Why were African Americans enslaved in America?

Question

i know. a million dollar question.please find the answer!

Answer 1

Africans, NOT African Americans were enslaved in this country because the captains of ships from New England (mainly) would go to Africa and bring back a boatload of Africans whom they would then sell as slaves. From New England to Africa to the southern ports to sell the captives was called the Slave Trade Triangle.

Chow!!

Answer 2

Unlikle what most people believe it was not racsism that drove the slave trade at first but economics. Southern, and to a lesser extent Northern, farmers tried many ways to entice workers to come to America and work the large farms. Using indentured servants at first, they asked poor people from Europe to agree to a term of servitude in exchange for free passage to America. This did not work out however because once here, it was all to easy for a 'white' servant to run away just to the next town and 'blend in' with the populace.
Using 'black' servants or slaves meant that no matter where they ran to, they were easily 'picked out from the crowd' and returned to the farm and the large plantations their labor was making more and more profitable.
Of course, these 'CHRISTIAN' gentlemen who owned the farms and plantations didn't like seeing themselves as 'bad people' any more than anyone does so the myths of blacks as 'inferior' and 'sub-human' grew and was perpetuated by white 'CHRISTIANS' who found even in the Bible that slavery was condoned and indeed held up as when Paul told a former slave that had run from his master to return and beg his master's forgiveness.

Answer 3

White Slavery (use of europeans as slaves by other Europeans) was a long establshied tradition. Even St. Patrick spent his childhood as a white slave to an irish family.

White slavery had issues though , your escaped slaves could belnd into the local population, and medival warfare tatics tended to kill more civilians than they captured. THe africian tribes of the western coast, however, had recently been discovered and were already engaged in a low level of slave trade, often raiding other villages and using nets and ropes in warfare to drag captives back to home.

THe problem started when the europeans started offering goods for the slaves. The slave trade became so profitable that many Africian tribes warred themselves out of existance. THe Europeans even traded guns to the warring tribes, making the slave trade tribes supieror to inland tribes.

Africian slaves were found to be hard workers, could easily be dismissed as 'savages' and because they could be sent across an ocean, lacked the ability to blend into the local population. This drove the slave trade even higher, until, near the end, the europeans were often taking the slave trading tribes and thier africian cousins as slaves directly...in cruel raids. Most of Europe would continue the demand for slaves until the actions of WIlliam Wilberforce shamed the british government into shutting it down. Even then, Americia would be a major purchaser for decades until the civil war.

Answer 4

The first group was brought over as indentured servants-identical in status to the white indentured servants.

Things changed pretty quickly so that they were suddenly servants for life, then their children were, and not much later we had slavery.

This is very common anytime that the servants (or anyone with limitations) looks different than the regular citizens-it just makes things so easy to abuse people when theyre different and already in lower status.

Answer 5

All though history, people have been enslaving each other. In some cases, a form of cheap labor in others a form of oppression. But the underlying cause seems to be that one group considers another group inferior to themselves.

Answer 6

Like another answerer said, they were African, not African American.

I don't have all the details, for sure, but WILLIAM WILBERFORCE helped save them.

See the movie Amazing Grace. It's great. :-)

Answer 7

Cheap labor

Answer 8

why that's a very big question to answer. Well maybe they think they are superior to each other. hmmm. not so sure.