Why did white people take away african-americans language when they came to the colonies?

Question

that was really messed up and now they cant speak there native language unless they take classes

Answer 1

That is one of the way "conquering" nations subdue the peoples they conquer.

Not allowing slaves to speak their native tongue is yet another way to subdue them. Oh, and it was not "come to the colonies" for Africans... it was "slavery".

This was not only limited to Africans... this was done to the Scots who were enslaved in America. Not many know about that but they were.

This is not just Americans. In Scotland, after the battle of Culloden, it was a crime of Treason to speak Gaellic, punishable by immediate execution. They took it a bit farther: it was treason to wear the Tartan and treason to play the bagpipes.

In America, Native American children were forbidden to speak their tongues and were forced into schools where they were taught English and the "American" ways... it went much deeper than language.

In many of the European nations today they are forcing Rromani children to not speak Rromanes, rather whatever laguage is preferred in whichever country they reside (that is not working, by the way).

If you take away the language you take away part of the cultural identity. This demolishes part of their personal heritage and helps break down their self worth and personal identity.

Simple.

Answer 2

A) Because the white slave owners didn't know how to say "Go pick the Cotton and weed the tobacco" in Swahili or Bantu, and they wern't going to be bothered to learn.

Sorry, but that's the answer.

B) If you are an African-American ENGLISH is your native language. You were born here. You are an American. What your people spoke 200 or 300 years ago really isn't relevant to who YOU are today.

The purpose of a language is to communicate. The more people that speak a language the more useful it is to know it. Back during the bad old days in South Africa the schools used to make everybody learn Affrikans. The students protested this by saying "NOBODY outside of South Africa speaks Affrikans! It is of no use to know it. Teach us Spanish, or English, or Japanses, or French, but Affrikans is useless as a language."... and they were right.

So if you want to learn Bantu or something for fun, hey more power to you. But if you want to have a job, a life, a career, then knowing the dominant language on the planet, the language of Shakespear, the internet, and the language almost everyone speaks is probably going to be a better bet for you.

Several hundred years ago some of my ancestors spoke Gaelic, and some spoke Welsh, and at some point some probably spoke old Norse or Latin. Does that make any of them my native language? No. That was THEIR native language, for THEIR lives and THEIR time. I'm not them. I speak English.

Similarly you are NOT your ancestors either. You have opportunities they never even dreamed of having. Don't let who they were determine who you are or where you are going.

Answer 3

What in the world are you talking about? When Africans were forced onto slave ships the last thing on their minds was keeping native identity. Some things that may have crossed their minds were maybe: Staying alive, not being tortured, beaten, raped or not being separated from their families. These things seem to shadow the loss of a language. Just my opinion. Stop being so PC and use common sense. Black people being forced to be slaves in the United States stunk, the whole institution of slavery was wrong, but it wasn't a "white man's invention". Slavery preceded the United States by thousands of years: The Egyptians enslaved the Jews, the Romans enslaved the people they conquered. The Greeks and Hebrews did the same thing. There is still slavery today; my question to you is what are you going to do now? You can't change what has happened, but you can help bring about change now.

Answer 4

The psychology behind it is the simple. They demoralize them as much as possible in an attempt to make them more subservient. Just like striping prisoners of as many liberties as are morally and legally possible. Also Africans from all over a massive continent who spoke dozens of different languages were all forced together.

Answer 5

Not all African slaves spoke the same language, or the same dialect. They were taught English so that everyone could communicate with everyone else.

And, don't give us that crap about how messed up it is that American blacks don't speak their native language. ENGLISH is your native language if you are born in America.

My father and grandparents were German (that's a LOT more recent than your great-great-great-great grandparents), but I had to pay for classes to learn German...because MY native language is English!

Answer 6

Brute Force, if you want to see how slaves were broken find a copy of Roots on DVD.

The slave owners used something like a hammer and chisel like device to force the slaves mouths open during hunger strikes.

Answer 7

They used to be Egyptians that could fly. Whitey stole that too. Blacks were also the first to go to the Moon. They used a giant catapult.

Answer 8

It wasn't just Africans they did this too. They did it in Ireland too. They basically viewed both Irish and African as sub-human, and their language, religions and customs were concidered barbaric. They believed they were the supreme race and that they were 'civilizing' the Africans and Irish by attempting to stamp out their culture.

They saw nothing of value in either people, other than as slaves. Both Irish and African were traded as slaves by the British in the West Indies.

Answer 9

Tryed to naturalize them like the rest of the immigrant

Answer 10

Funny how most people can keep theirown patois alive by speaking it indoors or at night. I guess they didn't care, no great stories to tell, no great heros to remember...