How Did Slavery Affect America Today

Slavery was one of the hardest times in American history. African Americans were shipped to America and were forced into labor. They were treated very harshly, and also exposed to very poor conditions. Many slaves died from harsh the harsh treatment they received and disease. Most of them rarely ever made it to the age of fifty. Although slavery was a rough time in our nation’s history, it helped shape our country today. Slavery in America started in 1619 to help in the production of cotton and tobacco. American settlers thought it was cheaper to have African Americans as their labor source, rather than poor Europeans. In the 18th century alone, about six to seven million Africans were brought into the New World. After 1619, slavery kept spreading throughout the colonies in America (Slavery www.history.com). Slave exports also increased during the early 18th century by about 44,000. A total of about 11 million Africans were shipped to America throughout the Middle Passage, but only about 10 million actually arrived to the New World. Many Africans died from diseases and harsh, abusive treatment (Mintz www.gilderlehrman.org). Slaves …show more content…
To avoid that, they prevented slaves to learn how to read and write and lessened their exposure to the outside world. This prevented them from communicating with other slaves, dreams that they would have, and slave rebellions. During the 19th century, laws were passed making it illegal to educate slaves. The punishment include about thirty lashes to the slave and a fine to their teacher (Treatment www.boundless.com). But these laws did not stop the slaves from being educated, which led to many escapes. These escapes started as early as the 1780’s and became known as the Underground Railroad. This was network of houses which helped the slaves escape to the North. It is estimated that it helped from about 40,000 to 100,000 slaves make it to freedom (Slavery