Daily Archives: 29/06/2020
Filters
Colonialism
What is Colonialism?
“The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” By the year 1914, Europeans colonised a huge majority of the world’s nations.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html
The Slave Trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to America. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
The slave trade refers to the transatlantic trading patterns which were established as early as the mid-17th century. Trading ships would set sail from Europe with a cargo of manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa. When arriving, these goods would be traded over a number of weeks and months and captured people were provided by African traders. European traders found it easier to do business with African slave traders who raided settlements far away from the African coast and brought those young and healthy enough to the coast to be sold into slavery.
This was a huge problem for black people itself for many reasons; slave traders would take mainly men from Africa, leaving women and children to fend for themselves and unable to reproduce; hundreds and thousands of men would die from the unhygienic living space below the deck of the ships as well as the lack of food and many people would get sea sick and would have to lie in there own waste; head to toe with other people. Not many survived the voyage. With the men who did survive; the majority of those sold into slavery were destined to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, where huge areas of the American continent had been colonised by European countries. These plantations produced products such as sugar or tobacco, meant for consumption back in Europe.
The 13th Amendment, adopted on December 18, 1865, officially abolished slavery, but freed Black peoples’ status in the post-war South remained precarious, and significant challenges awaited during the Reconstruction period.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/18/juneteenth-holiday-history-slavery-george-floyd/
Colonialism: Slave Trade
Colonialism is when one country seeks authority over other people or territories, wanting economical dominance. Colonisers may impose their religion and other cultural factors on people.
The slave trade refers to transatlantic trading patterns, established as early as the mid-17th century. Trading ships containing manufactured goods would sail from Europe to Africa where goods would be traded for people. The ships conditions were awful, they would be full with the slaves crammed together in the hold. They had no room to move and many did not survive the journey to America or the Caribbean.
Much of America had been colonised by European countries. Slaves were put to work on plantations that produced sugar and tobacco which could be taken back to Europe for consumption.
Britain was one of the most successful slave trading countries. It was estimated that they transported 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807.
The transatlantic slave trade is often as the ‘triangular trade’. This is because the three sides of the triangle represent the three journeys that were made. The first side of the triangle was the journey from Europe to Africa. This journey was to transport manufactured goods including cloth, glassware, guns and ammunition. The second side of the triangle was the journey from Africa to America and the Caribbean. This journey was called the ‘middle passage’, it carried slaves who were forced to work on plantations. The third side of the triangle was the journey from America and the Caribbean to Europe. This journey was to transport sugar, rum, cotton and other goods produced by plantations.
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery in parts of the British Empire. https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-slavery-abolition-act-of-1833/
The Slavery Abolition Act freed more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, South Africa and a small number in Canada. It received Royal Assent on August 28th 1833 and later took effect on August 1st 1834.
Global Context: Racism
Racism is discrimination directed at a person or group of people based on their racial or ethnic group. Most discriminated groups are those that are marginalised or that are a minority. Racism can come in many forms including abuse, harassment, name calling, jokes and exclusion from certain activities. Racism can also become present in work, for example people may be excluded from a job opportunity due to their surname or where they come from.
The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in July 2013. It is a global organisation in the UK, US and Canada who’s mission is to eradicate white supremacy. The Black Lives Matter movement is a social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality against black people. This movement began in the United States in response to Trayvon Martin’s murder.
Steven O. Roberts a Stanford Psychologist has researched the seven factors that contribute to American Racism. https://news.stanford.edu/2020/06/09/seven-factors-contributing-american-racism/ “Racism is a system of advantage based on race. It is a hierarchy. It is a pandemic. Racism is so deeply embedded within U.S. minds and U.S. society that it is virtually impossible to escape.”
Racism is highly present in the US, with police brutality being one of the most obvious forms of racism. However the US is not alone when it comes to racism, the UK also faces it every day with comments being made about others race. It is said that the main questions asked are ‘Where are you from?’.
Global context
COLONIALISM- THE SLAVE TRADE
Colonialism and its history
“Colonialism is defined as “control by one power over a dependent area or people.” It occurs when one nation subjugates another, conquering its population and exploiting it, often while forcing its own language and cultural values upon its people. By around 1914, a huge majority of the world’s nations had been colonised by Europeans. The concept of colonialism is closely linked to that of imperialism, which is the policy or ethos of using power and influence to control another nation or people that underlies colonialism.” –https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/topics/reference/colonialism/
In other words, colonialism is the violent invasion of a country in order to take control over it, involving the claim of land as its own and getting ‘settlers’ to live there. The first wave of colonialism started in the 15th century, with European countries such as Britain and France invading lands across North and South America. Their aim was to spread Christianity. The second wave involved the continent of Africa, which was invaded by European countries, and taken over. On the left – 1887: A group of prisoners from the Crow tribe, being confined to a reservation as colonists take over huge tracts of their land.
The Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas, by slave traders. Through the 16th to the 19th centuries, The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, to move the slaves. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported where people from central and West Africa. This global slave trade, which included European countries such as Portugal and Britain, transported between 10 million and 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, to be sold as workers for cotton, Tobacco and sugar farms.
triangular trade route and its Middle Passage
Probably around a few hundred thousand Africans were transported to the Americas before 1600. however, in the 17th century, demand for slave labour increased sharply with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and tobacco plantations in regions of North America. The largest numbers of slaves were taken to the Americas within the 18th century, when, according to historians’ estimates, almost three-fifths of the total volume of the transatlantic slave trade took place.
how slaves where packed and transported on ships 
ENSLAVEMENT AND RACISM
The slave trade had an immense effect on the people of Africa, promoting an atmosphere of lawlessness and violence, with many people holding a constant fear of captivity. With that, depopulation made economic and agricultural development almost impossible in western Africa. Africa’s loss of population and potential population was one of the major factors leading to economic underdevelopment. The trade also created conditions for the subsequent colonialism of Africa by the Europeans. Resources that were taken from Africa contributed to the capitalist development as therefor the wealth of Europe and other countries. The unequal relationship between the continents started by the enslavement of africans, was justified by racism and the fact that whites where naturally superior.
Its estimates that just over 11 million people where transported during the transatlantic slave trade, however, of those slaves, fewer than 9.6 million survived the middle passage journey across the Atlantic, due to the unlawful violence suppression of any on-board resistance. As well as this, others who were enslaved in the African interior also died along the journey to the coast. This would be the greatest forced migration of a human population in history.
GLOBAL CONTEXT; RACISM
Racism; noun
“A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.” –https://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism#:~:text=noun,is%20inferior%20to%20the%20others.
Racism has existed through history, having an effect on different races, skin colours, ethnicities , languages and cultures. Although it isn’t always shown through words and slurs, but also actions too, leaving people feeling helpless. this attitude many people harvest within them has had an effect on many workplaces and industries, such as the fashion, music and beauty industry, as well as many others.
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT
“I can’t breathe” – George Floyd
This man, George Floyd, sparked a long awaited movement on the 25th of May 2020, when he was killed in Minneapolis by white police men when one knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed and lying face down. He lay there begging for his life and repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”.
Since that day, The black lives matter movement has spread worldwide to make people aware of the injustice of police violence in America, focusing on black Americans brutalised or killed by law enforcement officers, who rarely face consequences for their actions. The death of George Floyd has had a huge impact on the people living in the US, with many people of all races and ethnicities rising up against the police to get justice for the many victims of unnecessary police violence. Many of the riots held in America were peaceful, however, some progressed into more violent ones, leading officers to use tear gas, and rubber bullets to contain the crowds.
People worldwide have been sharing stories of other people like George Floyd, who have been brutally attacked by police forces for no strong reason. Information and awareness for other people affected have been shared on Social media; instagram, twitter, facebook etc. One hashtag in particular is the #SayTheirNames campaign . It encourages social media users to share the names of victims of police brutality. The campaign includes taking and sharing the incidents that killed them and to focus on their individual humanity and use their names.
KNOW THEIR NAMES: