What Is Discrimination In America

Slavery in the US

In my opinion, the historic event that stands out so far in the history that we’ve covered is the Dutch merchant ship that brought the first African Slaves to the colonies in 1619. In this first occurrence, the slaves were treated by the colonists as ‘precious zoo animals’ as we discussed in class. They were seen as rare ‘animals’ and were given tasks that weren’t too demanding such as butlers, nannies, and housemaids. Then for some reason that historians still are quite unsure of, the colonists attitudes towards blacks (free and slave alike) abruptly changed. There were laws that all of a sudden prohibited rights of citizens based on color. And this, I believe, is the beginning of a problem that greatly shaped the growth and path of our nation. It’s a problem that still plagues us to this day, but thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears shed by many of our ancestors, it is not as prominent as it once was.
on the grounds of race, age, or sex.” (Webster). In this case we will focus on discrimination based on race. This type of discrimination that dates all the way back to the 17th century in this country is the biggest contributor to cultural tensions between whites and blacks. Without slavery in this country I feel fairly confident in saying that there is a good chance that a couple major events in our country’s history would never have even happened. For example Nat Turner’s Rebellion, The Civil War, and even the Civil Rights Movement of the