Essay on Racism and the Enslavement of African Americans

Racism and the Enslavement of African Americans Did Racism cause enslavement of African Americans? To answer this question you have to determine what a slave is? And what Racism is? By my views and believes, slavery is any type of duty somebody does for you. You own them so they work for you otherwise they will get punished. Now Racism is a negative attitude towards another race. After these to words are cleared up you come to a conclusion that racism in the 17th century caused enslavement of African Americans. To believe this you have to look at the history left for us to read. The court papers, and journals of people back in the 17th century. The first blacks arrived at Jamestown in 1619, they were from Africa and there were 20 of†¦show more content†¦John Punch was one the three servants working for a farmer and ran away to Maryland. Two were white; one was black. They were captured in Maryland and returned to Jamestown, where the court sentenced all three to thirty lashes. This was considered a severe punishment even by the standards of 17th century. The two white men were sentenced to an additional four years of servitude. The strong punishment for whites, but in addition to the whipping, the black man John Punch was ordered to serve his master or his assigns for the time of his natural Life here or elsewhere. (C Degler pg 65) Because he was a different color John Punch no longer had hope for freedom. Why, because he was African and was braking the law of the land at the time. The grounds for this harsh sentence presumably lay in the fact that he was non-Christian rather than in the fact that he was physically dark. But religious beliefs could change, while skin color could not. Within a generation race, religion was not being made the defining characteristic of enslaved Africans. Because the defining characteristics of Africans it lead to the terrible transformation to racial slavery. What were needed in Jamestown were laborers. Or what we call slaves to clear fields, to plant and harvest crops. During the 1620s and 1630s, when the price of tobacco was high and English workers had too few jobs available at home, Jamestown offered jobs to the few English workers that came over. Then after 1660 the value ofShow MoreRelatedWhen Faced With The Debate Between The Relationship Between1326 Words   |  6 Pagesthe relationship between slavery and racism, scholars often use two arguments that attempt to provide an answer of whether or not slavery produced racism or racism was a necessary precursor to slavery. Some authors address the relationship between slavery and racism by exploring the economics behind slavery while relating it back to the development of chattel slavery and racism. 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