Daniels, Chapter 3

When people think of slavery the southern states in America come to mind.  Rich plantation owners telling a group of black people what to do may be what someone thinks of.  The Civil War pops up in one’s head.  The southern states are known for being the biggest pro slavery areas in America.  To this day it still might be pro slavery to some.  It is for sure known to anyone as a very racist area in America, possibly resulting from the fact that the southern states had the most slaves in America and was brought up on those values that it was okay to own people of color.  The difference between racism today and slavery many years ago is that racism is just a disregard for human life.  The idea that someone is essentially worth nothing because of skin color is absurd.  Slavery was seen as a good business.  Sure there was racism in the sense that slaves were of color, but ultimately it was all about the buying and selling of a product.

In chapter 3 Daniel’s talks about how the slaves were taken from their homes in Africa and brought to America by force.  Most people don't realize that the trip from Africa back to America was actually considered very dangerous for the slaves. This is because they lived in horrible conditions for moths until they reached America.  The African slaves were all put in the bottom of the ship, chained together in a very small and crowded space.  The beds were the benches that they only had room to sit on, and since they were all crowded together many suffered crucial nerve damage.  If a slave died during the trip while he or she was on the bottom floor of the ship that is where the body would stay because no one would come to remove it.  The other slaves have to endure the smell of the body and watch the horror of what could be their fate every day. 

The slave essentially lived in a pigpen.  They lived in the worst conditions that one could possibly think of.  If a person went to the bathroom the waste sat there, no one would come to clean it up.  The food that was served to the slaves could be compared to pig food.  On top of the already horrible conditions, the slaves were all concealed from light most of the time, usually with only a tiny hole on the bottom floor giving off only a view from the ocean. 

It is sad to think that so many men, women, and children had to endure this horrific trip.  Nine million African's were taken from their homeland and became victims to "Americanization", just like the Aztecs and Native Americans.  Their religion was disregarded as well as their traditions. Their language was lost.  This caused a sense of them losing their ethnic identity.  Eventually the generations wouldn’t have the same cultural ideas that were brought from Africa.

  When the African slaves were brought to America they were stripped of their birth names and the Europeans gave them new, easier, more American names.  The Europeans forced this upon the slaves by lining them all up and publicly lashing them until they said their new names aloud.