Basic Misconceptions About Slavery

There are a number of misconceptions about the Atlantic slave trade but the worst misconception is that Africans sold their personal individuals into slavery. This statement implies that parents sold their kids into slavery; husbands sold their wives, and even brothers and sisters prepared to sell their parents to the white slavers. This misconception also perpetuates the myth that Africans and descendants of Africans are absolutely nothing much more than savages who will sell their personal flesh and blood for a couple of trinkets.

The basis for this myth was to justify the enslavement of millions of men and women in order to do totally free manual labor and to market white racial superiority. The primary train of believed was: How could you really feel sorry for a race of folks who would sell their personal persons? Africans had been clearly inferior and deserved to be enslaved.

In spite of the racial hegemony that triggered the Atlantic slave trade, the greatest paradox is that some of it was correct: There have been some Africans that sold other Africans into slavery. On the other hand the Africans that partook into this madness had been kings or tribal chieftains and they commonly sold prisoners of war from other African nations that were captured. They never ever sold their personal kinsmen into slavery. Also, the folks of Africa do not look at themselves to African, as opposed to individuals in America, who look at themselves to be American regardless of what state they live in. Africa is a continent of unique cultures and the only loyalty one had was to one's personal culture. Men and women who reside in Ghana do really feel any kinship towards some who lived in Mali. To their way of pondering, promoting an individual from a unique tribe was not a undesirable thing. This was specially correct if distinctive tribes have been at war.

The Atlantic slave trade grew at a time when several African nations had been at ware with every single other. Prisoners of war could quickly be sold to slave traders in exchange for guns and other commodities, not obtaining any notion how brutally the enslaved Africans had been treated on the ships and later on in America.

Also, the conception about slavery for Africans was entirely distinctive that that of Europeans. Slavery had existed in Africa for centuries ahead of the Atlantic slave trade but it was slavery of a unique sort. In Africa, the slave commonly had rights, protection beneath the law, and the potential to move up socially. Slaves had been treated like household members by their owners and permitted marry legally and their youngsters had been not born slaves. Some slaves had been even permitted to earn cash and ultimately purchase their freedom from their owners. This was not the case for the slaves captured throughout the Atlantic slave trade.

In spite of the reality that there have been some Africans who sold other Africans into slavery, it does not justify the reality that millions of folks have been snatched from their homeland and sold into bondage to make funds for the status quo. Africans in Africa and their descendants in America have suffered a total loss of lies, heritage and human possibility. The bulk of the Africans sold into slavery throughout the Atlantic slave trade have been young adult individuals and the loss these young folks weakened Africa's financial, social, and political advancement. That is why it was so simple for Europe to strip Africa of its all-natural sources.

The ultimate degradation and humiliation of the slaves who came to America through the Atlantic Passage was becoming treated as home and sold like cattle. Even the lowliest slave in Africa had far more rights than the slaves in America.

3Shades of Brown Productions