And he that steals a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Exodus 21:16
Reparations For Slavery? Should We Pay?
In the Recent past, the Japanese people who were placed into internment camps during WW 2 were awarded remuneration for their losses. Their lands, houses and possessions were seized when they were interred during the war. I sincerely agree that reparations were called for in this instance. All things considered, It was the responsibility of this generation to make things right concerning losses incurred during their internment! Should reparations be made for slavery concerning Africans who were brought to this country almost four centuries ago? Perhaps the following historical chronology will offer some explanation how the African people ended up in America.
Chronology Of The History Of Slavery: 1619-1789
1619
The other crucial event that would play a role in the development of America was
the arrival of Africans to Jamestown. A Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo
of Africans for food in 1619. The Africans became indentured servants, similar
in legal position to many poor Englishmen who traded several years labor in
exchange for passage to America. The popular conception of a racial-based slave
system did not develop until the 1680's. (A
Brief History of Jamestown, The Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities, Richmond, VA 23220, email: apva@apva.org,
Web published February, 2000)
The legend has been repeated endlessly that the first blacks in Virginia were "indentured servants," but there is no hint of this in the records. The legend grew up because the word slave did not appear in Virginia records until 1656, and statutes defining the status of blacks began to appear casually in the 1660s. The inference was then made that blacks called servants must have had approximately the same status as white indentured servants. Such reasoning failed to notice that Englishmen, in the early seventeenth century, used the word servant when they meant slave in our sense, and, indeed, white Southerners invariably used servant until 1865 and beyond. Slave entered the Southern vocabulary as a technical word in trade, law and politics. (Robert McColley in Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, Edited by Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, Greenwood Press, 1988 pp 281)
Jamestown had exported 10 tons of tobacco to Europe and was a boomtown. The export business was going so well the colonists were able to afford two imports, which would greatly contribute to their productivity and quality of life. 20 Blacks from Africa and 90 women from England. The Africans were paid for in food; each woman cost 120 pounds of tobacco. The Blacks were bought as indentured servants from a passing Dutch ship low on food, and the women were supplied by a private English company. Those who married the women had to pay their passage--120 pounds of tobacco. (Gene Barios, Tobacco BBS: tobacco news )
With the success of tobacco planting, African Slavery was legalized in Virginia and Maryland, becoming the foundation of the Southern agrarian economy. (The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia University Press from MS Bookshelf.)
Although the number of African American slaves grew slowly at first, by the 1680s they had become essential to the economy of Virginia. During the 17th and 18th centuries, African American slaves lived in all of England’s North American colonies. Before Great Britain prohibited its subjects from participating in the slave trade, between 600,000 and 650,000 Africans had been forcibly transported to North America. ("Immigration," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation.)
Following the arrival of twenty Africans aboard a Dutch man-of-war in Virginia in 1619, the face of American slavery began to change from the "tawny" Indian to the "blackamoor" African in the years between 1650 and 1750. Though the issue is complex, the unsuitability of Native Americans for the labor intensive agricultural practices, their susceptibility to European diseases, the proximity of avenues of escape for Native Americans, and the lucrative nature of the African slave trade led to a transition to an African based institution of slavery. During this period of transition, however, the colonial "wars" against the Pequots, the Tuscaroras, the Yamasees, and numerous other Indian nations led to the enslavement and relocation of tens of thousands of Native Americans. In the early years of the eighteenth century, the number of Native American slaves in areas such as the Carolinas may have been as much as half of the African slave population. During this transitional period, Africans and Native Americans shared the common experience of enslavement. In addition to working together in the fields, they lived together in communal living quarters, produced collective recipes for food and herbal remedies, shared myths and legends, and ultimately became lovers. The intermarriage of Africans and Native Americans was facilitated by the disproportion of African male slaves to females (3 to 1) and the decimation of Native American males by disease, enslavement, and prolonged wars with the colonists.
As Native American societies in the Southeast were primarily matrilineal, African males who married Native American women often became members of the wife's clan and citizens of the respective nation. As relationships grew, the lines of distinction began to blur. The evolution of red-black people began to pursue its own course; many of the people who came to be known as slaves, free people of color, Africans, or Indians were most often the product of integrating cultures. In areas such as Southeastern Virginia, The Low Country of the Carolinas, and Silver Bluff, S.C., communities of Afro-Indians began to spring up. The depth and complexity of this intermixture is revealed in a 1740 slave code in South Carolina: all Negroes and Indians, (free Indians in amity with this government, and Negroes, mulattos, and mustezoes, who are now free, excepted) mulattos or mustezoes who are now, or shall hereafter be in this province, and all their issue and offspring...shall be and they are hereby declared to be, and remain hereafter absolute slaves. (Patrick Minges, Beneath the Underdog: Race, Religion and the "Trail of Tears" Union Seminary Quarterly Review Email: pm47@columbia.edu Union Theological Seminary, New York )
There are several items of interest in this chronology of 1619. First: The Africans were brought here by a Dutch slave trader and traded for food at Jamestown, Virginia. Second: The Africans were indentured servants similar to many poor Englishmen who traded servitude in the new country America, for passage. The popular conception of a racial-based slave system did not develop until the 1680's. So in the beginning the Africans were at the same status as indentured servants. However, some considered this a legend because there is no attestation to this in the records.
Attestation is defined as follows:
Noun:
That
which confirms: authentication, confirmation, corroboration, demonstration,
evidence, proof, substantiation, testament, testimonial, testimony, validation,
verification, warrant. See true/false.
Slavery is not something of the recent past. Servitude and bondage is replete in the course of human events. Personally I do not believe in slavery. Mankind should live a fruitful productive life free from slavery and bondage here on Planet Earth.
Are we responsible for Africans being in America? Is it the responsibility of this generation to offer reparation money?
Should we have to pay for something that happened in another time? If this is the case, where will it all end? People are becoming lazy! If there is a possibility they can get something without any effort on their part, they will. The people wanting reparations money never served a day of servitude in slavery themselves! Why are they suddenly entitled to remuneration for something that happened to their ancestors? Actually they are not entitled to reparation money at all! This is just a ruse for a free handout! Something for nothing! Back door welfare!
The settlers soon found out what was already known in the Caribbean Islands! It was easier for people of African descent to work the lands in the heat. Some of the earlier European settlers discovered the heat restricted them from living and working in the Caribbean Islands: Especially if they were from the British Isles! The African people were already acclimated to this type of environment and could work the lands under these conditions. So, by extension they became the logical choice to farm the landowner’s crops. Should this have been the case? No! But it was not this generation’s choice! It happen long before our time!
There is purpose and reason for everything done here on Earth, if you believe in a Higher Power! I believe the African people were relocated to keep them alive for future reasons. The history of Africa reveals many disastrous trends. Consider the plight of many African countries today! You see and hear about famines, plagues, pestilences, diseases, and tribal wars. Whole tribes are being decimated because of the aforementioned. By being placed in the Caribbean Islands and America, African people are alive today! Perhaps some would not even be in existence if not for these events. I know it is a sad to be removed from your country and taken to another one! But does the end justify the means? Perhaps!
The following are Black inventors: Some of them you might recognize from history lessons. These people rose above their affliction and benefited their fellow man.
George
Alcorn
Nathaniel Alexander
Virgie Ammons
Benjamin Banneker
Patricia Bath
Andrew Jackson Beard
Miriam E. Benjamin
Edmond Berger
Henry Blair
Bessie Blount Sarah Boone
Otis Boykin
Charles Brooks
Phil Brooks
Henry Brown
Marie Brown
John Albert Burr
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George Washington Carver
George Carruthers
Benjamin S. Carson
Emmett W. Chappelle John Christian
Donald Cotton
David Crosthwait
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Mark Dean
Ronald Demon
Joseph Hunter Dickinson Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus
Dr. Charles Richard Drew
Thomas Elkins Philip Emeagwali
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Sarah E. Goode
Meredith C. Gourdine George Grant
Lloyd Augustus Hall
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Augustus Jackson
Thomas L. Jennings
Jack Johnson
Lonnie Johnson
Willis Johnson Frederick Jones
Marjorie Stewart Joyner
Percy Lavon Julian
Ernest Everett Just
Roscoe Koontz
Lewis Howard Latimer
Joseph Lee John Lee Love
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Jan Ernst Matzeliger
Elijah McCoy
Alexander Miles Ruth Miro
Garrett Morgan
Lyda Newman
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Alice Parker
Traverse Benjamin Pinn Willam Purvis
Lloyd P Ray
Cordell Reed Louis Roberts
Norbert Rillieux
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Walter Sammons
Henry Sampson
Jerry Shelby
Richard Spikes John Standard
Thomas Stewart
Rufus Stokes
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Lewis Temple
Valerie Thomas John Henry Thompson
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Madame Walker
James Edward West
John Thomas White
Doctor Daniel Hale Williams Paul E. Williams
Joseph Winters
Granville Woods
Kevin Woolfolk
There is a way to change the situation here in America if anyone is unhappy with living here! You can always leave! How many people here in America want to return to their ancestor’s former dwelling place? I believe America is the greatest country in the world! You need to go to other countries and see how things are done there to realize how great this country really is!
Do you love your neighbor as yourself? This is the second great commandment spoken by the Savior. Do something good for somebody today! Y ou will be happy in just knowing you have caused relief to your fellow human beings by doing so!
Yours in Messiah Hawke
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