Drawing the Color Line

Slavery occurred amongst many nations, ethnic groups and tribes but none like black slavery that occurred in the Americas. Black slavery, by far, was one of the cruelest, most brutal, demolishing slavery that ever existed. Taken from their land of Africa and forcefully being brought to the Americas in chains tied around their hands and feet as prisoners has had to be one of the most frightening, disturbing catastrophes of a black slave’s life. To simply go from a familiar language, custom, tradition and even food to go to a foreign land where language isn’t understood, custom and tradition are different and the food is unfamiliar and distasteful to the taste buds was enough for slaves to desire death, and, in fact, actually commit suicide and make the constant attempt to run away which was hardly ever successful anyway. These African slaves were sold by their own African people to Europeans in exchange for goods, brought on ships, naked and chained like animals, to the Americas to be sold for a profitable amount in order to work the plantations and to be a slave to their white masters for the rest of their lives gaining increasing and wealth for their masters. Zinn explains all of this in Chp 2, “Drawing the Color Line.” He explains the mistreatment and punishment that blacks encountered during the time of slavery and the physical and psychological effects that blacks were compelled to endure for the countless years of slavery and downright brutality.
Slavery was always in effect long ago by the selling and buying that took place between the Africans and the Portuguese. Slavery also took place directly in the land of Africa from other Africans of different tribes although slavery in Africa and slavery in the Americas was much more different. Zinn states, “African slavery is hardly to be praised. But it was far different from plantation or mining slavery in the Americas, which was lifelong, morally crippling, destructive of family ties, without hope of any future.