Essay/Term paper: Slavery in america

Essay, term paper, research paper:  American Civil War

Slavery in America stems well back to when the new world was first discovered and was led by the country to start the African Slave Trade-Portugal. The African Slave Trade was first exploited for plantations

in the Caribbean, and eventually reached the southern coasts of America. The African natives were of all ages and sexes. Women usually worked in the homes cooking and cleaning, while men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Young girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops. They were shipped from Africa by the Europeans, "The Triangular Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade". This was an organized route where Europeans would travel to Africa bringing manufactured goods, capture Africans and take them to the Caribbean, and then take the crops and goods and bring them back to Europe. The African people, in order to communicate invented a language that was a mixture of all the African languages combined,called Creole. They also kept their culture which accounts for calypso music and the instruments used in these songs.

Slavery was common all over the world until 1794 when France signed the Act of the National Convention abolishing slavery. It would take America about a hundred years to do the same. George Washington, America's first president, was also a slave owner. He deplored slavery but did not release his slaves. Washington wasn't the only president to have slaves. Thomas Jefferson wrote;"All men are created equal" but died leaving his blacks in slavery.

In 1775 black Americans were sent to fight in the revolutionary army. The British proposed that if a black man was to join their army, they would be set free afterwards. America originally planned not to let

the blacks fight in the army, but when hearing this, let them enlist. Only Georgia and South Carolina refused to let them enlist, but paid for their racism when each lost 25,000 blacks to the British. The slaves returned on an honourable discharge after securing America's freedom, but not their own. Slavery continued and so did the numbers of slaves trying to escape to the free states or into Canada. A runaway slave would be found by bloodhounds, trained to find black slaves. Then the slave, upon returning, would be executed or severely whipped.

The "Underground Railroad" was a project that helped black slaves escape into Canada, especially Amherstburg. The system involved 3,000 white helpers and freed an estimated 75,000 people after the civil war.

Slavery in the middle of the 1800's was abolished except for the rebellion states in the south. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued which made slavery illegal in the states that had rebelled and allowed black slaves to serve in the army and get other jobs, or continue to work on the plantations, as employees making money. The nightmare of slavery was over but a new one was to begin. One that was worse for it was prevalent but was secret and silent. One that exists today. One that does not shrink but rather grows. Racism was and is still upon us.

The Ku Klux Klan has been around since the end of the civil war. It is a roller coaster of a history. From extreme power, to rapid decline, and slow reemergence. The clan, who is notorious for its violence, has a relatively innocent beginning. It was formed from some veterans from the confederate army and was first called the Kuklos Clan which, in Greek, meant Circle Clan. One person thought it would be a good idea to call it the "Ku Klux Klan" as a parody of the fraternity names which always had three Greek alphabet letters in it. They created the Clan to be mischievous and to do it without anyone knowing who they were which accounts for their costumes

and masks. They, like most whites, were upset that the black people were free because black people were a constant reminder of the bitter defeat of the South. So to have fun they terrorized black people. Eventually the group grew, fluctuating, but grew to become the first white supremacy group in America and with that growth, their hatred grew as well into what was seen in the early and middle 1900's and what is seen today. Along with the KKK, other anti-black, pro-white groups formed and stemmed out all over the U.S.A. The Neo Nazis who are more commonly

know by the term "Skin Heads", are a growing force in hate groups. There hatred of Hispanics, Jews, Blacks, and others are now the fastest growing force in America. The Skin Head movement is usually done by the younger kids. "The skinheads are a family...A lot of us don't have what you'd call a home" commented Joshua, who is a 16 year old recruiter in California. The race war was in full force by the 1960's. With the growth of white supremacy and their groups, black too had a weapon. Martin Luther King Jr. lead his people to march in Washington to end segregation and to form black unity for an equal and better America. Malcolm X, who was a Muslim, may have come from a different religion than his Christian counterpart, but had a very similar message and a similar fate.

Both were assassinated.

Today the hate groups of America have spread into Canada and are particularly common in Manitoba. The major sections are of the same name as their American cousins with a very similar message. Racism, despite much opposition, will never end. As long as there is fighting among a Jew and a Palestinian or hatred between a white and a black, Racism will be there. Only a utopian society can achieve such a dream. It is in human nature to have a few people that do not understand or possibly hate those who are different but, in fact, we are not different, we are judgmental and we are discriminatory, we segregate. We are unique individuals but among races we

are equal and the same.