Letter to a Friend of Different Racial Group
June 25, 2012
University of Phoenix
African Americans have long showed perseverance, persistence, and productivity in many aspects of United States History. When discussing African Americans the association is usually the civil rights movements of the 1960s and slavery before the Civil War, but African American History as an ethnic group and a society is much more than the atrocities that the group faced throughout U.S. History and of today. Throughout the history of the United States, African Americans have experience adversities, overcome great odds, and have made a noticeable impact on U.S. culture, politics, and social understandings. The African American culture can trace much of their roots back to the slave trades of the 16th century. Historians agree that the first African Americans were brought to America by San Miguel de Guadalupe to be used as slave work force, and settled in what is now known as South Carolina. Shortly after, disputes over leadership of the colony lead to fighting, which the African slaves took advantage of by revolting, escaping, and sought refuge with local Native American tribes. The first Africans brought to English occupied America were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, due to many English settlers dying from the harsh conditions, to work as laborers. Many historians believe that the first African Americans who were brought to early English America were not brought as slaves, rather indentured servants. In fact, the Africans who occupied early English America could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom, and by the 1640s and 1650s, several African families came to own farms near Jamestown and actually became wealthy in colonial standards. What is now related to the African American slave era technically started in the early 1600s when the Dutch West India Company introduced the first 11 slaves in present day New York in 1625,...
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