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African Americans
In pre-colonial Africa kinship and inheritance provided the bases of organization of many African communities. Males were recognized for the purpose of inheritance. Males inherited their clan names based on their accomplishments, as well as other things when one decease.
Land was not owned in many parts of Africa during the pre-colonial period. The male chief of the patrilineage held and distributed the land. They distributed the land as necessary to male members. The woman's access to land depended on the female's obligations or duties within the gendered division of labor.
Agriculture was the job of many African women. The men believed in having a lot of wives, all of the wives worked together and farmed his land for him or whatever duties he required for that day.
Africa is considered to be a multi-lingual country. There are eleven officially recognized languages. Many others are often spoken but not widespread. English is generally understood across the country. It is one of the eleven common spoken languages but it only ranks 5th out of the eleven spoken languages.
During the 15th and the 1th century major changes had happened to the African and North American continents. Europeans ventured to Africa where they began a trans-Atlantic slave trade. Many Africans were taken as free people and then forced into slavery in South America, the Caribbean and North America. This slave trade had brought about a different type of racism. It was the color of your skin that determined whether a person would be a free citizen or be enslaved for life. The slave trade devastated Africans life and heritage. Some slaves were sold and traded more than once, often in a slave market. Families were torn apart, children hysterically cried while they said their good-byes. Some infants were taken from their parents at birth with no knowledge of who they are.
During this colonial era, more than half of all African Americans lived in Virginia and Maryland. Most of them lived in the Chesapeake area where they made up fifty to sixty percent of the population. In 170 the first census was taken which showed that eight percent of the black populace was free. This may not seem like a lot to us but, this gave parents hope that their child will one day be a free slave or that slavery may not exist by the time their child is grown.
The majority of the African slaves worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Working in a tobacco plantation was one of the hardest things to do. It was an eleven month crop, which had four different stages to it and required constant care. There were some advantages to working on a farm or plantation verses working in a household or an urban setting. Generally slaves in plantations lived in complete family units, their work dictated by the rising and setting of the sun. They generally were allowed Sundays off.
The disadvantage was that slaves were more likely to be sold or transferred than those in a domestic setting. They were also subjected to brutal and severe punishments because they were regarded as less valuable than household or urban slaves.
Urban and household slaves generally did not live in complete family units. Most domestic environments used female labor; therefore there were few men. The jobs for the men in an urban setting tended to be coachmen, waiting men, gardeners and tradesmen, (these were men who worked in the shop and is hired out). The disadvantage of being an urban worker is that there was no privacy. They lived in loft areas over the kitchens, laundries, and stables. They worked seven days a week with a lighter work load on Sundays. Their work days were set by the task instead of by the sun like the plantation workers. The advantage of being an urban worker was that you were fed more food, you dressed better, and you were able to hear about political events that might affect your race and warned people about it.
Only 5% of whites owned slaves. Many whites found slavery as being morally wrong but, it was a business thing. It was cheaper to get Africans than to hire labor. More slaves lived in the south compared to the North. The north did not really believe in slavery. Some people in the north did however have slaves but it was never no more than four people.
In the middle of the 17th hundreds both free and enslaved black people manifested a deepening attachment to America. The Majority of blacks had been born in America rather than in Africa. This new generation of African American s will not know Africa the same way their parents did. They will not also know what it feels like to be free, since all they ever grew up to see was daily whippings.
By the 1760's African Americans started to voice their opinion on slavery. They used poems, letters and petitions to try to appeal for slavery to be abolished. A few white people were also on their side but, their appeal was denied.
In 1775 the Revolutionary war had came about. African slaves were considered to be free as long as they fought in the war. 5, 0000 African American free and un free slaves had severed in this war. The slaves did not care that they were entering a war; all they could think about was their freedom after the war. Well they were tricked; after the war was over they rounded up any surviving African American and sent them to slavery in the Caribbean. The ones who were left behind were captured and were brought by a slave owner.
After the American Revolution the movement to abolish slavery had risen in the north. Slave owners in the south had got scared and reasserted the rights of African Americans. The reassertion of their rights was done in, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. Southerners forced several compromises that laid the foundation for a "New Nation" a nation which espoused liberty, but practiced bondage.
In 1780, a woman by the name of Elizabeth Freeman read the New Constitution and took a part of that constitution as well as a part from the Virginia Bill of Rights. She then pointed out that it said "all men are born free and equal." Relying on that language she sued for emancipation. It was not until 170 that more than 5,000 African Americans lived free. But slavery still continued, it just spread westward with the New Nation.
African Americans were now able to build houses and farm communities as well as a church. The black church was now becoming a center for abolitionist and social activity in the black community. Schools were also started in the basement of the church.
Since slaves were free on the eastern side of the country the ruling class realized that they needed some way to control black communities as a whole. They achieved this plan by getting individuals in black communities to act as mediators. These individuals were called "Black Governors". The office of Black Governor originated in Massachusetts, and then appeared in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The main job of a Black Governor was to help the whites gain control over the African Americans.
In 186, Lincoln authorized the formation of black combat units to serve in the civil war. Most blacks did not care about what the issues of the war was. They joined because it provided a better income which was an alternative way of making money compared to the poorly paid domestic labor that most blacks had endure.
The civil war resulted in the 1th Amendment of the Constitution which abolished slavery all together. Although black soldiers fought in the war which eventually ended slavery they still did not have civil rights. The whites did not want to share political power with African Americans. This had brought about the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. African American was now guaranteed civil rights. This change opened the door for African American so that they can progress and excel in the political system. Public schools were now established and access to jobs outside domestic labor was now available.
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