Chapter 3: Slavery and Immigrants from Africa

Of course the slave trade benefitted the British Empire. The owners of these businesses utilizing slaves made substantial product from free labor. I wonder how significantly compared to the rest of the British colonies' incomes. I also wonder what the US would be like if slaves from Africa weren't brought over. Would Africans have thought to explore the seas? When would have Africans migrate to America? What sort of response would they have gotten from the Natives and the settlers? Would the African population be as plentiful as today's population?

Yesterday I was watching Governor Romney's speech at the Republican National Convention. Perhaps I had a bit of prejudgment before I even watched it, but I tried to be unbiased overall. One of the things that stuck out to me was how he generalized who the American people are. It's true; the United States is a land of immigrants but there are other ways people came to live here. He forgot to mention the people who have taken asylum as refugees from their home countries. He forgot to mention the people whose ancestors came unwillingly as slaves. I believe if you're making a speech to appeal to the citizens of the United States, you should be as politically correct as possible and include all of its people.

It is incredibly unfortunate that the history of the first generation of slaves in the 17th century of America are lost. It is important because they were the first ones taken from the homeland and shaped the way their owners would treat the waves of slaves to come. As with anything, the first time is always the most difficult time. The slaves as well as women of the 17th century were illiterate. Africans were considered savages and animal-like while women were considered unintelligent and only suited for home life. These people were still people with thoughts and emotions that are largely lost with time.

Our book tells us that the African people came from matriarchal societies for the most part. Many of the Native American societies did too. Both these matriarchal societies lost those values and practices through the European patriarchy. The Europeans thought it was ridiculous that women had the ability to control agriculture or anything that has to do with the public realm. In response, the Europeans imposed their culture people these peoples to "civilize" them amongst other things. It makes me sad because perhaps women wouldn't have suffered under adversity as much through the years and they would have seen as equal citizens. Even today, women are still fighting for equal rights.