Week 2:
African Origins and
Early Forced Migration 1450-1800
African American Studies 40A
• What has been the relationship between
African Americans and Africa?
• When and where does
African American history start?
• What connects African Americans
to each other?
Manifest Destiny- Belief that
God gave Europeans the right to
colonize and control people who
did not share the same religious
beliefs and national origins.
Key concepts for the film
Africans in America
Chapters 1-3
• Indentured servitude
• Freedom Dues
• Antonio the Negro a.k.a. Anthony
Johnson
• British definition of slavery
• The Terrible Transformation
• Royal African Company
Experts in the Field
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Barry Unsworth, author
Peter H. Wood, historian
Thelma Foote, historian (former UCI professor)
Timothy H. Breen, historian
Thomas J. Davis, historian
David W. Blight, historian
Frances B. Latimer, historian
Chinua Achebe, author
The Institution of Racial Slavery
• Up until the 1640s, distinction was made by
national origin and religion
• Europeans did not distinguish themselves as
being White
• Africans and Europeans regarded each other
equally regarding the color of their skin
• In the mid 17th century skin color
became a factor:
• “Darker became wrong.” Johnson and
Smith, Africans in America, page 86.
Skin Color used for Discrimination
• Europeans expanded their justification for
dominating other groups.
• Instead of believing that God gave them
the right to dominate any non-Christians
through slavery, they believed that they
could dominate any non-Whites through
slavery.
Skin Color used for Discrimination
Essentially Europeans used skin color for discrimination
because they were both lazy and greedy.
To explain:
• 1) Religious differences were not visual.
• 2) Differences in skin color were visual
• Discrimination because of skin color was an easy way to
create disunity among equally mistreated servants, both
European and African.
• Assigning value to skin color was a simple way to
separate a unified front.
In the 1650s Europeans begin calling
themselves White to distinguish
themselves as superior to Negroes.
Key concepts for Thursday
Africans in America
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Olaudah Equiano
El Mina
Transatlantic Slave Trade
The Middle Passage
Barbados Model
Nation within a Nation
Stono Rebellion
Jemmy
Plot of 1741
Additional Expert in the Field
• Norrece T. Jones, Jr., historian
Africans imported to
the New World
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Brazil: 4 million to 5 million by Portugal
British Caribbean: 2.5 to 3 million
Spanish America: 2 million
French Caribbean 1.6 million
British North America: 550 thousand
Dutch Caribbean: 50 thousand
Danish Caribbean: 50 thousand
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
• The three part trade from Europe to
the West Coast of Africa, to the
Colonies, and back to Europe.
• Part 1:
Slave traders sail from Europe with
industrialized goods primarily rum,
cloth, and cigarettes. Once at port in
West Africa, these products are
traded for West and Central African
peoples.
Part 2:
In the colonies, the African peoples are
traded for raw goods primarily sugar,
tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo, and fur.
Part 3:
The raw goods are taken back to
Europe to be made into consumer
products i.e. rum, cigarettes, and
cloth.
Questions for Discussion
• ?- What is the Barbados model?
• ?- What is the nation within a nation?
• ?- What were the consequences of the
“nation within a nation” in South Carolina?
• ?- What does “The Plot of 1741” tell us about
the impact of the slavery system on Whites?