African American Studies 40A

Week 2:

African Origins and

Early Forced Migration 1450-1800

• What has been the relationship between African Americans and Africa?

• When and where does African American history start?

• What connects African Americans to each other?

Manifest Destiny- Belief that God gave Europeans the right to colonize and control people who did not share the same religious

beliefs and national origins.

Key concepts for the filmAfricans in America

Chapters 1-3

•Indentured servitude•Freedom Dues•Antonio the Negro a.k.a.

Anthony Johnson•British definition of slavery•The Terrible Transformation•Royal African Company

Experts in the Field

• Barry Unsworth, author• Peter H. Wood, historian• Thelma Foote, historian (former UCI

professor)• Timothy H. Breen, historian• Thomas J. Davis, historian• David W. Blight, historian• Frances B. Latimer, historian• Chinua Achebe, author

The Institution of Racial Slavery

• Up until the 1640s, distinction was made by national origin and religion

• Europeans did not distinguish themselves as being White

• Africans and Europeans regarded each other equally regarding the color of their skin

• In the mid 17th century skin color became a factor:

• “Darker became wrong.” Johnson and Smith, Africans in America, page 86.

Skin Color used for Discrimination

• Europeans expanded their justification for dominating other groups.

• Instead of believing that God gave them the right to dominate any non-Christians through slavery, they believed that they could dominate any non-Whites through slavery.

Essentially Europeans used skin color for discrimination because they were both lazy and greedy.

To explain:• 1) Religious differences were not visual.• 2) Differences in skin color were visual

• Discrimination because of skin color was an easy way to create disunity among equally mistreated servants, both European and African.

• Assigning value to skin color was a simple way to separate a unified front.

Skin Color used for Discrimination

In the 1650s Europeans begin calling themselves White to distinguish

themselves as superior to Negroes.

Key concepts for ThursdayAfricans in America

• Olaudah Equiano• El Mina• Transatlantic Slave Trade• The Middle Passage• Barbados Model• Nation within a Nation• Stono Rebellion • Jemmy• Plot of 1741

Additional Expert in the Field

• Norrece T. Jones, Jr., historian

Africans imported to the New World

• Brazil: 4 million to 5 million by Portugal

• British Caribbean: 2.5 to 3 million

• Spanish America: 2 million

• French Caribbean 1.6 million

• British North America: 550 thousand

• Dutch Caribbean: 50 thousand

• Danish Caribbean: 50 thousand

The Transatlantic Slave Trade• The three part trade from Europe to the

West Coast of Africa, to the Colonies, and back to Europe.

• Part 1: Slave traders sail from Europe with

industrialized goods primarily rum, cloth, and cigarettes. Once at port in West Africa, these products are traded for West and Central African peoples.

Part 2:

In the colonies, the African peoples are traded for raw goods primarily sugar, tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo, and fur.

Part 3:

The raw goods are taken back to Europe to be made into consumer products i.e. rum, cigarettes, and cloth.

Questions for Discussion

• ?- What is the Barbados model?

• ?- What is the nation within a nation?

• ?- What were the consequences of the “nation within a nation” in South Carolina?

• ?- What does “The Plot of 1741” tell us about the impact of the slavery system on Whites?