The Inhumane Treatment of African Slaves

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were packed into the beneaths of these ships that would bring them to a cruel life of labor in America with two hundred to six hundred of their fellow NAKED Africans (BBC). What kind of human being could just let another human being suffer as much as the colonists let the slaves suffer? This question elaborates on the question that asks whether or not colonists even saw the slaves as human. As if being that closely packed wasn’t bad enough; it was summer on a ship with little to no ventilation. There they lay for eight weeks, surrounded by their own blood, sweat, and vomit (VIDEO). Accounts from the trips across the Atlantic Ocean often mention the putrid smell amongst the slaves because of the lack of hygiene. It is not like the slaves wanted to be dirty and unhygienic, it just was not something that was possible in their situation. Having to defecate on themselves because of the absence of bathrooms and then on top of that not being able bathe afterwards was a probable cause of bad scents on the slave ship. Menstruation had to be the definition of hell, no way for women to take care of their business. In what way could this treatment even be considered humane or dignified? They were not seen as social humans with feelings and thoughts simply because they were darker than the colonists. Slaves were not humans to the colonists, they were just like any other cargo on a ship… living solely to benefit the white people that had stolen their lives from them.

When the Africans actually arrived to America, they took the workload off of the Native American’s shoulders and became full blown slaves in replacement of the 1512 to 1720 Spanish-controlled encomienda system. The main type of plantation that they worked on was a sugar plantation, a crop that was really bringing in the income and was abundant in the Caribbean (Document 2.12). They worked on the plantations with no kind of incentive or any payment other than not being beaten. Another valuable product that the slaves produced was other slaves! Colonists made sure of this outcome by making a law. In the law, it is that stated that if a slave woman has a baby, even if it is with an Englishman, the baby will still be brought into slavery as soon as they are able (Document 2.13). Slaves were being bred because they were not seen as humans, they were seen as products. This circumstance is unlike those involved in the encomienda system, where the mestizos, a person of Native American and Spanish race, could not ever be brought into the system. The mestizos were lucky when compared to the mulattos.

These peoples of Africa, taken from their lives and communities, rotting in the beneaths of slave ships, and being bred for economic benefits… There is no justifiable excuse or answer for the inhumane treatment of the black people in America during the 300 years of enslavement.