Ten Unidentified American Born Slave Children African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of Enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. Most African Americans are of West African descent. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may also self-identify with the term. African-American history starts in the 16th century with African Slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, when Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there were other events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, that were faced by African Americans. Some of these were slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement. A South Carolina African American History Monument chronicling the experiences of African Americans in South Carolina now stands on the grounds of the State House in Columbia. The bronze and granite sculpture was dedicated in March 2001 and includes 12 panels that depict milestones in South Carolina African American history. The monument tells a story from the beginning of enslavement to the Middle Passage to Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights era to the great achievements of South Carolina’s African Americans in various professions. (Wikipedia) Typical Slave Ship Only a few decades after the discovery of America by Europeans, demand for cheap labor to work plantations made slave-trading a profitable business. The peak time of slave ships to the Atlantic passage was between the 18th and 19th century when large plantations developed in the British colonies of North America. In order to achieve profit, the owners of the ships divided their hulls into holds with little headroom, so they could transport as many slaves as possible. Unhygienic conditions, dehydration, dysentery and scurvy led to a high mortality rate, on average 15% and up to a third of captives. Often the ships, also known as Guineamen, transported hundreds of slaves, who were chained tightly to plank beds.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 16:25:47 +0000
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