The History of African-Americans in the United States
The African-American Journey
The history of African Americans is, to a significant degree, the history of the United States. Black people accompanied the first explorers, and a black man was among the first to die in the American Revolution. The United States, with more than 38 million Blacks, has the eighth-largest Black population in the world. Despite the large number, Blacks in this country have had almost no role in major national and political decisions and have been allowed only a peripheral role in many crucial decisions that influenced their own destiny. The Black experience, in what came to be the United States, began as something less than citizenship, but was “considered slightly better than slavery” (Schaefer, 2006, p. 184). In 1619, 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown as indentured servants or slaves. Their status was not clearly known, even to the people who were living at that time. By 1640, at least one African had been declared a slave. This African was ordered by the court "to serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life here or elsewhere". “Within a generation race, not religion was being made the defining characteristic of enslaved Virginians. The terrible transformation to racial slavery was underway (Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), (n.d.)).” During the early 17th century, there were no laws that defined the rights, or the lack of rights, of blacks. “Virginia was being held back. Thanks to tobacco, it had the means to make money. What was needed, though, were laborers -- laborers to clear fields, to plant and harvest crops. During the 1620s and 1630s, when the price of tobacco was high and English workers had too few jobs available at home, Virginia found its supply of labor in England. Then after 1660 the value of tobacco dropped and the Great Plague reduced England 's population. In addition, a terrible fire in London destroyed much of the city and created new jobs at home for construction workers of
The history of African Americans is, to a significant degree, the history of the United States. Black people accompanied the first explorers, and a black man was among the first to die in the American Revolution. The United States, with more than 38 million Blacks, has the eighth-largest Black population in the world. Despite the large number, Blacks in this country have had almost no role in major national and political decisions and have been allowed only a peripheral role in many crucial decisions that influenced their own destiny. The Black experience, in what came to be the United States, began as something less than citizenship, but was “considered slightly better than slavery” (Schaefer, 2006, p. 184). In 1619, 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown as indentured servants or slaves. Their status was not clearly known, even to the people who were living at that time. By 1640, at least one African had been declared a slave. This African was ordered by the court "to serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life here or elsewhere". “Within a generation race, not religion was being made the defining characteristic of enslaved Virginians. The terrible transformation to racial slavery was underway (Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), (n.d.)).” During the early 17th century, there were no laws that defined the rights, or the lack of rights, of blacks. “Virginia was being held back. Thanks to tobacco, it had the means to make money. What was needed, though, were laborers -- laborers to clear fields, to plant and harvest crops. During the 1620s and 1630s, when the price of tobacco was high and English workers had too few jobs available at home, Virginia found its supply of labor in England. Then after 1660 the value of tobacco dropped and the Great Plague reduced England 's population. In addition, a terrible fire in London destroyed much of the city and created new jobs at home for construction workers of
References: 1) Schaefer, R. T. (2006). Ch. 7 & Ch. 8. Racial and Ethnic Groups with Census 2000 CD (10th Hardcover Edition) (pp. pgs. 183-233). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. 2) Wikipedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from http://www.wikipedia.org 3) www.PBS.org. (n.d.). Africans in America/PBS. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p263.html