African-American Studies Before the Mayflower

African-American Studies

Before the Mayflower

My reaction to the first four chapters of "Before the Mayflower" is to see that the African-American people have a long and varied history and heritage that they should be proud of and celebrate. I learned that many experts believe the Egyptians may have been black, and that many legends, stories, and Biblical passages may refer to Black history in Africa and beyond. I did not know how early Africans first came to America, and I did not know that slave trade (or at least blacks in America) began in America as early as 1619. I also did not know that European trade began as early as 1444. This really shocked me; I thought slavery happened much, much later. I knew that the Romans and Greeks had slaves, so I do not know why this was so surprising to me, but it definitely was. I was also surprised that in the beginning, blacks were a part of the community and they people did not think they were inferior.

A also knew that blacks had fought during the American Revolution, but I did not know that they were so involved in the initial outbreak and instigation of the Revolution, that also surprised me, and so did the fact that so many slaves went with the British after the war ended. That makes sense, but it was new information to me. I also knew about the desperate lives of slaves in the South, and how they were treated like animals, but to actually see the words of the advertisement that called them "breeding stock" like they were cattle or something was really eye opening and frightening. It was (and is) frightening to me that people could have treated each other this way. It is also frightening that it was condoned and even encouraged among masters who needed the cheap labor. I think that slavery was one of the darkest times in American history, and that we should never forget what happened to Africans who were shipped to America as slaves. Reading a book like this keeps this history alive, and it should. Americans should never forget what happened to African-Americans and they should be ashamed that something like this could happen in this nation.