To Be A Slave - Prologue

1. To Be A Slave - Prologue By Mrs. Maus-Colucci Reading 8

2. How & Why did slavery become an institution in the United States?

3. Key concepts from this Chapter: • Slavery has existed in many ways all across the globe throughout history. • In the early development of the United States, colonists tried using Indians and indentured servants to build and grow the colonies, but it didn’t work. They relied on Africans due to the color of their skin and the vast supply they could bring from Africa. • Americans sailed to Africa to trick, steal, or buy individuals into slavery. • The trip from Africa to the Americas was long and torturous with cramped space, little food or water, and much illness. Those enslaved were treated horribly and many died. • Once in the United States, they were sold off to work and help establish our growing country.

4. Passage #1 “Others dies because they took their own lives rather than live as slaves. … When they put us in irons to be sent to our place of confinement in the ship, the men who fastened the irons on these mothers took the children out of their hands and threw them over the side of the ship into the water. – Ball” (Lester 24-25). • We had always known that slavery was bad and that they were treated very badly. However this narrative creates such a horrific picture of the cruelty these African people faced from their very first encountered with white people. How could someone be so malicious? What types of men would kill a baby without a second thought? This was very shocking to read!

5. Passage #2 “It is estimated that some fifty million people were taken from the continent during the years of the slave trade. These fifty million were, of course the youngest, the strongest, the most capable of bringing great profit… it was in the United States that a system of slavery evolved that was more cruel and total than almost any other system of slavery devised by one group of men against another.” (Lester 27). Julius concludes this chapter in a factual and bold tone. The idea that there were so many people taken from Africa is appalling. Who was left in Africa? Didn’t anyone from the continent have the power or desire to stop them from being taken? I know that slavery has been around for as long as humanity has existed. There is evidence in the bible and ancient roman times, but what made our use of slavery so much more cruel? I wonder if our founding colonists were so desperate to establish themselves and change their situation that they were reduced to their cruel actions.

6. This primary source image shows the way that slaves were packed so tightly into the ships from Africa to the Americas. “in every voyage when the ship was full they complained of heat and want of air. Confinement in this situation was so injurious that he has known them to go down apparently in good health at night and found dead in the morning. – Evidence of the Slave Trade” (Lester 24).

7. Supported by Lesters statements on page 27.

8. Questions: • What other people did the colonists try to enslave? Why didn’t it work? (page 17) • Why couldn’t the colonists just do the work themselves? • What about today’s information is most different from what you already knew about slavery? • Why might the first slave ship have been called the “Desire”? What might it tell you about the colonists attitude?

9. Questions & MY THOUGHTS: • What other people did the colonists try to enslave? Why didn’t it work? Look to page 17 for answer • Native Americans were not accustomed to the labor and were susceptible to disease • Immigrants from Europe “indentured servants” only worked to pay of their debts for 7 years and they could easily run away without being caught • Why couldn’t the colonists just do the work themselves? • Perhaps there was more to do than there were people available to do it. In order to create the communities needed to establish their independence, they needed to prosper quickly! • What about today’s information is most different from what you already knew about slavery? • I had no idea that colonists tried enslaving other people before electing to use black people. I also don’t think I fully grasped the horror of the middle passage before hearing about it from someone who was there. • Why might the first slave ship have been called the “Desire”? What might it tell you about the colonists attitude? • The word “desire” means “to express a hope or longing for something. I think this is what the colonists were focused on. Hoping and wanting to be established and successful after their rebellion from England – they were willing to do ANYTHING to quench this desire, even cruelly enslave others.