Greetings, Students.
In class we watched and discussed Africans in Americas: Terrible Transformation.
In the comments portions below, please comment on two or three new ideas you acquired from the movie about Africans, Americans, or United States of America (inclusive of the Colonies).
Be sure to include a sentence or two about why these details were important to your understanding of African American Studies.
Some additional readings:
- http://www.ushistory.org/us/5b.asp,
- http://www.vahistorical.org/what-you-can-see/story-virginia/explore-story-virginia/early-virginia-1775/becoming-virginians,
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/melungeon-dna-study-origin_n_1544489.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon,
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant,
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude_in_Virginia
You may also post additional questions.
Dr. Hill
I found it interesting that they would use religion as a way out of slavery. As a Christian myself I find this very ironic. They are looking for a new start and that is what Christianity is about. I also thought it was interesting yet sad that they would continue to change the "rules" of slavery to keep the slaves at bay. They noticed that the slaves were finishing their sentences and then gaining prosperity in the colony and this was causing them to become very uneasy.
ReplyDeleteThis film highlighted the notion that the institution of slavery didn't begin as a racialized one, which I had some previous knowledge about but not much. I appreciated this film went more into depth about citizens like Anthony Johnson and his family, providing real accounts of life before race was really constructed. It also mentioned that under English Law, no Christian could be enslaved for life, which is a concept I was completely ignorant to prior. In many ways "Africans in America" provides a more accurate depiction of the beginnings of the new world colonies and is vital in understanding the evolution and conceptualization of the racialized slavery institution.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea I found interesting is that the island of Barbados was the most profitable and subsequently harshest arena for slavery. Therefor, the Carolinas mirrored the structure of such a institution and applied the idea that it was more profitable to work slaves to death and replace them than to treat them humanely. Commonly when I think of slavery, I only think of it in the context of America and ignore the influence surrounding countries/nations.
The most telling concept of the video for me was the notion that violence, whether it be fires, killings, or rebellions, was almost always attributed to black faces, which was a way to reinforce a separatist and racist society. In many cases, like the fires in New York, the perpetrators were identified as young black man. This really resonated with me, as this inaccurate correlation between violence and black people is still as present as ever and is still used as a justification for the injustices done to blacks across the nation.
This film was very interesting as it covered details that I never knew about American history. One idea that really stood out to me was that there were success stories related to African Americans of the time. Although they were few, they did exist and are rarely covered in textbooks today. I found Anthony Johnson's story so compelling because it's not often that you hear of an African of colonial times beating the odds and creating a life for himself and his family. Although his assets did not sustain the test of time, his story is still extremely impressive.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that stood out to me was the fact that slavery as we have been taught to know it was not how it originated. Initially, Africans were used for indentured servitude in the colonies. It was not until the 1640s that Europeans decided that they did not want the case of Anthony Johnson to become a social norm so slowly but surely slavery became legal throughout the colonies. In my mind, I always pictured it as Africans going straight from the slave ships to picking cotton. I never really considered that there was probably a build up in between those two events.
One finale event that really stood out to me was the uprise of Africans in 1739. We always hear about slaves being abused by their masters but it's rare to hear about those who stood up to them (unless you've seen Django). It was just interesting to hear of an actual historical account of slaves coming together to fight for their freedoms and taking action against the Europeans.
This film was very enlightening and exposed me to some truths about our nation's history that I did not know.
The origin of slavery was the part that I found most interesting in "Africans in America: The Terrible Transformation". Because I was never taught about the origin of slavery in high school. I've just been told my whole life that colonists came over and they brought slaves. That was how things were, end of story. But the real story of it being a perverse breakaway from indentured servitude was an extremely interesting thing to learn about. The fact they used Africans as slaves because it was easy to discern who a slave was and who a slave wasn't. Because if they used white slaves and they ran away they could blend in with the majority of other people who were white. Africans couldn't because they stood out from everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThe videos talked about how slave owners psychologically terrorized slaves. They made laws to suppress slave behavior to conform to the ways they wanted them to behave so they wouldn't grow the wiser. Forcing these slaves to conform saddens me so much to know that the first generation slaves lost their culture and were made to have to assume a culture foreign to themselves. They lost everything that their mother, father, and siblings shared with them. That is the sickest part of it all to me is that they lost who they truly were.
I never knew that slavery in America did not start off as a racially based industry. I found it interesting that there was a sudden shift that made it racist. Looking at the timeline of when the attitude towards slavery changed, I made some connections to the global attitude towards Africans. Slavery began to be about race in the mid 1600s, this changed the view about black slaves in the colonies and the slave trading countries across the world. The globalization of the slave trade dehumanized and completely tarnish the views on African peoples.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found it interesting that slave status was determined by the mother's race. After hearing this I thought why would that be. I then remembered that rape between slave masters and female slaves was common. These rapes often resulted in pregnancies, but the ruling that slavery was a matrilineal tendency would force these children into slavery- despite their white DNA. The movie also discussed that the punishments for run away slaves varied between men and women. Men were castrated, and women had their ears cut off. It seems to me that the women were not castrated because they were so often used for sexual reasons. I find this interesting because I feel like this history contributes to the hyper-sexualization of black women in America.
These are great and compelling comments. Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this film, I gained a better understanding of how slavery evolved in the Americas. The Americas was in fact a "contradictory society" because the colonists began to oppress others (African Americans). I also found it very interesting that when the slaves were "marked" the owners were cautious in burning the flesh of the women too intensely. Also, women were punished differently when they ran away, which consisted of their ear being cut off. I'm curious as to why this occurred? Why were men treated so differently?
ReplyDeleteWhat really caught my attention throughout the videos was the fact that when Africans were first brought over to America, they were given Christian names. Because they were given Christian names, this meant they could not be enslaved and had to work as indentured servants. Most of the time when people talk about slavery, they talk about it as if it has always been. It really astonished me how the process of Africans went from free to enslaved over the years, that the process was a build up over the years.
ReplyDeleteWhat also intrigued me is that one of the starting points for slavery was John punch (?), how he was the first person to receive slavery as a punishment from running away from indentured servitude. And through this action, people began to slowly separate blacks and whites. With this choice, whites began to see blacks as free property/workers and the idea of race began.
I found it very interesting and shocking that it was cheaper to work slaves to death and replace them than it was to treat them humanely. It is shocking that people could treat other human beings like this.
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting, was that if a slave was caught running away, there was a double standard for women and men. If the men were caught, their testicles were removed. If a woman was caught, her ear was amputated. It's interesting that the male's sexual organ was removed, and the woman's not. I have a few guesses on why that may be. Maybe they thought that that's what you had to take from a man to take away his strength/courage/dignity so that he wouldn't ever try to run away again. They may have wanted to keep a woman's sexual organs in tact because the women slaves were often raped by their owners.
I found this film to be very interesting while also being very informative. I like how the film focused on specific people throughout history, like Anthony Johnson. It allowed me to get a better perspective on how slavery was established over time. When learning about slavery in high school, teachers made it seem like slavery was just something that was just put into place one day. But in reality, legalizing slavery was something that happened gradually over time, one law at a time. By mentioning Anthony Johnson in the film we see how drastically things changed in the colonies since the time he arrived to the time of his death.
ReplyDeleteWith the start of the Royal African Company there was a spike in the number of African Americans in and coming to the colonies. Something that really stood out to me in the film was when the video talked about the branding of the African Americans to represent which company they belonged to. I knew that this happened, but it made me realize how little respect they had for the slaves, they were treated like cattle. With the increase of slaves in the colonies, Europeans people began to worry about the organization of the slaves. To avoid slaves rebelling slave owners would not buy slaves from one place, which I also found to be interesting.
Although slave owners took these precautions to avoid the organization of slaves, a rebellion did occur. The rebellion was led by a slave and many Europeans were killed. This surprised me because we very rarely learned about slaves organizing and fighting back. After the rebellion occurred was when the Europeans realized that they were outnumbered and this resulted in the Negro act, which took away almost all rights of African Americans. Over the course of the movie, I was able to grasp the idea that slavery was not something that was legalized in one day, but slowly literally all of African American rights were stripped.
I found this video to be both informative and also very emotional. I wish our school systems would better address slavery so that our youth can understand all of American history and not just parts of it. For me, one of the biggest points in the film that stood out was part five when they showed drawings of African slaves who had disobeyed their master(s) and were put in a strange and yet equally terrifying head lock mask, coming from a white persons perspective, I had a hard time accepting that this was what my race rather they were for or agent slavery allowed this to happen.
ReplyDeleteI also found another idea in section five to be interesting when they discussed how white and black people lived together as master and slaves but also in that there was this mutual loath for one another. The idea that the white man understood that he lived in his own home and yet with many others who wanted him dead to say the least, this was a concept I had not thought of until they discussed the thinking process behind it.
Lastly, the idea that slavery in America was actually a small percentage in comparison to Brazil and other parts of South America is interesting to me. Slave ships made most of their money in trade by shipping slaves to South American counties and yet America seemed to have made the biggest use out of slavery through an agricultural standpoint. This concept got me thinking about how not only did Americans make use of the "small" amount of slaves being shipped but also Americans made laws within those 100 years to end slavery. In the film they talk about how long and the quality of life was like on the slave ships, for me, this was also a difficult thing to process. I believe that most children growing up in the American school systems are not educated on how slaves came to be within our country, the truth is hard but I wish it was taught without sugar coating the topic because to me it gives a form of respect to the men and women who were enslaved within our country by telling the truth about African American history.
I thought it was very interesting that your slavery status went of the status of your mother, no matter what your father did, or how much money and land he had. I also found it interesting how different women were treated than men. For example, when new slaves were branded, slave owners were instructed not to burn the women as hard as they burned the men. Also, when a slave ran away, only a woman was ear was cut off, while a man would have is testicles removed. Also, i thought that 1 in 3 people in the colony was a slave, and in the first year of the slave trade, about 90,000 Africans were brought into the colonies. Lastly, i thought it was interesting that slave owners were encouraged not to buy all their slaves from the same place\person, because if the slaves knew each other or even spoke the same language, they could possibly team up and try to escape or rebel.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Christianity saved slaves from working in those conditions for the rest of their lives. Under English law it was stated no Christian could be enslaved for their entire life. I also found it interesting that many owners would work their slaves to death and replace those who died with new slaves they purchased. Owners found it to be more cost efficient rather than treating the slaves humanely. It was also eye opening to find out the different punishments slaves received for trying to escape, a male would lose his testicles and a women would lose her ear, which are both very harsh.
ReplyDeleteThis video enlightened me about how slavery was never at first about race. I found it interesting that if you were Christian you weren't allowed to be enslaved forever. I was ecstatic to find out Anthony Johnson thrived as a free slave. He owned his own land and was very successful. It saddened me when I read about how Johnson was illiterate and his white neighbor forged a letter in which Johnson acknowledge debt. Since he was illiterate contest the case which awarded Edmund Scarborough 100 acres of the land Johnson worked so hard for. I'll never understand the selfish ways of people back then, but this video made me better appreciate living in the present. There is still back handed racism going on today, but it's not as apparent as it was then.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how the race of the child was based off of the mother. I was thinking to myself was it because in the 17th century not many white women were sleeping with black men? I know that many of the enslaved women were raped and carried children belonging to their owner. It's crazy that the one of the reasons this law came about was because a woman wanted into her white father's fortune. The realities of the African slave in the 17th century was a harsh one.
I found it extremely ironic that Christianity was once used as a way out of slavery, and in later years it was used to justify slavery. I also found it odd that after servants finished out their contracts they were owed certain things like a small amount of land. That seems stange because for America to be so unapologetically capitalist in modern times, giving someone something of a starter kit doesnt really resemble capitalism. The film also stated that if a man was caught trying to escape he would get his testicles cut off, and a woman would get an ear cut off. These punishments were cruel and they may have been symbolic in many ways, but overall they both send a message of fear of escaping-an attitude black people sometimes exhibit today. All of these things were new to me, but they do give some insight to modern behaviors.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the film, I just honestly didn't understand how people like that could do inhumane things to slaves and Indians . It brings anger and sadness within me to know that English Men actually thought that it was there "God given right" to drive anyone out there land and take control of who they see fit. It's just not right
ReplyDeleteAnother idea in the film that I found really disturbing is that when slave became know as property, they were treated like nothing! Owners thought that it would be cheaper to work their slaves to death rather than to guve them breaks, feed them, and treat them humane. It really infuriates me, but humbles me to think that I have it damn good compared to my past ancestors.
In this movie i learned a lot about slavery and it contributed many new ideas that I had never heard before. This video really furthered my knowledge of slavery. I always knew about slavery generally but I never knew how it specifically started. It is very interesting that when they were first brought to America in Virginia that Christianity played a role in their freedom. I never knew that many of slaves were converted to Christianity and by law no Christian could be enslaved for life. Because of that I didn't know african americans could receive their freedom and have the same status as a white man such as the way Anthony Johnson lived. He had his own land, family and had people that worked for him. He was really a pioneer. Slavery really took awhile to develop and it wasn't really after the three runaway indentured servants case that it really started. That story was knew to me, because I didn't know it was really a sentence or punishment that had never happen to anybody and it was because he was black. Soon other blacks were receiving that same punishment and it really flourished from state to state. Also another fact was about how ruthless slave owners were, in the fact that it was actually cheaper to work the slave to death then to feed them.These details helped me becasue it shows how it grew and where it really started.
ReplyDeleteI was unaware that in the early days of the colonies in the 1600's that if you were a Christian, then you could not be enslaved even if you were not white. I heard of Native Americans being baptized, given Christian names, and providing services for the white settlers, but never of the same being done to black people who came to the colonies. I was completely surprised by the idea of black people playing similar roles as indentured servants, instead of servants for life. Such as, Antonio Johnson who survived the attack from the Pohawhatan Conferderacy, and was even able to buy his own land, get married, and have men;sometimes white men, working under him. The possibility of a black man being able to live like a white man of that time really amazes me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, hearing how John Locke the so called "philosopher of liberty" was a share holder of the royal African trading company was super ironic to me. Its hypocritical how someone so invested in liberty had the goal to expand the British Slave trade, and corrupt the ethics that this country was supposed to be built on. I was truly fascinated at Olaudah Equiano's story and his amazing Journey. It was unknown to me and I am interested to know more.
I thought this short clip about the history of slavery was very interesting. The short film goes into detail about how Africans were brought from their homeland, on a ship, to a the colonies in the U.S. I learned a lot about how the slaves endured different forms of punishments and what happened when they did something they weren't supposed to do. Not only did the slaves have to deal with punishment from slave owners there were also various diseases going around because the slaves weren't properly fed or cleaned. It also learned that the different forms of punishments that the slaves endured was different depending on the gender, because the slave owners didn't want to harm the women to the point where they couldn't bear children and potentially lose money out of it.
ReplyDeleteThe short film also talks about some key figures such as Anthony Johnson and what they had to endure during this time period. It was interesting to learn that they even had punishments back then such as when John Punch became the first slave to become sentenced for life as a slave.
When you think about US history it is crazy what the slave owners would do to their slaves and many of things I saw and heard in the short film highlight just how messed up our (Americans) history truly is.
This film really opened up my eyes on how slaves were treated. One of the things that intrigued me from the film is how some of the slaves were punished if they were caught committed a crime. John Pinch was a slave that got caught running away form Maryland and for his punishment he was sentenced to serve as a slave for life. Another interesting aspect of slavery that was talked about in the film is that slaves who were Christian could not be enslaved for life. What this even more interesting is the fact that this law was later changed to those who were white could not be enslaved.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting thing that this film taught me is that during the beginning of the colonies, you couldn't enslave any christian for life. Therefore, it was possible for black people who came in as servants to earn their freedom and become a contributing memeber of society by owning land if they were christians. However, not that much longer into the future, this changed and it was changed to say that unless your homeland was a christian state you could be a slave for life.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting development was seeing how slaves moved from being considered human beings to being considered property with the implimintation of a new law in 1705. This signified a change in slavery that marked the change of heart that had happened amongst white people who now had moved from thinking of black people as different people to just property.
One thing that truly shocked me was the treatment of slaves in Barbados where it was cheaper to replace slaves than to take care of them. The slave owners were so cruel and inhumane that 1 in every 3 slaves died after only 3 years in Barbados. These people were no longer people at all. Their "owners" only saw them as beasts for their profit and didn't even care about taking care of them, something that shows they might have been seen even as less valuable than animals which still got care from the plantation masters if they were present.
One interesting thing that this film taught me is that during the beginning of the colonies, you couldn't enslave any christian for life. Therefore, it was possible for black people who came in as servants to earn their freedom and become a contributing memeber of society by owning land if they were christians. However, not that much longer into the future, this changed and it was changed to say that unless your homeland was a christian state you could be a slave for life.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting development was seeing how slaves moved from being considered human beings to being considered property with the implimintation of a new law in 1705. This signified a change in slavery that marked the change of heart that had happened amongst white people who now had moved from thinking of black people as different people to just property.
One thing that truly shocked me was the treatment of slaves in Barbados where it was cheaper to replace slaves than to take care of them. The slave owners were so cruel and inhumane that 1 in every 3 slaves died after only 3 years in Barbados. These people were no longer people at all. Their "owners" only saw them as beasts for their profit and didn't even care about taking care of them, something that shows they might have been seen even as less valuable than animals which still got care from the plantation masters if they were present.