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Slavery in the U.S.

Despite the terrible conditions under which American slaves were forced to live, they were in many ways successful in establishing stable slave communities and in maintaining their sense of wholeness both as individuals and as members of their original cultures by depending on what culture they could transport with themselves - mostly in the form of stories, songs, music and dance - an in relying on a sense of family (often based not on consanguineal or not only on consanguineal bonds but also affinal ones) as well as religion, often the adopted Christianity of blacks in the New World.

Most Americans of African descent originally were brought to the continent involuntarily as slaves, although of course others have immigrated to the United States since the end of the slave trade. The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade can still be seen in the lives of black Americans as well as in American society in general, especially in those areas where slavery was the strongest, including of course the South, where, where slaves once worked on tobacco, cotton, sugar, and rice plantations. The importation of slaves to the United States became illegal in 1808, but illicit traffic and natural increase produced a steady growth in the black population, who lived under conditions that not only were physically difficult but also created social and psychological problems for families and individuals. It was only by overcoming these that they could hope to survive (Mintz and Price 38).

The abolition of slavery in 1865 gave blacks, in theory if not in practice, freedom to work and live where they chose. Many, however, saw no alternative to staying on plantations as impoverished tenants or sharecroppers. Economic and technological developments in the 20th century - notably the mechanization of farming - sent large numbers of blacks to the Northern cities, where they became concentrated in ghettos and had to face new problems of racial discriminatio...

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Slavery in the U.S.. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:17, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688233.html