Race plays a significant role in slavery and has several impacts on the victims. The emergence of races led to inequalities among the people where some individuals felt superior to others. Slavery emerged from the vice of racists and led to great suffering among the Africans, who were forced to provide labor in the European farms. The pain of the Africans being subjected to slavery cannot be replaced and compensated because they suffered for an extended period. The paper covers the role played by race in slavery and the impacts it had, based on the foundational documents and Randal Robinson's appeal.
The race discrimination or inequality led to slavery and the slave trade in America, Europe, and other continents. The Africans sold as slaves, were engaged in force labor in plantations and others worked as house girls for the white families. From the stories narrated by some slaves in Arkansas Narratives, Part 1 of 2004, there was much inequality due to racial differences among the people. For instance, the black children worked on the farms and were not paid well while the white folks stayed at home enjoying music and watching television. The black children could not afford a good meal and clothes, thus, wore second hands clothes (Work Projects Administration 4). Women and children suffered more than men did as women were involved in prostitution while children were exploited and tortured. The slaves participated in the civil war, and those who managed to return to Arkansas were well compensated by their masters (Work Projects Administration 2).
However, the biggest struggle among the slaves was freedom where some tried to run away, and others persuaded their masters to free them. For instance, captured Africans mutinied on board slave trading vehicles in efforts for liberation where some returned to their homelands successfully. Others, who tried to liberate themselves in Senegal and Gambia were punished, replaced with others and the brutal captains killed them (Romare 5). The revolt led to the loss of lives among both slaves and their masters. The mutinies increased drastically over time and resulted in abolitionist movements to champion on the need to end the slave trade. Abolitionists such as Joshua Coffin depicted that presence of slavery in the U.S. was a threat to public peace and security due to the increased number of revolts (Romare 6). Slaves were involved in the Atlantic trade where they carried heavy trade goods from Europe to homeports, and others were sold to the whites in the trade as a commodity.
Many people died as slaves due to illnesses and hard labor that their oppressors subjected them to. Additionally, slaves were engaged in civil war and fought with determination thinking that they would earn their freedom, which did not happen (Robinson 3). Racism and slavery were against the symbolic art of Rotunda that symbolized the American democracy characterized by fairness, freedom, openness, tolerance and inclusiveness. The American government paid $5 to slave owners in exchange for slave labor such as clearing of forests, building the palace, white house and designing the District of Columbia. Therefore, it can be depicted that the government played a significant role in promoting the slave trade rather than sensitizing the people on the importance of equality and abolishing the slave trade thereby, contributing to politics of memory. Statues of freedom were made in various parts of America to deceive people and give them false hope of their liberty (Robinson 2).
The moral solution to the race problems is to sensitize the society to change the beliefs and attitudes of people of varied races. It will help in bringing the sufferings and pain that the slaves, especially, the African Americans have endured to the limelight. The poverty, lack of education, poor nutrition, low expectations and poor neighborhoods experienced by the Africans ought to be changed to make individuals whole (Randall 3). The Africans should be compensated for the damage and suffering that they have experienced over the extended period of slavery and discrimination. Additionally, there is a need for them to clear their mind of their past humiliation to bring the Africans back to shape. They should be allowed to speak out their minds and feelings to help them heal and show patriotism. They can share their histories in the form of creative writings such as poems and arts to sensitize the people on the vices associated with racism, according to the “O Riley Clip.”
Conclusion
The emergence of slavery and slave trade led to humiliation and suffering of the Africans. They were forced to provide labor, subjected to war, prostitution and other forms of brutality. They engaged in revolts in efforts to liberate themselves from their oppressors that resulted in multiple deaths. However, it was necessary to free them because all individuals are equal despite their ethnicity, culture, race and other physical identities.
Work Cited
Randall, Kennedy. The Civil Rights Movement and the Politics of Memory. 2015 https://books.google.com/books?id=dXVFnHqhLvcC&lpg=PR9&ots=PLUWNhiY1H&lr=&pg=PA1&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Robinson, Randall. The Debt: What America owes to blacks. Penguin, 2001.
Work Projects Administration. Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States
O Riley Clip 1:09- 2:11 Retrieved at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3KuMXfQilc&feature=youtu.be&t=1m15s
Romare Bearden. Slavery--The Peculiar Institution. African American Odyssey.
