Articles on the principle people and events in American Black History
Tobacco, cotton and sugar were grown on large-scale farms called plantations. As European demand for these crops increased, the plantations grew larger and needed more slaves to harvest the crops. 80% of all slaves shipped to the Americas were put to work on plantations. They worked long hours in the…
The living conditions of slaves in the antebellum American South were some of the worst for slaves across history. As legal property of their masters they had no rights themselves and fared far worse than Roman slaves or medieval serfs. Perhaps only slaves in sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean…
The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano provides us with a detailed insight into the experience of a captured slave. The following account was adapted from Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African by H. Wheeler. Capture Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in the African country…
For more information on counter-intuitive facts of the slave auction, along with ancient, medieval, and modern history, see Anthony Esolen's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization. Once in the Americas, slaves were sold, by auction, to the person that bid the most money for them. It was here that family members…
The transport of black Africans to the Americas by slave ship became known as the Middle Passage because it was the middle leg of the Triangular Trade route used by the European merchants. The African slaves were viewed as cargo by the merchants and were packed into the ships with…
Slavery was not new to Africa. Traditionally, slavery was used as a punishment for serious crimes. However, although slavery was a punishment for criminals, they were, in the main, treated fairly well by their masters. This was not the case once trading in slaves became 'big business'. From about 1510,…
The "Triangular Trade" was the name given to the trading route used by European merchants who exchanged goods with Africans for slaves, shipped the slaves to the Americas, sold them and brought goods from the Americas back to Europe. Merchants who traded in this way could get very rich indeed…
When we think about Africa today, we think of it as a poor third world continent, reliant on the charity of Western nations to survive. This has not always been the case. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Europeans first began exploring the world, Africa was a rich continent,…
A slave is someone who is owned by another person. A slave has: No choice No freedom No money A slave has to do what is asked of him by his master, usually this is work of some kind. Slaves are punished for not following their master's orders, working too…