Colors of Slavery Essay -- History Slavery

When Americans think about slavery, they tend to think about "Africans" being brought to the New World against their will. Which upon their arrival were sold, the same as livestock, as permanent property to the white landowners. They may visualize in their minds a person of color shackled, chained, beaten, and forced to labor under the control of their white master. Their picture is that of chattel slavery; black and white. Americans have come to the assumption that slavery was imposed on people of one color or race. However, the Africans were not the only people force to endure the harsh and unjust enslavement by the white society. The Native Americans, as well as indentured servants were used as slaves in the New World. When slavery began in the New World, the color of a person's skin was of little significance. Slaves were white, red, and black. What mattered most was a labor force. Columbus discovered the New World (America) in 1492, soon after, many other European colonies followed and expanded. One Spanish conquistador stated, "that he and his kind went to the new World to serve God and his Majesty, to give light to those who were in the darkness, and to grow rich, as all men desire to do" (Parry, p.33). The majority of Europeans that would follow, desired the same. In order to achieve this goal the Europeans murdered, starved, enslaved, stole land, and brutalized people for centuries to follow. During Columbus second voyage to the New World, he had captured 1600 Native Americans, and enslaved 550. At this point, the Native Americans lives were changed forever. The Spaniards continue to explore the new world, leaving a wake of death and destruction in their path. Along with the Europeans came diseases that th... ...s not merely identified by color. By 1800 it is only an issue or race and only an issue of color" (Thomas Davis). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3048.html) . Works Cited (Thomas Davis). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3048.html) Quoted in J.H.Parry, The age of Reconnaisance: Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement, 1450 to 1640 (New York, 1963), p.33. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr5.html (equiano) Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, edition of 1838, i, p. 390; ii, p. 40. Witnessin America pg. 30 Gottleib Mittelberger Blight, D.W. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Houghton Mifflin Company; 6th edition (2000) Walsh, Robert, Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829 (1831). "Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).