The Racial Construction Of African-American Identity In America Between The Seventeenth And The Nineteenth Century

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The racial construction of African-American identity in America between the seventeenth and the nineteenth century
Many arguments that have been advanced by different Scholars and Historians on the subject of the African-American identity in America which show the kind of lives the African-American lived and the treatments they received from the Europeans who were their masters. These arguments are backed with enormous amounts of different pieces of evidence which ultimately establish the social and political traits that characterized black people in America during these centuries. The construction of the race of the African-American people in particular between the 17Th and the 19th century was gradual but incredibly disastrous for them. This paper looks into the growth of the social and political identity of the African-American community in the 17th and the 19th century.
African-Americans suffered immensely under the dominant racists' groups who saw them as unequal and less human. This aspect inflamed the continued slavery and other social evils against the African-Americans. One of the most recognizable aspects of the African-American people was slavery. They were enslaved for different purposes ranging from being agriculturalist in the large farms that their masters owned to the working as laborers in houses of their enslavers. Others even served as wives, warriors and tutors. Women and men were both enslaved to perform different activities for their masters; thus they were uniquely chosenCITATION Ame \p 11 \l 1033 (Kolchin 11).
Although people from diverse regions were enslaved during that period, there arose another form of slavery which is known as forced labor. This was a result of the increased demand for workers to work for the large pieces of land of landholders that were under commercial agricultural products like tobacco, rice and sugar cane. Thus, the United States of America became recognized and largely responsible for slavery and forced labor because it was mostly agricultural-based CITATION Ame \p " 5" \l 1033 (Kolchin 5). Therefore, in the eighteenth century, the British's slave trade was a very successful venture. This trade was advanced by African leaders and merchants who through their corruption and use of force delivered their people into the hands of the Europeans to be sold as slavesCITATION Ame \p 19 \l 1033 (Kolchin 19). The increase in the demand for slaves by the Europeans necessitated the rogue African traders to dig deeper into the interior region of primitive Africa to find people they could sell.
The African or the slaves were considered poor and powerless in the society and therefore, they were highly exploited by the settlers. These settlers would ensure that there was a significant social drift between them at all times and even resulted in the use of forceCITATION Ame \p 7 \l 1033 (Kolchin 7). Since the settlers were rich and powerful, they considered the Africans and the slaves as social inferiors who were not supposed to enjoy any privilege and should have had only to work for them. In most cases, the Africans worked without pay and barely got even enough food and clothing from their masters. Historians and scholars argue that there was the use ...