Sample Essay On History Discussion

For decades, historians have debated the role of racism in the development of African slavery in colonial Virginia. Some argue racism was the sole cause for the advent of slavery while others maintain that while racism existed in Virginia, economic motives played a more decisive factor. Using “Race, Gender, and Servitude in Virginia Law (1661-1691)” from Speaking of America, 27-32 by Laura Belmonte as evidence, this essay will prove that African American slavery was the sole cause of racism.
Before the introduction of African American slavery, both white and black servants occupied an almost equal position in their master’s home. During this period, poor white people and African Americans were practically slaves, with the only difference being that conventional servants had to work for a specified period before earning their freedom. From the reading, the status of Africans who arrived in America by 1619 was virtually equal to that of indentured servants. This clearly demonstrates that before the introduction of African American slavery, white servant and African American were treated equally. After introducing slavery, African Americans were not able to convert to Christianity and earn freedom. From this, it is evident that African Americans could have continued to be viewed as equal and continue to work as indentured servants together with the whites, with equal rights as their counterparts and racism could have not occurred in the first place.
The reading “Race, Gender, and Servitude in Virginia Law (1661-1691)” list the new laws enacted between 1661 and 1662, which governed sexual behavior among the slaves and their masters were solely governed by patriarchal norms. The male master of the home became the main authoritative image, and his word was final. Heavy fines also existed for slaves who had sexual relations with their masters. For example, women who had children with their masters had to pay fines and serve the duration of their slavery. Some laws were also passed that made it impossible for interracial marriages and such marriages would lead to a ban from their colony within three months. These rules continued to weigh heavily on the lives of the black slaves.
This period saw the beginning of African American slavery following the introduction of laws that were biased against African Americans. The laws did not specify any punishment in case there was a relationship between a white and a black, unless in cases where the white woman or man in question was a Christian. The only law that mentioned race came in 1662; however, it did not specify the race of the woman but her status as a free or enslaved African woman. On the contrary, laws that were later passed in 1691 had strong racist connotations. These evident changes in the laws support my thesis that slavery of African Americans came before racism.
The reading “Race, Gender, and Servitude in Virginia Law (1661-1691)” clearly says that before the introduction of slavery, African Americans lived and worked for their masters as equal to indentured white slaves. In addition, before 1662, the laws did not exclusively hinted anything on racism, outside religion, but there were few statements referring to African American slavery. However, marriage law introduced in 1961 was clearly against interracial marriages, which was prohibited. Chronological follow-up on the themes from this reading show that slavery preceded racism. These examples from the assigned reading support my thesis to justify the argument that African American slavery caused racism