Researching One's Family History Cures Slavery's Harmful After-Effects
"…[S]laves were obtained by only two important methods, viz., by birth to a slave mother or by delivery in slave ships to domestic ports…In the United States…nearly all of them, or their ancestors, originated from Africa," said Robert B. Shaw.
Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider wrote in "Slavery in America: An Eyewitness History" that, "All in all, scholars estimate, Africa exported some 11,698,000 people to the New World during the Atlantic slave trade."
Of the estimated 41.1 million African Americans, the vast majority of their ancestors arrived here in slave ships. Upon arriving on the coast, these captive Africans were conditioned for a life of bondage. The lifestyle that was forced upon them formed the basis of the problems facing African Americans today. However, there is one clear way for African Americans to regain their healthiness, which we will discuss at the conclusion of this paper.
Clayton E. Jewett and John O. Allen noted in Slavery in the South: A State-by-State History, "Human chattel brought directly from Africa often had to go through a ‘breaking-in' period to learn work discipline and the proper subservient behavior." Slave traders, owners, overseers, laws, and businessmen in related industries conditioned African slaves in the Americas to a life of forced servitude defined by race. To maximize profits and prevent slave revolts, slave owners, related businessmen, and legislators separated slave families, took away their names, languages, cultures, religions, and, by default, their unity and humanity as extended families, ethnic groups, and members of nations and empires. This unfortunate process was an intentional theft of heritage.
As a consequence of this rape of parentage and human rights, many problems arose for African Americans. These resulting issues included health problems, complexion/racial prejudice, broken homes, different castes of slave and free Black society, financial concerns, crime, and so on. These harmful side-effects of the breaking-in process were to occur to de-unify slaves (and their descendants) while slave owners and business persons in related fields (and their descendants) hoarded wealth and power. Meanwhile, slaves of African descent (and their offspring) suffered as a de-unified group without the ties of kinship and culture that link and empower strong groups of people.
"Putting families back together and reuniting long separated members formed the first task most newly freed blacks attempted," said Ibid.
In conclusion, research has shown that as a cure to these deleterious outgrowths of the breaking-in process, a person whose ancestors were captive African slaves in the Americas and Caribbean should learn their heritage. Clearly, newly freed slaves knew that the unity, power, and healthiness that come from heritage had been stolen from them. As evidence, these emancipated bondsmen immediately sought to rebuild their families after being freed. African Americans today should take the lead of their ancestors who fully understood the root causes of our problems and sought a cure in the best way these former slaves who had been broken-in knew how. However, now we can take their quest further to its logical end and thereby do away with our problems once and for all.
This newfound understanding of heritage will undo the many problems that we as individuals and families face that we have not dealt with thereby repairing health problems, complexion/racial prejudice, broken homes, outdated/problematic divisions of Black society, financial concerns, and crime rampant in our society today.
Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider wrote in "Slavery in America: An Eyewitness History" that, "All in all, scholars estimate, Africa exported some 11,698,000 people to the New World during the Atlantic slave trade."
Of the estimated 41.1 million African Americans, the vast majority of their ancestors arrived here in slave ships. Upon arriving on the coast, these captive Africans were conditioned for a life of bondage. The lifestyle that was forced upon them formed the basis of the problems facing African Americans today. However, there is one clear way for African Americans to regain their healthiness, which we will discuss at the conclusion of this paper.
Clayton E. Jewett and John O. Allen noted in Slavery in the South: A State-by-State History, "Human chattel brought directly from Africa often had to go through a ‘breaking-in' period to learn work discipline and the proper subservient behavior." Slave traders, owners, overseers, laws, and businessmen in related industries conditioned African slaves in the Americas to a life of forced servitude defined by race. To maximize profits and prevent slave revolts, slave owners, related businessmen, and legislators separated slave families, took away their names, languages, cultures, religions, and, by default, their unity and humanity as extended families, ethnic groups, and members of nations and empires. This unfortunate process was an intentional theft of heritage.
As a consequence of this rape of parentage and human rights, many problems arose for African Americans. These resulting issues included health problems, complexion/racial prejudice, broken homes, different castes of slave and free Black society, financial concerns, crime, and so on. These harmful side-effects of the breaking-in process were to occur to de-unify slaves (and their descendants) while slave owners and business persons in related fields (and their descendants) hoarded wealth and power. Meanwhile, slaves of African descent (and their offspring) suffered as a de-unified group without the ties of kinship and culture that link and empower strong groups of people.
"Putting families back together and reuniting long separated members formed the first task most newly freed blacks attempted," said Ibid.
In conclusion, research has shown that as a cure to these deleterious outgrowths of the breaking-in process, a person whose ancestors were captive African slaves in the Americas and Caribbean should learn their heritage. Clearly, newly freed slaves knew that the unity, power, and healthiness that come from heritage had been stolen from them. As evidence, these emancipated bondsmen immediately sought to rebuild their families after being freed. African Americans today should take the lead of their ancestors who fully understood the root causes of our problems and sought a cure in the best way these former slaves who had been broken-in knew how. However, now we can take their quest further to its logical end and thereby do away with our problems once and for all.
This newfound understanding of heritage will undo the many problems that we as individuals and families face that we have not dealt with thereby repairing health problems, complexion/racial prejudice, broken homes, outdated/problematic divisions of Black society, financial concerns, and crime rampant in our society today.