slave laws, slavery was accepted as a temporary condition that could befall any person. Therefore, Romans laws focused on protecting the slave’s humanity and basic rights during the temporary enslavement. The Catholic Church intervened on behalf of slaves to assure that they maintained rights such as the right to purchase freedom, protect their property, testify in court and marry.
Due to the Catholic Church strong influence in Latin American societies, some slaves were able to win their freedom in court, with compensation from cruel slave masters. The church intervened primarily to provide the slaves with escape hatches from slavery. The slave could work off or pay off his indebtedness to his creditor or assimilate into and become loyal to the society of his military captors. In addition, the slave could disavow his own religion and accept the religious affiliation of the master. In ancient times, the Catholic Church and Roman law gave the enslaved some options.
The Uniqueness of Black Slavery
America’s enslavement of blacks was unique in nearly every respect from previously known instances of human enslavement or seldom. Some of the characteristics and factors surrounding American slavery are listed below:
•The sheer number of people enslaved was unprecedented. An estimated 15 million to 60 million blacks were captured in Africa for enslavement. More than 35 million died en route to various ports, with approximately 15 million actually reaching the slave markets. The incompleteness of records makes it impossible to give an exact number, but Robert Kuczynski, a leading authority, estimated that a minimum of 15b million were shipped. Hundreds of millions of the originally enslaved Africans offspring served as slaves or lived as subordinated, exploited human beings for hundreds of years.
•The racist enslavement of blacks was introduced into the world at the same time that individual freedom for whites was blooming. Serfdom and servitude were disappearing in Europe. The Catholic and Protestant religions were undergoing reform and increased liberalization. And, secular philosophies were mankind. European rulers responded by liberating and even financing the migrations of their subjects to the New World, including many of those who were then living in poor houses and prisons.
•Black slavery was, purely and simply, racial and economic exploitation, that caused economic exploitation that caused economic revolutions and entrenched disparities between blacks and whites. Economically poor, unindustrialized nations of Europe, like Spain, Portugal, Germany, and England, commercialized human exploitation and suffering for the primary purpose of looting gold, silver and precious commodities in Africa and the New World. Old forms of mercantilism were converted to new capitalism. Banking, currency, and marketing reforms were created. Africa became warren for the commercial hunting of strong ebony bodies. Subsequently, skin color became a sign of degradation for its wearer and a sign of wealth for its owner.
•All manner of nations and religious orders used secular reasoning and religious precepts to promote the belief that people with the black skin owed an unpaid debt to people with pale skin a debt that could only be paid through perpetual bondage. The source of black indebtedness did not result from military or religious retaliation, because recorded history emphatically shows that West African blacks never left their African continent to go to war with another nation. There was no known organized effort of blacks to impose their religions on any white societies and there is no rescored balance of payments that were due to European nations as a result of any trade relations with black Africa. The same could not be said for any of the European nations, which routinely sent armies to engage in warfare, promote Christian religions and conduct exploitative trade with other nations.
•Enslaved blacks were integrated or scattered throughout the world as a minority group. Slave holding nations outside of the African continent maintained a majority white population or a white power structure that kept the society’s racial balance weighted against blacks. Prior to black slavery, a slave was rarely removed from his homeland. The scattering or forced integration of blacks as slaves within various foreign nations fixed the image of blacks as poor, powerless creatures who were to be pitied and even despised, but always used, at the same time; it portrayed whites as the great conquerors, masters, and lords of the jungle who had subdued the Dark Continent and its primitive inhabitants.
•Lastly, black enslavement was the first instance in history that had worldwide collaborative, race-oriented support for slave trading. Prior to the 15th century, slavery was more of a one-to-one phenomenon: warrior to warrior, nation to nation. Never had there been a situation where all white nations of Europe were collectively against blacks on the African continent. At different times in history, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, English, Dutch, French, Jews, Egyptians, and Russians had individually fought and enslaved each other. There had been continuing religious crusades and forms of religious proselytizing that caused wars between Christians and Moslems, Moslems and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, and pagans and Christians. Black slavery drew the notice of all religious orders, Christian and non-Christian alike. Yet, religious leaders supported and justified black enslavement.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Thursday, September 8th 2011 at 12:35PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
