In examining the history of racial slavery in the New World, we start with the discovery of different races and the subsequent emergence of the conception of race. The interpretation and explanation of the African race would play a pivotal role in the formation of slavery. This process is worth contemplating because it is possible that these initial conceptions have carried on in our modern perception of race. Smallwood points out “When we see the end of a process…we too easily take its place there for granted as something natural or given” (p. 294). So how exactly did the Europeans come to view this other race as inferior? Europeans looked to cultural traits and labeled Africans as barbaric because of their unusual customs and habits. Perhaps it is natural to dislike anything different, and Europeans criticized the Africans in fear of the unfamiliar. However, as we discussed in class, many of these “savage practices” were actually similar to those observed by Europeans themselves.
It could be that the circumstances precipitated racial discrimination. Perhaps negative conceptions of Africans were formed as an excuse to take advantage of this ideal opportunity. This outlook would support the stance that race drove slavery. In discussing the discovery of the African American race and what they call ‘racial formation’, Omi and Winant point out, “never before and never again in human history has an opportunity for the appropriation of wealth remotely approached that presented by the ‘discovery’” (Omi and Winant, p. 191). It is entirely possible that these Europeans, consumed by greed, actually convinced themselves that African people were inhuman. In order to set slavery into motion, Europeans must have formed this belief initially. But then they faced task of explaining how a group people—of the same species, with an identical anatomy, who (arguably) share the same ancestors—could not be considered human in the same way.
Scientifically, race was considered a biological variation. Some supported monogenesis, such as Kant, who argued that all humans come from the same natural genus. He claimed our ability to reproduce with one another—regardless of race—served as evidence of a single line of descent. However, the dissimilarities within our species were considered more carefully. Species distinctiveness was an essential argument in the justification for racial slavery. Voltaire claimed, “the negro race is a species of men as different from ours as the breed of spaniels is from that of greyhounds” (Omi and Winant, p.194). Jefferson asked his fellow Americans, “Will not a lover of natural history…excuse an effort to keep those in the department of Man as distinct as nature has formed them?” (Omi and Winant, p. 194). This definition of race distinguished Africans as a different type of human being, which justified the different rights granted to them.
However, racial suppression and injustice were committed before this biological understanding of race. The justifications for slavery developed simultaneously with the institution of slavery. For this reason, it can be concluded that on some level, racism emerged originally. Though the cause of this racism is difficult to determine, it provided the primary premise for racial slavery.
While I think it is possible that Europeans may have had to view the African people as inhuman, I do not think this belief was formed initially with slavery. Africans were brought to America as a form of labor. Europeans did not go to Africa to get slaves specifically because they were black; they bought people who were criminals or prisoners of war. In the Atlantic Slave Trade, it was Africans selling other Africans, so the color of their skin and race did not matter. What mattered was whether they were on the winning or losing side of a war. I do believe that race later played a role in slavery, but I do not think it was the initial cause. Race was used as an excuse to justify that slavery was right and that it was ok to treat these people as property, but economic reasons were what initiated slavery and actually made it necessary for people to use. If race did evolve at the same time as slavery, then the real question here is when did a justification for slavery emerge? Without someone questioning slavery, no justification would be needed. Was it after a slave rebellion, when slaves rose up and showed that this oppression they were undergoing was unjust, or was it at the beginning of slavery? I’m sure there was at least one person in the world who thought slavery was wrong from the beginning, but does it just take one person challenging the system or does there need to be a whole group that believes slavery is wrong? In order to determine when the justification of slavery and the racism behind those justifications occurred, one needs to determine when the questioning began.
ReplyDeleteI will have to agree with Sam. While the Europeans most likely convinced themselves that Native Africans were inhuman, I don't believe the trade started out because of it. I believe it started as an economic opportunity. Sam has made a really good point of talking about the part Africans had in the slave trade, and the fact that they were taken specifically for labor, not necessarily because they were black. I think we should also need to discuss the religious factor in the Slave Trade. The church sanctioned that slavery was the will of God. These people were not Christian, and the Europeans were doing the Africans a favor by trying to convert them. Europeans' "believed" they were doing the right thing in using the ideas of different religions as a reason to take the Africans. I think when they claimed the Africans were subhuman, they were simply creating another excuse to capture a human life.
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