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In 1619, the first black slaves were brought to what is now the United States. Over the next 50 years, they supplanted the white indentured servants who left a very short trace in history. There were plenty of reasons for this: Africans were cheaper for slave owners, they could be exploited for life, not until the end of the contract. In addition, no one cared about people with dark skin, while the Native American Indians were always sided with their tribes, and the white servants were sided with other Europeans with a higher position in society.
The black slaves imported into the Americas were mostly inhabitants of the west coast of Africa, with a much smaller proportion belonging to the tribes of Central and Southern parts of the continent, as well as of North Africa and the island of Madagascar. Among them were the Fulbe, Wolof, Yoruba, Ibo, Ashanti, Fanti, Hausa, Dahomey, and Bantu tribesmen. In essence, it didn’t matter what tribe the African belonged to; there, in the filthy, cramped barracks of the factories, they were all equal, waiting humbly for the slave ships to arrive.
The ships crossed the ocean in three or four months. All this time the slaves were in terrible conditions: they were shackled with weighted shackles, the holds were very crowded, unsanitary conditions prevailed, and they had to go to the toilet in the hold. Water and food were in short supply.
“Horror, what is going on on these ships, – said one of the contemporaries, himself experienced such a trip, – stench, fumes, vomiting, various stages of seasickness, fever, dysentery, fever, boils, scurvy. Many die horrible deaths.”
Young girls were often raped by the captain and crew. A large number of fights broke out between the men as they tried to get on the floor to lie down comfortably. Then the overseer’s whip was used and all fighting stopped. Slaves also had their nails trimmed short so they could not tear each other’s skin.
