Title: The Beginnings of Black Slavery in America at 17th Century

I.

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the problem The arrival of British in America 1607, lead by John Smith. He founded the first British colony in Virginia, the colony was Jamestown Colony. Since that time, British Colony dominated in America with their Thirteen Colonies. They often involved in a conflict with the Native American that was usually the land conflict. However, they often won the wars. Then, they began to dominate the power over the Native American by took the Natives land. They started to planting with the land. The Native American who lost the war became the slaves in the plantation, but most of them were doing rebellions toward the British Colonies. It was because they felt that it was their lands and they felt injustice. It made the British did not use the Native American as their slaves. Then, they began to import the White slaves from European. The White slaves from Europeans came from the subordinate families. However, the British Colonies finally stopped to use them because it was very costly to bring them and their salary also was so expansive. Finally, the British started to import the Black people from Africa in 1600s. They were chosen because they were cheaper and also more tractable compared with Native American or White slaves. 1.2. Objectives The objectives of this paper are:

1) To describe the chronology of the arrival of the Black slaves to America 2) To describe the life that the Black slaves had during the slavery in America and their freedom 3) To describe the effects of the Black slavery in American society.

II.

DISCUSSION
2.1. The Chronology of Arrival of Black Slaves in America
The slavery in America actually began almost in the beginning of European settlement in America. It was begun in 1619 in America in Virginia, great numbers of Africans were brought to North America against their will, and they suffered huge deprivations and oppressive conditions as part of their lives as slaves. The first African slaves were indentured servants just as other indentured servants. Indentured servant refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. However it was changed as time went on, they were treated as slaves. The face of American slavery began to change from the "tawny" Indian to the "blackamoor" African. These slaves came from native African, Most slaves started as prisoners captured in African wars or raids and were sold to white traders across the Atlantic to America. For week, sometimes even months, the black prisoners remained chained in the bowels of the slave ships. Sometimes the African prisoners were packed together in such close quarters that they were unable to stand, hardly able to breathe. Some ships supplied them with only minimal food and water. Women were often victims of rape and other sexual abuse. Those who died in the ship were
2

simply thrown overboard. The conditions in the slave ships were so intolerable that slaves often tried to commit suicide by jumping over the side or refusing to eat, horribly painful existence in the slavers. When the slaves arrived in American trading centers they were sold off to the highest bidder. These slaves were then employed in various places, both as a maid at home, or on the farm. However, most of them were employed in the tobacco plantation, this was because tobacco was the major commodity in Virginia at that time.

2.2.

The Life of Black Slaves in America

As a labor the life of Black Slaves in America was so hard. Most of them were employed in the plantation, because field needed a lot of workers. The massive investment in slavery and land by the planters, the almost universal focus on rice and its particular labor requirements, even the planters' long summer absenteeism, all gave the low country plantations a special character. They worked six or seven days a week, for most of the daylight hours. Even though their life was very hard, but they were given the bare essentials for life: a place to sleep, clothing, and enough food to keep them healthy enough for work. However, although their health was often protected because of their economic value, they were worked as hard as a body can physically tolerate. African slaves increased in number through natural reproduction at approximately the same rate as whites for most of the colonial period. Thus relationships between male and female slaves were encouraged; it was because the more slaves were needed. However, if economic conditions demanded, marriages were severed, and the selling of partners and children from the plantation to another location was common.

One issue that comes up in many narratives is the sad story of split families. Slaves were, by law, simply the property of their owners. When the owners wanted to sell slaves, they did. That meant that no slave could be sure when a father, mother, husband, wife, or child might be taken away forever. Slaves who were sold to new owners had no way of telling their family where they had been taken to. In some cases, slaves were treated fairly well by their owners. Some owners taught slaves reading and writing, and even gave them their freedom. Some slaves ran away and were able to reach the North, where they could be free. Most escaped slaves did not make it very far before being chased down. Some slaves also fought back against the owners. They almost always lost their lives. Slaves who did not run away or fight back found other ways to resist cooperating. They worked slowly, broke their tools, pretended not to understand instruction, or pretended to be sick. This was their way of fighting back.

2.3.

The End of Slavery in America

In around the 1800s, more people began speaking out against slavery. However, it was not the entire American who against the slavery. It was only North, but the slave owners in the South didnt agree. They depended on slave work to make money. Most of them grew crops like tobacco and cotton, which need a lot of workers. Slavery was a way of life in the South, and the slave owners did not want to change it. Although many Northerners wanted the South to change, they did not want to force them to do so. The two sides tried to find a compromise, but none lasted. In the end, they fought a war, the Civil War that settled the issue permanently. During the war, President Abraham Lincoln decided the time had come to take the risk of telling the South what to do. In 1862, he wrote

the Emancipation Proclamation. Emancipation means freedom, and a Proclamation is a statement made by a ruler, like a President. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the South. Slaves who were freed were stunned by the news, and overjoyed. They were no longer anyones property, they were free. Many of them simply stopped working and walked away from their homes, heading North. Others stayed behind to work, for pay.

2.4.

The Effects of Black Slavery toward the American Society in 17th Century
The main effect was the increase of the Black people in America. It was because the demand of the slaves in America was also rising, it made the arrival of Black people to America also increase rapidly. In addition, it was also support by the women who had been force to pregnant earlier. This is regarding that they need human source as much as possible to labor. However, Africans brought crucial environmental knowledge to southern fields and forests. Many of the first slaves imported into South Carolina probably had some prior experience with raising cattle on the open range. The use of fire to clear new fields was also a technique used with which Africans had long been familiar. Much evidence suggests that slaves from West Africa, where rice had been grown for generations, aided rice planters in harnessing coastal tides to provide irrigation, an innovation that came to the Carolina low country in the 1740s. As one South Carolina governor noted in 1802, were it not for slaves; the extensive rice fields which are covered with grain would present nothing but deep swamps while the pine lands would have done little towards raising the state to its present importance.

III.

CONCLUSION
The domination of European in America, especially British in the late of 16th century introduced the America to the slavery. The slavery in America was started from the Native American, the White slaves, and finally the African slaves or the Black slaves. Each of them was very significant for the history of America. This paper focuses in discuss about the Black slaves, from their arrival, their life, including their struggle to survive in America as slaves, and finally they got their freedom and could live in America as an independent human being. The Black people cannot be separated from America from their arrival as slaves until now. Regardless from the problems that faced the Black people in America in the past or now, it also cannot be denied that the role of them is very big to build the America as a big country like now.

References
Anonymous. American-African History: Slavery and Plantation Live. Derived from
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe04op_african-american-history-

slavery-an_creation accessed at 02 Januari 2012.

Anonymous. The African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage. Derived from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.html. accessed at 03 January

2012 Brinkley, Alan. 2007. American History: a Survey. New York: McGrow-Hill. Norman, Graebner. 1975. A History of the American People. New York: McGrow-Hill.