reading_reflection_6
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Uploaded by ChefRain4749
Berenice Rojas
CHS 212-01
Professor Gutierrez
22 October 2021
Reading Reflection #6
The Origin of Negro Slavery chapter from the book Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams talks about slavery was caused by economic conditions with colonization. European nations competed to get the most out of the Americas' resources, and they found that having slaves reduced the cost of labor and increased yield. Europeans did know that slavery was wrong, but they kept on justifying themselves for the greater good of the British or Spanish Empire. They believed that Europeans were bringing civilization and spreading Christianity around the world to create a better life for all. Europeans kept getting African slaves because they were seen as cheaper and better workers while telling them that they were inferior to Europeans to maintain control over them.
This chapter is important because explains why African Americans were kept as slaves under European control. White people kept telling African slaves how inferior they were, even though slaves were needed to exploit American land. The book says that slaves were better than paid wages because they were easily manipulated due to their “low social status, docile and cheap… only by systematic degradation and deliberate efforts to suppress its intelligence” (pg.7). The author’s arguments seemed convincing because he explained how the slave trade provided enough capital, which financed the industrial revolution in England. Plantation owners, merchants, and shipbuilders that dealt with the slave trade accumulated a vast fortune, which allowed the establishment of banks and heavy industries in Europe.
There were no contradictions in this article, but it is consistent with other publications on this same topic, such as The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness and Black Power. These books expand my knowledge on the lies and ways white people had to suppress African Americans into
submission, inferiority, and racism “slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery” (pg. 7). The intended audience of this reading is African Americans, as they need to know the truth of their past and discrimination against their ancestors. The author provided appropriate materials for its intended purpose. The most vital part of these readings was
his profound critique of economic development as he binds economic history with moral arguments.
The most significant parts for me were his arguments on how self-sufficient family farms were worthless because of their little contribution to the economy. But farms with a large number
of slaves, which were profit-focused, were more valuable and thus could not afford to set any
slave free or give them land for them to work. They were instead sent into forced labor, wore chains, and could not escape. This information expands my knowledge as I thought that slavery was born due to racism because Europeans did not consider Africans as civilized people (such as Native Americans). Thus, they were treated like animals. It is until now that I knew that it was the other way around. Landowners knew that it was wrong to enslave someone. If I could personally ask the author two questions, they would be: Why were Irish laborers the ones who were more despised than others? Do you think that this oppressive economy for African American descendants would ever be hindered?
Works Cited
Williams, Eric. Capitalism and Slavery The University of North Carolina Press, 1944, 3-29. CSUDH.edu https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/capatlism_and_slavery.pdf
Accessed 10/20/2021
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