The African American Story Part 1

Our Origins
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have
within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the
stars to change the world."

-Harriet Tubman
African American history is a long journey. I am an African American, so African American history is
personal with me on many different levels. We, who are African Americans, have made amazing
accomplishments and still there is a long way to go. From the Motherland of Africa to the 21st century,
black people have shown resiliency, courage, strength, grace, compassion, and a stirring passion for justice.
Today, we live in a new age with a new bigoted, demagogic President. He was inaugurated in America on
January 20, 2017. The vast majority of African Americans descended from African slaves centuries ago.
Many African Americans are recent African immigrants living in America too. Africans, Afro-Europeans,
Afro-Latinos, Afro-Turks, etc. are our Black Brothers and our Black Sisters. We are one people regardless of
our nationality. Also, it is important to note that our history, as African Americans, didn’t just involve the
Middle Passage and slavery. Our history revolve around literature, architecture, spirituality, music, athletics
or sports, art, dance, political affairs, economics, STEM fields, and other aspects of human civilization
spanning thousands of years. Now, we are in the very close to the quarter century mark of the 21st century.

We still live in a nation where racism and classism (in other words, a certain [not all] segment of middle
class and wealthy black people ignore the legitimate needs of working class and poor black people) remain
a stark reality in American society. When even innocent black children are unfairly stereotyped harshly and
hate crimes are abundant, it reveals the truth that we don't live in a post racial society. The only way to end
these injustices is not only through education & building our infrastructure, but to use social activism to
fight back against such evils. We want to fight against democratic violations domestically and imperialist
wars overseas. Going good is crucial in instituting real change. Undoubtedly, real change has nothing to do
with worshiping the establishment. Instead, it has to do with making revolutionary impact on how society
functions. It is about replacing a corrupt system with a progressive system filled with justice and true
human liberation. This is what we're fighting for. We desire not only the growth of economic power, but
political independence. We don't worship the Republicans or the Democrats. We honor our African
American heritage while desiring total freedom and justice.

Therefore, it is time for us who to show the complete history of African Americans from the beginning to
the present. I’m going to write a 7 Part series that describes African American history and culture from
Africa to 2017. It will show information about the civil rights movement, the Harlem Renaissance, Marcus
Garvey, Ella Baker, Reconstruction, various musical genres, the Great Migration, Malcolm X, Dr. King, the
Age of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Oscar Micheaux, Dr. J, Michael Jordan, Althea
Gibson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and other components of our journey.

Our journey is filled with the strength of our ancestors and the influence of the youth too. This is Part one
of this series. In America, we have been a part of a journey for more than 500 years. Our black forebears
fought in every war of American history, but we continue to fight the war against racism, bigotry, and
intolerance in the USA. Our cause is just and we will keep on fighting for justice in the world as Brothers
and Sisters. It is important to reiterate that the African American community is not a monolith. Like other
communities, we are diverse in our cultures, religions, politics, socioeconomics, ages, sexes, and other parts
of our lives. It is vitally clear though that we are survivors too. We survived the whips, the chains, and many
objectionably tyrannical circumstances.

Justice is our aim. I love my black people as I am Black and Beautiful.

 First, the story begins in Africa. The vast majority of African
Americans descended from Western and Central Africa.

The Beginning
In the beginning, human beings originated from Africa during the start of human history. There is no
complete understanding of the African American experience without understanding African history and
culture. Africa has geographic diversity from coastal plains to the snowcapped mountains. African history
is diverse. Modern humans existed from East Africa and spread globally. The Ishango bone which is a lunar
calendar existed from 23,000 B.C. to 18,000 B.C. As time went on in Africa, the agriculture grew and the
domestication of animals developed. There was the spreading of grains and other resources globally. In ca.
3,500 B.C., ancient Nubia and ancient Egypt grew in power. In 751 B.C., the Kushite King Pianki conquered
Memphis in ancient Egypt. Memphis was one of the most powerful ancient cities of ancient Egypt. Ancient
Nubia with its major city of Meroe is found in Sudan while Aksum is found in Ethiopia. West Africa had tons
of civilizations as well like: the Nok culture, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Ghana Empire, the
Ashanti Empire, and so many other forms of government and infrastructure. For thousands of years, sub-
Saharan African civilizations focused on lineages or family descent in organizing policies and social
structures. For centuries and thousands of years, Bantu-speaking peoples traveled all over Africa (its great
migration started in ca. 3,000 B.C. from Western Africa) in enriching the cultural growth of African cultures.
Some cultures were patrilineal whose trace their ancestors via their fathers and other civilizations were
matrilineal or children trace their ancestors through their mothers. In many African societies, your age
signifies your responsibility, range of leadership, and community roles. The youth were taught skills in
preparation for their future adulthood.
 This is the Benin bronze sculpture of
celebrating a Queen Mother, who had
great power in the Benin civilization.
This wall is part of the Great Zimbabwe
culture of southeastern Africa. The Shona
people built this civilization whose walls
have about 900,000 stone blocks.

Ancient Ghana became a powerful Kingdom by the 700’s A.D. They gained resources by taxing the goods
that traders carried in their lands. Camels could go long miles without water, so traders had access across
the Sahara into Ghana. Gold and salt was traded in the region. Ghana’s leaders had leaders who converted
to Islam too. By the 13th century, the Empire of Mali dominated the West African region. It has a lot of gold
and salt. Sundiata is one of its famous leaders who worked hard in administration. Niani in Mali was a great
center of commerce and trade. The most famous leader of the Mali Empire was
Mansa Musa. He ruled from 1312 to 1332. He was a Muslim who built
mosques, attended public prayers, and supported Muslim religious
leaders. Mansa Musa was a skilled military leader. He led hajj to
Mecca from 1324 to 1325. Timbuktu grew in power and influence.
Askia Muhammad of the Songhai Empire was a great
administrator and leader. Learning thrived in the Songhai
civilization too.

By the late Middle Ages, European imperialists grew in their trading

power. They wanted more resources in the world, they wanted to
spread their religion, and they desired more control over territories. So,
they used many methods both technological and otherwise to Christopher Columbus was not only a
explore many locations in order for them to extract resources navigator, a colonizer, and a repugnant
for their own benefit. Slavery existed in Europe, Africa, and Asia individual who worked for imperialists. He
for thousands of years. Europeans enslaved Europeans before promoted slavery and genocide against
the days of the Roman Empire and afterwards. Many people in Native Americans. The historian Howard
Africa enslaved Africans too. Zinn wrote that Columbus spearheaded a
massive slave trade.
The difference was that the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was extensive across multiple continents, it was
more brutal, and it was more far reaching. The Maafa totally stripped the language, culture, religion, and
other ways of life for millions of black Africans.

Even before the modern Trans-Atlantic slave trade, many Arabic people enslaved black Africans as well.
Many black people centuries ago voluntarily converted to Islam and others didn’t. That Arabic slave trade
was in Western Asia, North Africa, Southeast Africa, the Horn of Africa, parts of Europe, etc. The Arabic
slave trade lasted from the 7th century to the late 20th century. Some estimate that from 10 to over 20
million Africans were enslaved by Arabic slave traders. Many of the male slaves were castrated to prevent
them from reproducing. One source says the following words: “…The Calipha in Baghdad at the beginning
of the 10th Century had 7,000 Black eunuchs and 4,000 white eunuchs in his palace.” (Ronald Segal, “Islam
Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora”). The slave traders were racist against black Africans. Many black
women were sexually abused by Arabic slave traders. Many black people rebellion against this evil. There
was the Zanj Rebellion in Iraq where Africans fought against slavery and tyranny. Slavery was banned in
Saudi Arabia as recent as 1962 and Mauritania only criminalized slavery as late as 2007. The slavery against
black people in many mostly Muslim countries continues today in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia secretly, etc.

The European nation that started the modern Trans-Atlantic slave trade was Portugal. During the 1400’s,
the Portuguese desired to travel into Africa. The Portuguese invaded and colonized the Canary Islands in
the 1400’s to produce wine and sugar. They captured the native Canary Islander people called the
Guanches and made them slaves in the islands and across the Mediterranean region. As historian John
Thornton remarked, "the actual motivation for European expansion and for navigational breakthroughs was
little more than to exploit the opportunity for immediate profits made by raiding and the seizure or
purchase of trade commodities." Later, they moved into the western coast of Africa to use raids in which
slaves (or black people) were captured and sold in the Mediterranean. African naval forces resisted this
injustice. They defeated many Portuguese imperialists, so the Portuguese used the slick tactics of trying to
form agreements with some Africans in exchange of them to travel into African lands (yet, the aim of the
Portuguese raiders was about gaining power not egalitarianism).
In 1441, the Portuguese captains Antão Gonçalves and Nuno Tristão captured 12 Africans in Cabo Branco
(modern Mauritania) and took them to Portugal as slaves. In 1444, Lançarote de Freitas, a tax-collector
from the Portuguese town of Lagos, formed a company to trade with Africa. In August 8, 1444, de Freitas
lands 235 kidnapped and enslaved Africans in Lagos, the first large group of African slaves brought to
Europe. Black Africans are forced into sugar plantations in 1452 too. In January 8, 1454, Pope Nicholas V
issues Romanus Pontifex, a bull granting the Portuguese a perpetual monopoly in trade with Africa. That
bull or document was sent to King Afonso V of Portugal. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas, it confirmed to
the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands south of Cape Bojador in Africa. Nevertheless, Spanish
traders begin to bring slaves from Africa to Spain.

In October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European since the Viking era to travel into
the Americas. Columbus and his crew set foot on an unidentified island he named San Salvador (modern
Bahamas). Columbus was a cruel man who enslaved Native Americans, glorified oppression, and was a
religious hypocrite. By 1494, the Portuguese king had entered agreements with the rulers of several West
African states that would allow trade between their respective peoples, enabling the Portuguese to "tap
into" the "well-developed commercial economy in Africa..." Hostilities continued and the European
imperialists grew in power. Many Africans were involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but the Africans
didn’t create the travel plans, didn’t build all of the slave ships, didn’t formulate the plans for anti-black
oppression, and Africans didn’t organize the majority of the economic infrastructure to conduct the brutal,
evil slave trade either. The people who did these things were European capitalist imperialists.

By the early 16th century, many Native Americans were slaves. European Spanish conquistadors explored
territories and conquered lands in Mexico and the southwestern parts of America. One well known black
African who came into the Americas was Juan Garrido. He was born in Africa and went into Portugal as a
youth. Later, he worked in a Spanish expedition can arrived in Santo Domingo (or Hispaniola) in ca. 1502.
He was among the first black peoples to arrive in the Americas in the modern age. In 1513, he accompanied
Ponce de Leon to explore Florida. Therefore, Juan Garrido was the first black man in the modern age to
arrive in modern day United States of America in 1513. Unfortunately, he was a conquistador too. He
married and settled in Mexico City. He worked with Herman Cortes (to invade and conquer the Aztec
Empire in Mexico). He worked with Spanish forces for more than 30 years to travel in western Mexico and
to the Pacific. He cultivated wheat in the Americas. He communicated with Native Americans. He also
traveled into many places and passed away in ca. 1550. The Atlantic slave trade has been divided into 2
eras. They were First and the Second Atlantic Systems.
 This is a diagram of a British slave ship. The following shows the years in which these
European nations entered the evil slave trade: Spain (the 1490’s), England (1562), Holland
(1597), France (1640), Sweden (1649), Denmark (1651), and Germany (1685).

The First Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans to, primarily, South American colonies of the
Portuguese and Spanish empires. It accounted for slightly more than 3% of all Atlantic slave trade. It started
(on a significant scale) in about 1502 and lasted until 1580 when Portugal was temporarily united with
Spain. While the Portuguese were directly involved in trading enslaved peoples, the Spanish empire relied
on the asiento system, awarding merchants (mostly from other countries) the license to trade enslaved
people to their colonies. During the first Atlantic system most of these traders were Portuguese, giving
them a near-monopoly during the era. Some Dutch, English, and French traders also participated in the
slave trade. After the union, Portugal came under Spanish legislation that prohibited it from directly
engaging in the slave trade as a carrier. It became a target for the traditional enemies of Spain, losing a
large share of the trade to the Dutch, English and French.

The Second Atlantic system was the trade of enslaved Africans by mostly English, Portuguese, French and
Dutch traders. The main destinations of this phase were the Caribbean colonies and Brazil, as European
nations built up economically slave-dependent colonies in the New World. Slightly more than 3% of the
enslaved people exported from Africa were traded between 1450 and 1600, and 16% in the 17th century. It
is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the
British, Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted in Africa. By the
1690's, the English were shipping the most slaves from West Africa. They maintained this position during
the 18th century, becoming the biggest shippers of slaves across the Atlantic. Following the British and
United States' bans on the African slave trade in 1808, it declined, but the period after still accounted for
28.5% of the total volume of the Atlantic slave trade. A burial ground in Campeche, Mexico, suggests slaves
had been brought there not long after Hernán Cortés completed the subjugation of Aztec and Mayan
Mexico in the 16th century. The graveyard had been in use from approximately 1550 to the late 17th
century. Many Europeans switched from making slaves among Native Americans to Africans, because of
many factors. One was that Native Americans declined rapidly in population including the fact that the
European imperialists shifted into kidnapping black people more often than Native Americans.

As for African American history, the vast majority of the

Olaudah Equiano was an abolitionist, a
scholar, a writer, and a person who
wanted to end slavery once and for all.
His legacy has been filled with courage
and a determination to make social justice
real for humanity.
ancestors of African Americans came from West and Central
Africa. Africans, who came into the Americas, via the slave
trade came from many regions like Senegal, Sierra Leone, the
Gold Coast, Benin, Nigeria, the Congo, Angola, East and
Southeast Africa (like in Mozambique and Madagascar). Some
West Africans were skilled iron workers and made tools in
agricultural endeavors. Many tribes had their own customs
and religions. Many Africans were Muslims. The transport of
slaves was extremely harsh. Obadiah Equiano wrote an
account of this. He was a former slave. He wrote about the
slaves on the ships being separated from their families long
before they were forced on the ships. They were segregated
by gender. Slaves were very crowded in ships and they
couldn’t walk freely. Males were kept in the ships hold.
Diseases spread because of malnourishment, lack of basic
hygiene, and dehydration. Death was common. Some slaves
jumped overboard in suicide over the unspeakably harsh
treatment. The slaves experienced hellish turmoil physically
and emotionally.

The crewmen raped the black women on the ships constantly. Women and children were separated. Many
Africans in the ships revolted and rebelled. Heroic women instigated the 1797 insurrection of the British
ship Thomas. Slaves got weapons and passing them to the men below as well as engaging in hand-to-hand
combat with the ship's crew. The journey from Africa to the Americas in average took about six months.
Slaves were stripped of their human rights, their families, home, and their community life. They
experienced some of the worst tragedies in human history. In all, about 10–12 million Africans were
transported to the Western Hemisphere. The vast majority of these people came from that stretch of the
West African coast extending from present-day Senegal to Angola. A small percentage came from
Madagascar and East Africa. Only 5% (about 500,000) went to the American colonies. The vast majority
went to the West Indies and Brazil, where many of them died quickly. Demographic conditions were more
available in the American colonies, with less disease, more food, some medical care, and different
circumstances than in the sugar fields. In 1565, the Spanish colony of St. Augustine in Florida became the
first permanent European settlement in what would become the US centuries later and it included an
unknown number of African slaves.

In 1619, 19 African slaves (some called these human beings indentured servants, but the people were sold
making them slaves. The ship was a Dutch ship) were sent to Point Comfort (or today’s Fort Monroe in
Hampton, Virginia), which is 30 miles downstream from Jamestown, Virginia. The English settlers released
them after a number of years. Slavery was explicitly race-based throughout the Americas by the 17th
century. Many black people in America were slaves and some were free. Freed people wanted resources.
Black human beings (regardless if they were slaves or not) in the United States struggled for true freedom
and equality. In 1640, John Punch, who was a black indentured servant, ran away with two white
indentured servants, James Gregory and Victor. After the three were captured, Punch was sentenced to
serve Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn for life. This made John Punch the first legally documented slave in
Virginia (and the US). Massachusetts was the first English colony to legalize slavery in 1641. Other colonies
continued to enact such evil policies. Many non-Christian slaves were made slaves for life. Africans in the
South were outnumbered by white indentured servants. Indentured servants were people who had to work
for a certain period of time (bounded under a contract) until they were granted freedom. Many white
indentured servants came voluntarily from Britain. Some wanted to pay off debts. They avoided the
plantations.

With the vast amount of good land and the shortage of laborers, plantation owners turned to lifetime
slaves who worked for their keep but were not paid wages and could not easily escape. Laws dealt with
slavery back then. It was a crime to kill a slave in some places, and a few whites were hanged for it.
Generally the slaves developed their own family system, religion and customs in the slave quarters. Slave
owners wanted the exploitation of African human beings for profit. Slaves were treated as property or
cattle not as human beings. In 1654, John Casor, a black man who claimed to have completed his term of
indenture, became the first legally recognized slave-for-life in a civil case in the Virginia colony. The court
ruled with his oppressor, who said he had an indefinite servitude for life. Before the 1660's, the North
American mainland colonies were expanding, but they still fairly small in size and did not have a great
demand for labor, so the colonists did not import large numbers of African slaves (in a high level) at this
point. In 1662, Virginia law, used the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, said that children in the colony
were born into their mother's social status. Therefore, children born to enslaved mothers were classified as
slaves, regardless of their father's race or status. This was contrary to English common law for English
subjects, which held that children took their father's social status. Royal African Company is founded in
England in 1672. It allowed slaves to be shipped from Africa to the colonies in North America and the
Caribbean. England entered the slave trade in the next level by that time.

One of the most important historical events in early America was the Bacon Rebellion of 1676. It has a long
history. Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers (including both white and
black people) led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. I disagree with the
Bacon's Rebellion's attack on Native Americans. I want to make that perfectly clear. Native Americans
should never be scapegoated for the tyranny of capitalist elites. There is no question that capitalism was
involved in international slavery. Slave owners used capitalism to spread divide and conquer strategies like
racism and economic exploitation. In other words, the rise of modern day capitalism continued to the
further spread of racism worldwide. By the late 1600's, there was a growth of many people who desired
freedom. Back then, even in Virginia, there were black and white freed people working side by side in many
endeavors. There were many black people who owned land. Lance Selfa gave great information about
Bacon's Rebellion. He wrote the following words:

"...Planters' fear of a multiracial uprising also pushed them towards racial slavery. Because a rigid racial
division of labor didn't exist in the 17th century colonies, many conspiracies involving Black slaves and
white indentured servants were hatched and foiled. We know about them today because of court
proceedings that punished the runaways after their capture. As historians T.H. Breen and Stephen Innes
point out, "These cases reveal only extreme actions, desperate attempts to escape, but for every group of
runaways who came before the courts, there were doubtless many more poor whites and blacks who
cooperated in smaller, less daring ways on the plantation."

The largest of these conspiracies developed into Bacon's Rebellion, an uprising that threw terror into the
hearts of the Virginia Tidewater planters in 1676. Several hundred farmers, servants and slaves initiated a
protest to press the colonial government to seize Indian land for distribution. The conflict spilled over into
demands for tax relief and resentment of the Jamestown establishment. Planter Nathaniel Bacon helped
organize an army of whites and Blacks that sacked Jamestown and forced the governor to flee. The rebel
army held out for eight months before the Crown managed to defeat and disarm it. Bacon's Rebellion was a
turning point. After it ended, the Tidewater planters moved in two directions: first, they offered
concessions to the white freemen, lifting taxes and extending to them the vote; and second, they moved to
full-scale racial slavery.

Fifteen years earlier, the Burgesses had recognized the condition of slavery for life and placed Africans in a
different category as white servants. But the law had little practical effect. "Until slavery became
systematic, there was no need for a systematic slave code. And slavery could not become systematic so
long as an African slave for life cost twice as much as an English servant for a five-year term," wrote
historian Barbara Jeanne Fields.
Both of those circumstances changed in the immediate aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion. In the entire 17th
century, the planters imported about 20,000 African slaves. The majority of them were brought to North
American colonies in the 24 years after Bacon's Rebellion..." ("The roots of racism" by Lance Selfa from
October 21, 2010).

As scholar and social activist Deborah Roberts has written: "...Documentary evidence exists of at
least 55 slave mutinies on board ships and more than 250 revolts on American plantations, some to
the point of insurrection. These revolts show that human beings will want freedom and fight
injustice even in the most desperate conditions and against the greatest odds.

Capitalism could not have been built without the systematic exploitation and oppression of the
working class, including, crucially, the super-exploitation and special oppression of Black slaves and
their descendants. Right up to the present day, American capitalism depends on racism both
materially, for the profits it generates, and ideologically, for the divisions it creates within the
working class..."
The 1700's (1700-1775)
By 1700, there were about 25,000 black slaves in the North American mainland colonies. That was about
10% of the total population. Some were sent into America directly from Africa. Most of them were from the
late 17th century onward. At first, they were shipped via the West Indies in small cargoes after spending
time working on the islands. Many were increasingly native born on the North American mainland. Slaves
were brutalized, raped, and harmed in unspeakable ways. The children of slave mothers were made slaves
too. More and more white settlers desired more land for farming and the establishment of plantations.
Therefore, the number of slaves imported from Africa directly rapidly increased between the 1660’s to the
1700’s (and beyond). The reason was that slaves from the West Indies were too small to meet the huge
demand for the fast growing 18th century North American mainland slave market. Additionally, most
American slave buyers no longer wanted slaves coming in from the West Indies - by now they were either
harder to obtain, too expensive, or more often, ruined in many ways by the very brutal regime of the island
sugar plantations. By the end of the seventeenth century, a relaxation on colonial tax laws, and the removal
of royal monopolies by the British Crown made the direct slave trade with Africa much easier.

So, the slave owning criminals wanted newly imported, young black Africans from Africa. They were bought
at a cheaper price and they were brutalized in plantations nationwide. From about 1700 to 1859, the
majority of slaves imported to the North American mainland came directly from Africa in huge cargoes to
fill the massive spike in demand for much-needed labor to work the continually expanding plantations in
the Southern colonies (later to be states), with most heading to Virginia, South Carolina, and French or
Spanish Louisiana. During the 1700’s, the Northern colonies grew more urbanized and industrialized than
the South. They relied less on agriculture as a major economic resource. They didn’t re-import a smaller
amount of African slaves in a massive level as compared to the South. The black population in the North
was small for a time. However, big Northern cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, had relatively
large black populations (slave or free) for most of the colonial period and thereafter. In 1712, the New York
city rebellion happened where slaves wanted freedom. It was later suppressed. Many racists used a
distorted and manipulated version of religion as a means to oppress people of black African descent and
Native Americans. One example is the Puritan “minister” Cotton Mather in his 1706 treatise called “The
Negro Christanized” which wanted black slaves to be forced to accept the myth that African and Native
Americans are ordained to be slaves. That is sick and Matter wrote about Ham when the story of Ham has
nothing to do with Maafa and slavery is total immoral period. Maher supported the Salem Witch trial which
caused 19 people to be killed by hanging. Mather owned a slave named Onesimus, who was a black man.
So, Cotton Mather is a notorious white supremacist extremist.

This is a picture of New York City in ca. 1750. Back then, NYC was a growing colonial port.

By the 1750’s, American-born slaves of African descent already began to outnumber African-born slaves.
During the American Revolution, many Northern states started to abolish or heavily restrict slavery. Some
Southern states like Virginia had large scale slavery populations. They stopped to take in direct imports of
slaves from Africa. Many places of the North back then still had slavery. Other Southern states like Georgia
and South Carolina relied on new slave labor to keep up with the demand of their growing plantation
economies. They continued direct importation of slaves from Africa up to 1808. They only stopped for the
years of the 1770's, because of a temporary lull in the trade brought on by the American Revolutionary
War. The continued, direct importation of slaves from Africa ensured that for most of the eighteenth
century.

South Carolina's black population remained very high, with black human beings outnumbering whites three
to one, unlike in Virginia, which had a white majority, despite its large black slave population. Some said
that South Carolina in the eighteenth century as a British colony looked much more like an extension of
West Africa than it did of Britain (which I don't agree with because of obvious reasons). All unjustly legal (as
not everything legal is righteous), direct importation of slaves from Africa had stopped by 1808, when the
now, newly formed United States finally banned its citizens from participating in the international slave
 trade altogether by law.

Despite the ban, small to moderate cargoes of slaves were

occasionally being illegally shipped into the United States directly
from Africa for many years, as late as 1859. Slowly, a free black
population emerged, concentrated in port cities along the Atlantic
coast from Charleston to Boston. Slaves in the cities and towns had
many more privileges, but the great majority of slaves lived on
southern tobacco or rice plantations, usually in groups of 20 or
more. Wealthy plantation owners eventually would become so
reliant on slavery that they devastated their own lower class. In
years to come, the institution of slavery would be so heavily
involved in the South's economy. It would divide America into two
opposing forces. The most serious slave rebellion during this time
period was the Stono Uprising, in September 1739 in South
Carolina. The colony had about 56,000 slaves, who outnumbered

This is the historic Fort Mose town (in
modern day Florida) where black
people took refuge from slavery. It was
a community where Brothers and
Sisters worked, farmed, and lived life. It
was created in 1681.
whites 2:1. About 150 slaves rose up, and seizing guns and
ammunition, murdered twenty whites, and headed for Spanish
Florida. Back then, Spanish Florida allowed black people to be free.
Therefore, black people wanted to go into Florida in order to not
experience slavery. The Spanish allowed black people to be free in
Spanish Florida as long as they professed belief in Roman
Catholicism.

Many African Americans lived the Fort Mose town in Florida too back then. The local militia soon
intercepted and killed most of them (of members of the Stono Rebellion). All the American colonies had
slavery including in the North (where 2% of the people were slaves), and field hands in plantations in the
South (where 25% were slaves). The heroism of anti-slavery activists, slaves (who rebelled against tyranny),
and the Civil War tipped the scales and rid the United States of slavery.

Involving the Maafa and slavery, it must always be reiterated that black people have shown great
determination to refuse to be dehumanized and to fight for their human liberation. Back during the 1600’s
and 1700’s, slavery was spread in North America from Providence to New Orleans. The majority of slaves
who came into North American area of the USA existed in the Chesapeake region (in North Carolina,
Virginia, and Maryland) and the Low Country (which is found in South Carolina and Georgia). By the mid
1750’s, the majority of slaves in the Chesapeake region were never born in Africa. In the Low Country
region, many slaves were imported directly from Africa (especially from central Africa like from Angola).
New African American cultures were a merging of customs from many African tribes. Many people don’t
know the extent of the brutality of what black slaves had to experience.

Many slaves were stripped naked and branded with hot iron. Many black people in slave ships have never
seen a white man in their lives except by being kidnapped by whites. Many enslaved Africans believed that
white men were in league with the devil or the manifestation of the devil because of the brutality that
Africans experienced. Slaves in America developed friendships, formed cultures, and enacted bonds of
resistance against evil. In essence, my ancestors were not immigrants, but they were involuntarily sent
unjustly from Africa into the Americas. Slaves also were leaders in the anti-slavery movement. There were
Quakers and Memmonites from 1688 who opposed slavery. The history of African Americans not only
involves slavery. It involved the dedicated power of African Americans to make institutions, to fight
injustice, and to make ways of activism, so positive change can develop prodigiously in the world.

*It is important to mention about the diverse cultures of African Americans in early America too. Many
freed and enslaved Africans in North America used drums and the banjos to express musical expression. An
Asante style drum has been discovered in America. The banjo is like a guitar which played unique songs of
music. Homes were built by black people centuries ago too. Back then, the largest population of Africans in
North America was in South Carolina. Many black people in South Carolina created the Gullah language.
This new language was a creolized variant and it retrained many words from African languages too. To
understand the African American experience, the Gullah people and the Gullah language must be
mentioned and understood comprehensively. Many black people centuries ago created pots and gourds for
cooking food and some created cups for drinking water as well.

Early America and the American Revolutionary War (1775-1804)

The latter half of the 18th century had massive changes in America. There was political upheaval. The
colonists in many cases opposed the Monarchy of the British Empire. They believed that they had no
representation in Parliament after the French and Indian War. The British government wanted the colonists
to pay for that war. Many colonists wanted relief from British rule, but some of them hypocritically were
slaveholders. Back then, many people pointed that hypocrisy out. Therefore, the American Revolution
existed in the realm of profound contradictions. The Declaration of Independence, which said that “all men
was created equal” was written by Thomas Jefferson. Yet, Thomas Jefferson owned over 200 slaves. Many
Northern and Southern statesmen were major slaveholders. The Second Continental Congress did consider
freeing slaves to disrupt British commerce. They removed language from the Declaration of Independence
that included the promotion of slavery amongst the offenses of King George III. A number of free Blacks,
most notably Prince Hall or the founder of Prince Hall Freemasonry, submitted petitions for the end of
slavery. But these petitions were largely ignored. African Americans were both in the Patriot side and the
British side of the Revolutionary War. Free black people and black slaves (among both sides) fought for
freedom. A free black tradesman, named Crispus Attucks, was the first causality of the Boston Massacre
and the ensuing American Revolutionary War. 5,000 black people including Prince Hall fought in the
Continental Army.
Many fought side by side with white soldiers at the battles of Lexington, Concord and at Bunker Hill. Yet,
when George Washington took command in 1775, he barred any further recruitment of black people in
America. About 5,000 free African American
men fought with the American colonists. One of
the men was Agrippa Hull for fought in the
American Revolution for over 6 years. He and
other African American soldiers desired
changes in their own lives. Black people among
both sides wanted equality and freedom. By
contrast, the British and Loyalists offered
emancipation to any slave owned by a Patriot
who was willing to join the Loyalist forces. Lord
Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia, recruited
300 African-American men into his Ethiopian
regiment within a month of making this
proclamation. In South Carolina 25,000 slaves,
more than one-quarter of the total, escaped to
join and fight with the British, or fled for
freedom in the uproar of war. Thousands of
The Book of Negroes miniseries is based on real
slaves also escaped in Georgia and Virginia, as historical events. The Book of Negroes was an actual
well as New England and New York. Well- document of the names of 3,000 African American
known Black Loyalist soldiers include Colonel former slaves who were Black Loyalists. They wanted
Tye and Boston King. freedom. They came into Nova Scotia after the
Revolutionary War. Some traveled into Sierra Leone,
Africa. Notable people recorded in the Book of
The Americans won the war. In the provisional Negroes include Boston King, Henry
Washington, Moses Wilkinson and Cato Perkins. The
treaty, they demanded the return of property.
Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill wrote a novel
They wanted slaves returned to them too. The entitled, The Book of Negroes.
British helped up to 4,000 documented African
Americans to leave the country for Nova Scotia, The book featured Aminata, a young black woman
Jamaica, and Britain rather than be returned to born in Africa and captured as a child; she is literate
slavery. Thomas Peters was one of the large and acts as a scribe to record the information about
numbers of African Americans who fought for the former slaves. Those who founded Sierra Leone
have been described as settlers who "brought
the British. Peters was born in present-day
America to Africa". The book won the top
Nigeria and belonged to the Yoruba tribe, and 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The Book of
ended up being captured and sold into slavery Negroes six hour miniseries is magnificent and the
in French Louisiana. Sold again, he became a actors and actresses involved in the project include:
slave in North Carolina and escaped his Aunjanue Ellis, Lyriq Bent, Cuba Gooding
master’s farm in order to receive Lord Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr.
Dunmore’s promise of freedom. Dunmore's
Proclamation of November 7, 1775 was a document of Lord Dunmore promising freedom to any slave
joining the British cause. Thousands of black slaves understandably joined the British. The proclamation
ultimately failed in meeting Dunmore's objectives. He was forced out of the colony in 1776, taking about
300 former slaves with him. Peters fought for the British throughout the war. When the war finally ended,
he and other African Americans who fought on the losing side were taken to Nova Scotia.
At Nova Scotia, they were given pieces of land that they could not farm. They also did not receive the same
freedoms as white Englishmen. Peters sailed to London in order to complain to the government. “He
arrived at a momentous time, when English abolitionists were pushing a bill through Parliament to charter
the Sierra Leone Company and to grant it trading and settlement rights on the West African coast.” Peters
and the other African Americans on Nova Scotia left for Sierra Leone in 1792. Peters died soon after they
arrived but the other members of his party lived on in their new home.

On April 15, 1775, The Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery was created. It was an early
abolitionist organization in America. On July 8, 1777, the Vermont Republic (a sovereign nation at the time)
abolishes slavery, the first future state to do so. No slaves were held in Vermont. The Constitutional
Convention of 1787 sought to define the foundation for the government of the newly formed United States
of America. The Constitution set forth the ideals of freedom and equality for certain people, while providing
for the continuation of the institution of slavery through the fugitive slave clause and the disgraceful three-
fifths compromise. In other words, America was founded in racism and slavery to be blunt. Additionally,
free blacks' rights were also restricted in many places. Most were denied the right to vote and were
excluded from public schools. Some black people sought to fight these contradictions in court. In 1780,
Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker used language from the new Massachusetts constitution that
declared all men were born free and equal in freedom suits to gain release from slavery. A free Black
businessman in Boston named Paul Cuffee sought to be excused from paying taxes since he had no voting
rights.

Back then, many people rightfully viewed slavery as evil and wanted it abolished. Northern states started to
ban slavery from the late 18th century. Most of them used gradual emancipation and a special status for
freedman. In 1787 Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance and barred slavery from the large Northwest
Territory. In 1790, there were more than 59,000 free Blacks in the United States. By 1810, that number had
risen to 186,446. Most of these human beings were in the North, but Revolutionary sentiments also
motivated Southern slaveholders. For 20 years after the Revolution, more Southerners also freed slaves,
sometimes by manumission or in wills to be accomplished after the slaveholder's death. In the Upper
South, the percentage of free blacks rose from about 1% before the Revolution to more than 10% by 1810.
Quakers and Moravians worked to persuade slaveholders to free families. In Virginia the numbers of free
blacks increased from 10,000 in 1790 to nearly 30,000 in 1810, but 95% of blacks were still enslaved. In
Delaware, three-quarters of all blacks were free by 1810. By 1860 just over 91% of Delaware's blacks were
free and 49.1% of those in Maryland.

Benjamin Banneker (November 9,
1731 – October 9, 1806) was an
astronomer, a scholar, a mathematician,
and a fighter against slavery. He was a
great black man. He believed in racial
equality and he created many almanacs.
He developed clocks too. He was born
in Baltimore.
She was the courageous Sister Sanité
Bélair. She was a Haitian freedom
fighter. She was an active participant in
the Haitian Revolution, became a
sergeant and later a lieutenant during
the conflict with French troops of
the Saint-Domingue expedition. She
passed away in 1802 and she was one
of the heroes of the Haitian Revolution.
She was a great black woman.

During 18th century, black people who were free and enslaved developed their own culture, music, food,
and other institutions. In the midst of overt tyranny, black people still had hope that true freedom and
equality would exist for them in the future. Many slaves developed drums, banjos, and rattles out of
gourds, (which is similar to objects in Africa) in order for them to express themselves and tell stories. Many
slaves danced and sang songs. There were many black people back them who organized many institutions
that dealt with education, social gatherings, religious functions, and other aspects of black culture. Black
cuisine in America formed into diverse foods. Slavery back then existed with brutality, harshness, and anti-
human treatment. According to John Reader’s “Africa: A Biography of the Continent” on pg. 408, sometime
in the 1700's an average of around 60,000 slaves were exported per year. It has been estimated that each
year six persons were taken for every thousand population – whereas 50 persons are said to have died
from disease for every thousand.

Many Africans wrote their narratives about slavery. Olaudah Equiano was a famous black man who wrote
about his experiences in his 1789 narrative entitled, “The Life of Olaudah Equiano. He was kidnapped from
his home in Nigeria. Later, he was sold in Virginia and then to England. He brought his freedom and was a
great abolitionist in world history. He wrote a detailed firsthand account of the Maafa, the slave trade, and
the terrible, brutal injustices that Africans suffered. He wrote the following words about his kidnapping in
the following terms: “…The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably
loathsome…The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate added to the number in the ship, which
was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us…” Olaudah Equiano was
whipped and forcibly fed.

These are images of Black Women from centuries ago. Like always, we honor
Black Women Forever.
Many slave-owners would amputate the toes and other body parts of slaves who escaped and returned.
Many slaves were branded by racists in order for slave owners to identify them. Slaves were readily
separated from their families and spread to various plantations in faraway distances. That is why to this
day, African Americans in many cases have difficulty in tracing their genealogy among long centuries. Some
slaves were allowed to marry. There were marriages among slaves in New York City allowed by the Dutch
Reformed Church (this was during the time when the Dutch controlled NYC before the British controlled it
later on). Black families back then readily went into courts to fight for property rights for themselves and
their wives and to fight for their freedom in general. By the 1700’s, slavery laws became even more strict
and racialized causing racial oppression against black people to grow. Where I’m from, in Virginia, slaves
were used in tobacco and cotton crops, which were exported to the North and to England. Slaves were
forced to be carpenters, coopers, boatmen, cooks, seamstresses, and blacksmiths. Slaves were oppressed
by a white overseer including a black driver (or foreman who was forced to so). Many white overseers
carried whips.
Also, rice crops were picked up by black slaves in South Carolina and in the Deep South as well. Cotton was
especially picked by slaves in the Deep South from Georgia to Texas. The separation of children from black
mothers continued throughout this period. This is why black relatives escaped from plantations in order to
search for their relatives and loved ones. Slavery was not only evil, but it was heavily utilized to make
economic profits for the capitalists who didn’t care about human dignity and social equality. Many black
heroes during the 18th century stood up to fight for freedom. Paul Cuffee was a known abolitionist. There
is the story of Oney Judge. She was a biracial slave in George Washington’s plantation in Mount Vernon,
Virginia. She escaped for her freedom in 1796 with the help of Philadelphia’s free black community. She
lived in New Hampshire for the rest of her life. She had children too. George Washington wanted her back,
but he failed. She had faith and she loved her freedom. Rest in Power Oney Judge.

Elizabeth Freeman was once a slave, but went into the court to fight for her freedom in Sheffield,
Massachusetts. She was known as Bet or Mum Bett. The lawyer and abolitionist Theodore Sedgwick
worked with Elizabeth to win her case too. The case of Brom and Bett v. Ashley was heard in August 1781
before the County Court of Common Pleas in Great Barrington. Sedgwick and Reeve asserted that the
constitutional provision that "all men are born free and equal" effectively abolished slavery in the state of
Massachusetts. When the jury ruled in Bett's favor, she became the first African-American woman to be set
free under the Massachusetts state constitution. Richard Allen was the founder of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church. He opposed slavery and racism. He walked out of one church, because of its segregation
policies to form the AME Church (for black people). Allen’s church was in Philadelphia. His friends and allies
were Absalom Jones (who gained his freedom in 1784), and other people.
James Derham was a black man who was very historic. He
lived from 1757 to 1802. He was the first African American
to formally practice medicine. He learned on how to do it
from the Revolutionary War while serving with the British.
He learned it from Dr. George West. He didn’t have a
degree, because of discrimination, but he was an
exceptionally great doctor. James Derham was fluent in
French, English, and Spanish. He knew how to use
compound machines too. He was a great pharmacist. His
This is the slave quarters of Mulberry
medical business in New Orleans, Louisiana, reportedly
Plantation in South Carolina. It was one
earned him $3,000 per year, which was a lot of money back
of the oldest plantation locations in
then. A Philadelphia 1789 newspaper article on the
America. It was created in 1714 by
biography of James Derham described him as a person who
Thomas Broughton, who became the
was born in Philadelphia. James Derham met Dr. Benjamin Royal governor of South Carolina.
Rush, who was an early American doctor. Rush was very
impressed by Derham. He encouraged him to move to
Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, he was an expert in throat diseases and in the relationship between climate
and disease. He had 10 siblings. Absalom Jones also was an abolitionist.

Sister Jarena Lee was an evangelist who was the first African American woman to publish an autobiography.
The earliest mention of Jarena Lee in a newspaper was in 1840, when she was listed as a member of the
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society from Pennsylvania. There are many other early African
Americans who made great contributions in the world. We honor their sacrifice, their courage, and their
contributions in the world.
 We will never forget the struggle.
Sister Phillis Wheatley was a genius in writing prose. Elegant, crisp words, and inspiration summarize her
glorious literature (as slavery existed throughout America from the North to the South. That is why heroic
black people fought back against such tyranny). She lived in Boston for many years to work in a world filled
with oppression and injustice. Yet, she continued to speak out in word and in deed to advocate for freedom
concretely. She was a great black woman. It is the same quest for freedom that we are fighting for in our
generation. Phillis Wheatley worked hard in her craft of writing words which stimulated creativity and
focused on her life. Men and women worldwide read, analyze, and cherish her poems from back then and
today. Her life was filled with pain which was immeasurable. Her journey was harsh and cold, but people in
our time love her. Her impact in American literature can't be measured in tangible terms for her literary
genius is forever priceless. She is not here physically, but her moving prose, her wisdom, and her grace will
forever be acknowledged. We all love her being and we honor her contributions in African American
history.

Her poem "On Imagination" concretely describes her life, her purpose, and her love for her family. Among
the successful free men was Benjamin Banneker, a Maryland astronomer, mathematician, almanac author,
surveyor and farmer, who in 1791 assisted in the initial survey of the boundaries of the future District of
Columbia. Despite the challenges of living in the new country, most free Blacks fared far better than the
nearly 800,000 enslaved Blacks. Still, both free and enslaved African Americans experienced the tyranny of
racial oppression in early American society. Even so, many considered emigrating to Africa. The 19th
century would be a time for African Americans where history would change the world forever.

One of the unsung black heroes was a black woman named Belinda Royall. She was born in ca. 1712 in
Ghana, Africa. She was kidnapped near her home near the Volta River when she was 12 years old. This
region was home to the Ewe speaking and Akan peoples. She wrote about her abduction in her 1783
petition. She came into Massachusetts and she was forced into the household of Isaac Royall. Isaac was a
Tory, so he flew to Nova Scotia when the Revolutionary War started. Belinda was let go, so she was free.
She was 63 in that time. She petitioned the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on 1783
for reparations. She talked about her pleasant experience in Ghana with her family including her injurious,
torturous experience in America as a slave for decades. Her arguments caused the General Court to award
her an annual pension of 15 pounds and 12 shillings. This was a victory for reparations and this has inspired
the reparations movement in our generation.
 This is Belinda’s petition.

Her story shows the courage of a black woman and it showed the truth that the viciousness of slavery
existed in the North (as Boston was the leading northern commercial port in the Triangular Trade. The
Triangular Trade was about how African slaves were kidnapped from Africa and taken to the West Indies
or Caribbean. Later, sugar was exported from the West Indies to be sent into the Northeast. From there,
rum and other goods were exported to Europe and then Europe came to exploit Africa again. The trading
pattern looked like an inverted triangle on a map) and the South. Slavery would be abolished in
Massachusetts by 1783. Belinda’s petition exposed the inhumanity and immorality of slavery. Her petition
was published in the May 29, 1783 Massachusetts Sun. She won a great victory. Belinda continued to live
her life. She is not here anymore, but her memory is remembered by us forever. Rest in Power Sister
Belinda Royall.

In 1788, the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia is organized under Andrew Bryan. There was
the manumission of slaves from 1790 to 1810. Following the Revolution, numerous slaveholders in the
Upper South freed slaves; the percentage of free black human beings rises from less than one to 10
percent. By 1810, 75 percent of all black people in Delaware are free, and 7.2 percent of black people in
Virginia are free. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was passed in February 12, 1793. This unjust law allowed
slave-owners to kidnap escaping slaves in America. It was signed into law by President George Washington.
This meant that not only escaped slaves were in risked of being oppressed, but we know that freed black
people were kidnapped (in the North and in other places of America) and brought into slavery too. One
example was freed black man Solomon Northup was tricked into going into Washington D.C. Slavery was
legal in D.C. during the 19th century. Later, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. He was in
bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. One of the very few to regain freedom under such circumstances, he
later sued the slave traders involved in Washington, DC. Its law prohibited Northrup from testifying against
the white men because he was black, and he lost the case. The New York Times published an article on this
trial on January 20, 1853.

These are some of the torture devices that black slaves were forced to wear. Many black
slaves were mutilated, lynched, branded, whipped, raped, assaulted, and murdered.

Northup published his memoir, Twelve Years a Slave (1853), a slave narrative of plantation life on the Red
River in Louisiana, and a description of the slave trade in Washington, DC. The memoir was adapted as a
feature-film in 2013 by Steve McQueen, winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film
starred the brilliant Sister Lupita Nyong'o and Brother Chiwetel Ejiofor. On March 14, 1794 was a very
historical date. That was when Eli Whitney was granted a patent on the cotton gin. This invention would
influence the Industrial Revolution and changed the economy of the Antebellum South. Eli Whitney was
born in Massachusetts in 1765. He had an engineering career. The cotton gin caused the cultivation and
procession of short staple cotton to be profitable in the uplands and interior areas of the Deep South.

It is clear that we make known of the total brutality of slavery. In America, many slaves were separated
among their families. Husbands were readily removed from wives. Mothers were removed from their own
children. Black women suffered sexual assault and rape by white racist slave-owners. Children and infants
were experiencing malnutrition. The elderly were neglected. Slaves worked from before dawn until sunset.
Women readily worked longer hours. Women worked in the field, cooked, and raised the children of slave-
owners by force. Slaves were constantly whipped too.

As the cotton was cultivated more quickly by this invention, it increased the need of evil slave-owners to
kidnap enslaved labor and made cotton a chief commodity crop in the South. Also, the slave-owners
wanted to meet the labor demand by kidnapping (in a forced migration) one million people (of black slaves)
from the Upper South and coast to the area in the antebellum period of the Deep South. The cotton gin in
essence expanded slavery and expanded the suffering of black people in America. In July 1794, there were
two independent black churches open in Philadelphia: the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, with
Absalom Jones, and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, with Richard Allen, the latter the first
church of what would become in 1816 the first independent black denomination in the United States.
 She is Queen Nanny. She led the Maroons to fight the British imperialists in Jamaica.
The Maroons are descendants of West Africans, mainly people from the Ashanti region
of what is today Ghana. She was part of the Ashanti tribe. She helped to free over 1,000
slaves in Jamaica. She was a hero. Rest in Power Sister Queen Nanny.

*We want international liberation for black people. We are opposed to imperialism. We believe in
improving our environment and we believe in quality health care for all. We want workers to have living
wages and their economic rights preserved. African American history is filled with struggle and filled with
the advocacy of progressive social action. We advocate the necessary action to promote our political and
economic power for ourselves and for our descendants.

Soon, information will be described about religion, the antebellum period, and the Civil War including
Emancipation. The struggle continues.
In closing, here is an inspirational quote from one of the greatest historians in history. It is from
the late, great Brother John Hope Franklin:

"The very essence of the life of the mind is the freedom to inquire, to examine, and to
criticize. But that freedom has the same restraints abroad that it has at home: to state
one's position, if impelled by personal conviction, with clarity, reason, and sobriety,
always mindful of the point that the scholar recognizes and tolerates different views
that others may hold and that his view is independent, not official."

-The American Scholar from 1968

By Timothy
We always stay woke.