Our African American History

Slavery was the unrequited labor of African men, women, and children that significantly contributed to the development of the United States. Economics, of course, is the main reason. Tax systems, financial industries, and consumer economics were all built upon the backs of enslaved Africans. Cash crops of tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane made slavery very profitable. Africans, who later became African Americans, were southern planters most significant investment, and the bulk of their wealth.
 
Chattel slavery was allowed on plantations. African women were raped and forced to give birth repeatedly, no matter who impregnated them. "Children of the plantation" were offspring born to a slave and her owner, one of his relatives, or overseer. As this sexual slavery reached its modern extreme, some began to question the morality of slavery.
 
Quakers launched the abolitionist movement to end slavery. The movement gained strength as it was led by, Frederick Douglass. While some abolitionists believed slaveholding was a sin, others believed it was regressive, inefficient, and made little economic sense.
 
Abraham Lincoln became President in 1861. During his time in office, He engineered the end of slavery with his Emancipation Proclamation. He needed more soldiers to win the Civil War. The only way that could be done was for Blacks to join the Union. Blacks fought in exchange for freedom. Congress passed the 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865. The amendment made chattel slavery and involuntary servitude illegal. On the contrary, this amendment paved the way for the country's burgeoning prison labor system. The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. And incarceration rates are significantly higher for Blacks and Latinos than Whites.