African American Odyssey

African American Odyssey: Slavery- During the slave trade millions of Africans were unwillingly taken to the New World. Some escaped, some committed suicide and some Africans protested. Some masters legally freed their slaves because of “good service”, or they were otherwise legally freed by self-purchase or military service. Other Africans lived on as slaves.  

African American Odyssey: Free Blacks- Free Northern Black people were more out spoken about the injustice of slavery than free Southern Black people. Even with discriminatory laws, black people were active in American society. They were soldiers, land and business owners, and tax payers. Some even voted for a short time. Some freed blacks owned plantations. The ones who owned slaves were usually related to them and later freed them. They founded their own churches, and created a newspaper called Freedom’s Journal. The newspaper and other writings by black people helped show that black people are intelligent and fueled the attack on slavery.  

Benjamin Rush spoke strongly against slavery in “An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlement in America, Upon Slave-Keeping" (1773).  He spoke on the beauty and intelligence of black people. He spoke of the bloody wars slavery will cause among the African nations. He spoke seemingly in prophecy about the slaves who will die from sickness, melancholy and suicide if the countrymen continued slave-keeping.

Valerie