The Impact of Slavery on African Americans Today

What is the Impact of Slavery on African Americans Today?
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What is the Impact of Slavery on African Americans Today?
Although slavery was officially abolished in the U.S. in 1865, many scholars corroborate that it remains one of the most persistent yet devasting myths since it still lingers in the African Americans` lives up to date. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, slavery's legacy echoes in most Americans` lives, with 63% of the population agreeing that it impacts the Black Americans` position in society today, either in a large or fair measure (Horowitz, 2019). Particularly so, slavery remains pervasive in the U.S.'s current history, a situation worsened by establishing it as a yardstick from which African Americans` progress is purportedly made (Walters, 2012). Therefore, it is crucial to highlight the impact of slavery on African Americans, which is extensively evident in their socioeconomic stagnation and poor health conditions institutionalized in racism in today's American society.
During the slavery era, there were numerous uprisings advocating freedom for slaves, as evidenced in the New Orleans, Charles Deslondes case. A Saint-Domingue enslaved man engineered a revolt in 1811 where several slaves in military formation marched to the city under uniformed officers. The revolt would have a domino effect, influencing the Aponte rebellion in Havana and attracting Haitian collaborators who were determined to free slaves from plantations. Consequently, Virginia slave masters feared the African American freedom domino effect and embarked on a crackdown of emancipation through law. Such restrictions on the freedom of African Americans, limiting their citizenship capability and mobility, reverberate in the current U.S. The institution of race through law during the slavery era developed race as an ideology and a hierarchy, where African Americans are still deemed inferior to the Whites up to date (Gross & Fuente, 2020).
Albeit slavery dominated America's race relations for 250 years and even continued to impact various aspects of American society for another century after its abolishment, social scientists rarely discuss it as the basis for contemporary racial undercurrents like the white Americans` racial attitudes and the African Americans socioeconomic conditions. Indeed, the underpinning effect of slavery has instilled the notion in whites and African Americans that the challenges facing Black Americans are of their creation. However, some scholars like sociologist Joe Feagin have called out slavery for what it is—it was created with "inte...