HIS STORY V

     At last we came to the island of Barbados. Many merchants and planters came on board. They looked us over. I thought we would be eaten by these ugly men. We were taken on shore. There we were penned up together like so many sheep. The slave buyers hurried to make their choices. Families and friends were separated. Several brothers were sold in different lots.
     Let me ask you. Isn't it bad enough that we are torn from our country? That we must work to make you rich? Why must parents also lose their children? Why must husbands lose their wives? Surely this is some new form of cruelty.

     To read the narrative in it's entirety pick up a copy of the above book. To read more info on Olaudah Equiano GOOGLE his name.

HIS STORY PART III

     "I found some men of my own nation. I asked what was to be done with us. They said we were to be carried to the White people's country. We were to work for them. I still feared that I would be killed. The White people looked so savage. I had never seen anyone act so cruel."

Olaudah Equiano tells what it was like to become a slave in his narrative.

AS A MATTER OF FACT!

The first Europeans to trade for gold in West Africa were the Portuguese. But what they ultimately discovered was an endless supply of Black workers.

A slave ship took about 2-3 months to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This terrible journey of a slave ship was called the MIDDLE PASSAGE. Thousands died from disease. So many dead bodies were thrown overboard that sharks followed the ships across the ocean.

Black people first came to America as INDENTURED SERVANTS. Indentured servants worked under an agreement for a colonist for a period of seven years, after which they were freed from their contract. Being a SLAVE was for life. Slaves were property with no human rights whatsoever. They were treated as a commodity to be sold or traded at their master's whim.

FORUM ON BLACK HISTORY

AFTER THEIR ARRIVAL IN AMERICA, THE STATUS OF BLACK PEOPLE CHANGED IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES. WHITE COLONISTS HAD REASONS FOR CAUSING THIS CHANGE.
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1 - ON A SHEET OF PAPER DIVIDED DOWN THE MIDDLE, COMPARE THE LIVES OF INDENTURED SERVANTS AND SLAVES. USE A REFERENCE BOOK OR GOOGLE, FOR MORE INFORMATION.

2 - WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS EASIER TO ENSLAVE BLACKS THAN WHITES OR INDIANS?

3 - WHY DO YOU THINK WHITE COLONISTS WANTED TO LIMIT THE RIGHTS OF FREE BLACKS?

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***To voice your opinion or start a discussion use the comment section at the end of this post.

ON THIS DAY...4/12

THE UNITED STATES CIVIL WAR STARTED IN 1861. THE WAR HAD ITS ORIGIN IN THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY.

BIRTH OF A BLACK HERO

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON  was born in VIRGINIA on APRIL 5, 1856.

He rose from bondage to presidential advisor, a truly great American story. Read his autobiography "UP FROM SLAVERY."



For a thumbnail sketch see post on this blog of May 17, 2014 "Booker T. Washington" - Community Creator. 

For more in-depth knowledge Google his name 

MARCH 10TH - HARRIET TUBMAN DAY

March 10th is Harriet Tubman Day

BY ALISON

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March 10th is Harriet Tubman Day!

Harriet Tubman is one of our most celebrated American heroines and I was very pleased to learn that she has her own holiday. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush declared March 10 as Harriet Tubman Day and in 2003 Governor George Pataki of New York declared it a state holiday.

Tubman, who was born a slave in Maryland some time around 1820, escaped to freedom at the age of 29. Not content with just her own emancipation, Tubman helped more than 300 slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, a secret route and network of abolitionists who aided runaway slaves to freedom in the north. She famously stated about her work as a conductor “I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.’ Tubman would often disguise herself as a man while helping slaves escape to freedom and she called herself “Moses”. This confused slave owners who did not think a woman could be capable of doing all that she did.

Tubman was also a spy for the Union during the Civil War and her adept knowledge of the land and her connections from the Underground Railroad helped her to do this work. After the war, Tubman continued her activism by aiding newly freed African Americans and speaking passionately in support of the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

Tubman died on March 10, 1913 at her home in Auburn, New York.

The Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center in Kansas City, Missouri has a variety of eventsplanned to celebrate Harriet Tubman Day.  The celebration kicked off on March 6th and includes theater, dancing, music and art. How wonderful! What is your community doing to celebrate Harriet Tubman Day?

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Filed Under: Leadership, Women's History

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• Women's History

ON THIS DAY...

MARCH 3, 1865

To help former slaves, Congress set up the Freedman's Bureau in 1865. It handed out food and clothing to needy Black people. It helped build schools where ex-slaves could learn to read and write. The bureau also tried to protect the rights of Black people, especially in the southern states, where a series of laws were passed called  BLACK CODES. These laws were almost as bad as slavery. They denied Black people the right to vote or to serve on juries. The Black Codes made it a crime for Black people to quit their jobs. Black people who did not have jobs could be arrested and made to work on plantations.

ON THIS DAY...

3/2/1807

 

The United States Congress enacts law ending the African slave trade. The Constitution had said that Congress could ban the slave trade by the year 1808. Passing the law, however, did little good, since slave traders paid no attention to the new law, and the government did little to enforce it. Thousands of Black people continued to arrive in the U.S. in chains, because the demand for slave labor was endless.

Sojourner Truth - COMMUNITY CREATOR

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SOJOURNER TRUTH, an abolitionist and women's rights activist, was born a slave, Isabella Baumfree, in 1797, in upstate New York. She escaped to freedom with her baby daughter in 1827. A White family gave her shelter.

A year later, when New York outlawed slavery, she moved to New York City.

Baumfree was deeply religious. In 1843 she gave up her job as a maid and became a wandering preacher. She was determined to speak the truth. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth. A sojourner is someone who travels from place to place. She told her friends, "The Spirit calls me, and I must go." 

Later that year she joined the abolitionist movement, traveling about speaking for the cause of freedom for all slaves. She worked with Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and other noted abolitionists.

Like many abolitionists, Truth also fought for women's rights and as a result became a friend of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other leaders of the women's movement. During the Civil War, she recruited Black soldiers for the Union army as well, as collect food and clothing which she gave to them.

Although she never learned to read or write, her words were powerful. Over the course of her lifetime she gave speeches to hundreds of audiences. In 1858 during one of her speeches, someone interrupted and accused her of being a man; Truth opened her blouse and showed them her breasts.
There was something about Sojourner Truth that made people listen.

To read the incredible bio of Sojourner Truth Google her name 

George Washington Carver-COMMUNITY CREATOR

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George Washington Carver was born into slavery in what is now known as Diamond, Missouri. But because no accurate records were kept at that time, it is not certain whether the year was 1864 or 1865.

When he was an infant, George, his sister, and his mother were kidnapped by raiders from Arkansas. While his mother was sold into slavery, George was eventually returned to his owner, Moses Carver, who, along with his wife Susan, raised him as their own son. They taught him to read and write.

 

After earning his high school diploma, George attended Iowa State Agricultural College in 1891, where he was the first Black student at that school. After receiving his B.S., he went on to Iowa State College where he earned his master's degree.

In 1896, Booker T, Washington, principal and president of Tuskegee Institute invited Carver to head the Agricultural Department. Carver taught there for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research center. 

His unique methods for crop rotation and preservation of the soil were groundbreaking. He taught generations of Black students farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

From 1915 to 1923, Carver focused on researching and experimenting with new methods for using peanuts, sweet potatoes, soy beans, pecans and other crops. In these years he became one of the most well-known Black men of his time.

To read a comprehensive bio of George Washington Carver Google his name.

Harriet Tubman - COMMUNITY CREATOR

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Harriet Tubman was born born c1822 to slave parents.

She was an abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American civil war.

After escaping from slavery, she made numerous missions to rescue family and friends using the network know as the Underground Railroad. 

 This network consisted of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists.

Tubman personally helped to free over 300 people.



***To learn more of the exploits of Harriet Tubman, google-search her name and read all related entries. 


SPECIAL NOTE:

The Underground Railroad  was formed in the early 19th century, and reached it's height between 1850 and 1870. It is estimated that approximately 300,000 slaves escaped via the "Railroad"  during it's 20 year peak period.

COMING TO AMERICA

     During the 1500s, slave ships brought more than 250,000 Africans to the Americas. At first, most slaves were shipped to islands in the Caribbean where they were sold and put to work on huge sugar plantations. Soon the rapidly developing trade was spread throughout North and South America.

     Life for the enslaved Africans was hard, and many died within a few years, but there were always more to take their place. The supply seemed endless to the plantation owners and slave traders. The word of this steady supply traveled quickly.

     Soon farmers, plantation owners, and other crop growers in the American colonies also wanted Black workers. This was due in part because the Native Americans, called Indians, whom they were using as workers, died by the thousands from the hard labor, as well as the diseases they had caught from the Europeans. Others ran away. The need for an adequate supply of  labor was in huge demand.

     When a slave ship arrived in a city of the American colonies, it was a great event. The news was shouted throughout the streets by the town crier. The local newspapers printed stories and ran classified ads for sales on human cargo. People hurried to the auction blocks to see the new arrivals.

     The haggard Black slaves, dressed in  rags, could not understand the strange language these white people spoke. They did not know what would happen to them in this new world in which they found themselves. It would not be long, however, before they  would come to an understanding of what coming to America was all about.