9682494575 1

Mr. LaRoche
English III
26 April 2015

Slavery's Notorious Legacy

slavery produced centuries of physical, physiological, and spiritual injury"(Joy Degruy).
Does the past of ancestors still have an affect on people today? Have people ever taken a step
back, thought outside the box, and asked yourself, why are majority of African Americans in
poverty? Why are African Americans not in touch with their ancestors culture? The answer to
these questions is clear, it lies within the psyche of the African American today, selfconsciously.Even though some people believe slavery is dead and gone, what they are not
aware of is the economical, mental, and cultural effects it has on the African American
community today.
Indeed, the economic impact of slavery is clear. Also, If one compares all the successful
white people, and all the successful black people on an economical viewpoint, which race would
outweigh the scale? According to the Pew Research Center in 2009 the median wealth of white
households was twenty times that of an African-American household (see figure 1.) From 20052009 black households had just about $5,677 in wealth compared to $113,149 of a typical white
household had. Moreover, about a third of black (thirty five percent) households had zero or
negative net worth in 2009, compared with fifteen percent of white households. In 2005, the

9682494575 2

comparable shares had been twenty nine for blacks, and eleven percent for white households.

These types of results go on and on. Since the start of African enslavement the settlers, were at
the top of the economic scale, which Africans made possible for whites. Africans built the

9682494575 3

civilization, grew the crops, cooked the food, raised the children and on some occasions birthed
the white man's children. Yet, they were equivalent to the dirt clumped on the bottom of a shoe.
And more than two hundred years later, African-Americans are still at the bottom of the food
chain.
secondly, slavery has had a lasting psychological impact. Are American Americans still
slaves in their minds? As a whole race of African American individuals, they in some way shape
or form, was (if aware now) or currently dealing with psychological detachment from who we
really are. To really grasp this information that is being presented, An analysis must be done by
the observer. For example, Let's analyse the Willie lynch letter. To inform the ones who are not
familiar with this letter, it was a letter written by a British slave owner located in the West Indies.
He was invited to the James River Plantation to introduce his methods of building productive
slaves and control the minds of a slave to get what they want out of a slave with no problems.
His methods consist of fear, envy and distrust; this was said to last for three hundred years or
more. Was his prediction correct? In his letter he states "You must use the DARK skin slaves vs.
the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves". The light skin
slaves would get treated better than the dark skin slaves, which caused the darker skin slaves to
envy the light skin slaves. With envy comes hate, and with hate comes distrust, with distrust
comes fear. Still to this day there is the rivalry between dark skinned African Americans and light
skinned African Americans. "Team dark and light skin" is one of the trending topics on the social
media you see today. This trend was meant to make one feel inferior over the other, when in
reality both are African Americans, and instead of coming together, they are going against one
another. This has a devastating effect on the minds and emotional well being of African
American people. The letter also talks about destroying the male image to the female and

9682494575 4

reversing the female and male roles. Instead of the male being a protector in the females eyes,
slave masters would beat the male near death in front of this wife and child, leaving her alone
and independent. This caused her to develop an independent mindset. In fear of her children life
she will raise them in reverse positions, raising her female child to be psychologically
independent, and her male child to be psychologically weak.This appears every day in the
African American community. According to NBC News seventy percent of African American
children are born to unmarried women. Most likely this means no father in the picture.
How are the impacts of past history visible? more importantly, slavery also has affected African
American culture. When the Africans were taken from their homeland, they had to leave
everything that make them who they were behind. They were forced to convert to Christianity,
eat the foods their owners provided, and learn a different language. Generation after generation
soon got taught and became accustomed to this new way of living and thinking. This began a
cycle of continuous detachment from cultural history. With new mind sets, comes a new culture.
If someone is constantly told they are worthless, stupid, dumb,animal like, and a menace to
society, one will start to believe it, and one will put forth acts that go along with how they
perceive themselves. A Common example, slaves were addressed to the word nigger/nigga.
And hundreds of years later after slavery African American call themselves and others of their
race niggas. Because for so long this is what they have been called on a daily basis, even
during the era of segregation. This word started to become something African Americans
embraced and made its way into African American culture. "Some of the things that have come
to be associated with "black culture" are negative, demanding and harmful, such as public
displays of verbal or physical aggression at parties, eating foods high in salt and fat, and adding
sugar to nearly everything" With this being said, this shows how words and actions can affect

9682494575 5

humans psychology when something is said or done constantly over a long period of time.
Elements of African American culture have come to be synonymous with offensive, degrading,
and just pure negative. For example, when an artist express the joy of using drugs, bashing
women, and expressing acts of violence towards others. How has African American culture come
to this point, when they come from kind gentle people. American Americans are descendants of
family oriented people who loved and lifted one another, not put down. African American males
come from men who treated women like precious jewels that must be protected at all times, and
who remained positive during hard times. Has the tragedy of an American crime destroyed the
sense of self and culture?
People become a bit uncomfortable when the elephant in the room is pointed out. Some
might get defensive if it has something to do with them in a negative way. And try to downplay
the outcome of the situation. For instance, others might oppose these opinions by pointing out
the fact that there are successful African Americans today who has attended school, received a
good job, and are prosperous in life. They might point out that their are whites who are living in
poverty too, not just blacks. lastly they question how could slavery still have effect on African
Americans today, if slavery been abolished for hundreds of years now? analyzing the issue on a
wider scale, you can see how the rates of African American poverty and white American poverty
do not come close to weighing the same. This also brings me to African American success level.
Majority of African American success comes from becoming well known athletes, singers, and
rappers, professions that one can precue with no type of college education.Most likely, people
who get into theses type of professions usually get addicted to drugs just to cope with the evil
side of the industry that is hidden from the outside world. White American success usually comes
from being a doctor, lawyer, architect, etc...one thing all these professions have in common is

9682494575 6

that one would need a college education to pursue a job as such. critics might also ask if African
Americans such as obama can achieve such a big accomplishment such as president then why
can't any other African American become successful? the answer to that question is obama was
never knew the struggle like other African Americans. He came from wealthy parents, and
became successful himself. One thing critics do not understand is that African Americans have
been targeted negatively majority of their lives in America. After slavery, came segregation due
to the hatred towards the African American. hundreds of years of continuous discrimination, one
will start to give up on their hopes and dreams because they know they will be refused of any
form of authority due to the color of their skin. They will raise their children to have a mindset of
future disappointment and failure. This leaves the child nothing to fight for, psychological the
child will try to find a place in this world, and if one can not make money by getting a good job
to support a family they will turn to a different way to make money, which in most cases drugs
come into play. Now we have a culture surrounded by drugs! African Americans are now viewed
as thugs, and criminals. This was the only way African American could support themselves in
this land of dreams and opportunity.
How can A mass Group of individuals rise up if for hundreds of years the system was
designed for them to fail? Land that African Americans were forced to live on during the period
of chattel slavery, and American purposely wanted us to fail economically, mentally, and
culturally. Critics might say if one African American can rise above, then all African American
can do the same. There are always exceptions to the rules first and foremost, what should be
understood is that one cannot beat down a group of people physically and mentally for hundreds
of years (even after slavery) and think that generation after generation will not be injured in some

9682494575 7

type of way. It is going to take just as long to rewire the psyche of the African American as it
took to psychological tear down the African American race.

work cited
Jackson, Dr Umar. "The Blood Of Fredrick Douglass and Marcus Garvey." Dr. Umar Johnson,
The Prince of Pan-Africanism. 2009. Accessed May 26, 2015.
http://www.drumarjohnson.com/.
Leary, Joy DeGruy. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and
Healing. Portland, OR: Joy DeGruy Publications, 2005.
"The Legacy of Slavery." BBC News. February 02, 2007. Accessed March 02, 2015.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/london/series11/week8_slavery.shtml.
"Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome." - In These Times. March 10, 2006. Accessed March 02, 2015.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/2523.
"Post-Traumatic Giddiness." The British Medical Journal 1, no. 5124 (1959): 773-74. Post
Traumatic Slavery Disorder Slavery Disorder.