The history of slavery in America .. Absent facts not taught in schools

A lengthy article in The New York Times examines some aspects of slavery history in the United States and highlights some aspects that have not been addressed in schools and universities.

Slavery history researcher Maria Eliot says in the article co-authored by Jasmine Haggis that 400 years after the enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia in the United States, most Americans still do not know the whole story of slavery.

The article refers to a Portuguese ship carrying a shipment of slaves sometime in 1619 across the Atlantic Ocean, these slaves were Africans from Angola in southwestern Africa.

The men, women and children - most probably from the kingdoms of Nondo and Congo - have endured the terrible journey that was linked to the enslavement life in Mexico, the writers say.

Nearly half of the captives had died by the time the ship was seized by two ships of English pirates.

Transport of slaves
The rest of the Africans were taken to Point Comfort, a port near Jamestown, the capital of the English colony of Virginia, which was founded 12 years ago by Virginia in London.

Colonel John Rolf wrote to Sir Edwin Sandies of the Virginia Company that in August 1619 a "Dutch warman" had arrived at the colony, and "brought with him only twenty exotic Negroes who were bought by the governor and the main merchant for crop-harvesting." And the newly established tobacco fields. "

Forced labor was no stranger. Africans and Europeans had been trading goods and people across the Mediterranean for centuries, but slavery was not based on race.

The transatlantic slave trade, which began in the 15th century, introduced a system of slavery that was marketed, discriminated, and inherited.

He points out that bonded slaves were never seen as people, but rather as a commodity that was bought, sold and exploited.

Selling Africans
The writers say that although people of African descent - whether free or enslaved - have been present in North America since the early 15th century, the sale of the "20 and alien" Africans set the course for what could become slavery in the United States.

The article refers to slavery, power and human cost in 1455-1775.It says that in the 15th century the Roman Catholic Church divided the world in half, and it gave Portugal a monopoly on trade in West Africa and Spain and the right to colonize the New World in its search for land and gold.

He adds that Pope Nicholas V reinforced Portuguese efforts and issued a papal decree in 1455 affirming the exclusive rights of Portugal in the areas claimed along the coast of West Africa and trade from those areas.

The papal decree gave Portugal the right to invade, loot and "reduce people to permanent slavery."

The article points to the emergence of a new form of slavery endorsed by European nation-states, based on race and leading to the world's largest forced migration.

Children and subjection
The authors say about 12.5 million African men, women and children have been subjected to the transatlantic slave trade.

The article notes that the sale of their bodies and product of their work has led to the prosperity of the Atlantic world, including colonial North America.

The writers talk about how slaves are transported and chained and chained, and how to control them while transported overseas, and say that children made up about 26% of the slave trade.

The article adds that high temperatures, thirst, hunger and violence were common aboard slave ships, and that about 15% of the enslaved population of each ship died before landing.

The article adds that the slave trade provided political power, social status and wealth to the Church, European countries, New World colonies and individuals, and that businessmen made money by trading goods produced by slavery worldwide, allowing them to secure political positions and determine the fate of the nation.

The article refers to the Virginia Act of 1662, which states that the status of the child follows the status of the mother, which means that enslaved African-American women have given birth to generations of children seen as commodities; he adds that strict laws have been enacted to determine the status based on race and class. Blacks in America have been enslaved for life.

The writers add that enslaved Africans fought continuously for freedom, and often rebelled and led campaigns to get rid of the yoke of slavery, pointing to the "Stono Revolution" of the 1870s, and to putting blacks on the front lines of the fronts fighting British attacks.

The article notes that blacks were brought to the United States from ethnic regions and groups across Africa, and although they arrived empty-handed, they brought with them memories of loved ones and their communities, moral values, intellectual insight, artistic talents, cultural practices, religious beliefs and different skills, and relied on their new environment. Memories to create new practices interspersed with old practices.

The article speaks of the Declaration of Independence and the continued struggle of the enslaved for liberation. It argues that, despite the struggle of those enslaved to liberate the American nation from British colonialism, the country has maintained slavery and avoided it in the Constitution.