What has Black America gained politically, socially, economically, psychologically, and existentially since enslavement?

Who is Black?

Defining who is Black in North America can be problematic. In the 20th century, the one-drop rule was legalized as a framework for racial classification, and it asserted that any person with one drop of Black blood is Black. In addition, it has been suggested that Blacks in North America remain predominantly Negroid with a hefty infusion of both Caucasoid, and Mongoloid, ancestry. African Americans possess 20% White genes, and White Americans possess 1% African genes. Of these, 75%-90% of Blacks have White ancestry, and 25% have Indian ancestry, hence the inaccuracies of the categorisation of Black. Since the one-drop rule includes people ranging from Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid, what percentage qualifies one as Black or White? What is more, the 1965 legal immigration system increased the number of foreign-born Blacks, which in turn increased the total number of Blacks in North America. Therefore, it would be difficult to determine who qualifies as Black when dealing with the issue of reparations. Would it be those who are African American and also descendants of enslaved people or those with African ancestry with American citizenship?

The Native American
The United States began as and still is an extension of Europe with its religion, laws, education, literature, philosophy, art, language, and science, all bearing the marks of European origins. When the first settlers arrived in America in the early seventeenth century, they found around half a million misnamed Indigenous people that were of Mongoloid ancestry and were described to have black hair, high cheekbones, and coppery skin. They were nomads and spoke over six hundred different languages. Over three centuries of relentless White pressure, the White man’s diseases and alcohol killed off the indigenous people, and the destruction of their culture robbed the survivors of their identity. By the 1900s, when Whites had spread across the whole continent, there were approximately 250,000 Indigenous people herded into reservations in the United States.

The Negro/enslaved person
During the colonial period, between half and two-thirds of all White immigrants (mainly from the north of Ireland and Holland), except those that went to New England, were believed to have entered a contract of indentured servitude. These White enslaved people retained all their political and legal rights, unlike the enslaved Negroes who started to replace the White enslaved people in the seventeenth century. The first Negro reached Virginia in 1619, and by 1690, the Negro population had grown to approximately 2000. Negros were assigned a special and inferior status from day one, and approximately 1660 laws were passed to differentiate them from White enslaved people. These laws stated that Negros, Mullattos (mixed African and European ancestry), and their children were enslaved people for life. In addition, the master considered the enslaved Negro more stable, disciplined, and economical compared to their White counterparts. As a result, more enslaved people were brought in, and the Negro population grew, making up 40% of Virginia’s population in 1756. Negros outnumbered Whites two to one in South Carolina in 1751, and ultimately, this made the Negro a strong influence in the South. Moreover, the rise of the textile industry in England in the early eighteenth century created a massive demand for cotton and enslaved people. Although African slavery legally ended in 1808, the number of enslaved people in the South continued to double every thirty years, growing from 875,000 in 1800 to nearly four million in 1860. The domestic slave trade system was highly organized and lucrative. As a result, it provided 80,000 enslaved people worth $60 million to the South Civil War resources, and other enslaved people were sold into carpentry, bricklaying, mining, iron works, and as house servants.
In the South, the slave codes defined enslaved people as chattel property which could be bought, sold, inherited, bequeathed, mortgaged, or hired out; however, it was acknowledged that the Negro were capable of staging a rebellion, running away, and committing serious crimes and they were made liable to punishment for such actions. The concept of a police force in the 21st century has its origins in the slave patrols that were created to establish a system of terror that would pursue, apprehend, and return runaway enslaved people to their owners. This included the use of excessive force to control and produce desired slave behavior. Negros were prohibited from giving evidence against a white man in court; they couldn’t legally marry, be taught to read and write, hold property, carry firearms, congregate with others except at church, or leave their master’s premises without permission.

An enslaved person’s life depended upon the region in which they lived, the plantation and crop they grew, the time of the year, and the character of their master. Enslaved people were fed a poor diet of corn, pork, molasses, and greens and were poorly clothed and housed. The masters practiced systematic breeding and encouraged slave marriages as a way to increase their stock. Slavery as a system of fear was violent, where masters flogged, mutilated, hanged, starved, and tortured enslaved people. The intention was to degrade an enslaved person psychologically so they felt helpless, worthless, and dependent on their master. Despite the oppression, the enslaved person was resilient and sustained an autonomous culture ( folktales, oral traditions, and dance). Far from the echoes of White evangelical Protestantism, enslaved people developed an African-influenced style of religion, worship, and preaching with the family as the most important mechanisms for survival and transmitting traditional African values.

This is part one of a four-part blog; next week, part two will discuss a Negro’s life shortly after emancipation and a Black person’s life fifty years later.