History

I believe that one of the biggest events that have shaped life today would be slavery. Slavery was a terrible thing and people were treated extremely unfair but I feel like if we didn’t have this terrible part of history we would not be where we are today. It has been said that history repeats itself and slavery is a good example of history repeating itself.  Around 1640 African Americans were discriminated against for having a different color of skin and being from a different part of the world. For many years black were treated extremely badly. They had no rights. They couldn’t vote, they couldn’t get an education, and basically had no say in how there life would go. They were ordered to do all the work for their slave owner and were beaten or killed if they didn’t comply with what there master said. Any baby being born into slavery was automatically a slave. From the moment they were born to till the day they died they would be a slave. All children born of any Negro or other slave shall be slaves, as their fathers were, for the term of their lives. (Source 2)

Any freeborn women that have already married Negros shall serve the master of their parent till they are thirty years of age and no longer (Source 3) so it is clear that basically there was no of escaping unless you were one of the very lucky ones to escape and go into hiding but that was not very common. No master, mistress, overseer, or other person what so ever, that hath the care and charge of any negro or slave,  shall give the Negros and other slave leave on Sundays, holidays, or any other time, to go out of their plantations, except such negro or other slave as usually wait upon them at home or abroad, or wearing a livery; and every other  negro or slave that shall be taken hereafter out of his masters plantation, without a ticket, or leave in writing, from his master or mistress, or some other person by his or her appointment, or some white person in the company of such slave, to give and account of his business, shall be whipped… (source4). Year’s later slavery ended. People came to realize that no matter what color of skin you had every one shall be treated equal.

 I am happy to see that people have learned from our past and have learned to accept people for who they are rather than by the color of their skin.  I do not believe that slavery was a good thing at all by any means but I defiantly don’t think we would be where we are today had we not experiences that terrible part of history. People say that things have to get worse before they get better and I believe that this is the case.

Today we have an African American president and I think that is amazing that people have changed their mind that skin color really doesn’t matter. I know there are still people that will never get over the whole racial problem but I feel like history has accomplished so much sense then and we should not dwell on the dreadful past and continue to make positive changes in the current times. People like Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks would be so happy to see how African Americans have respect and are being treated fairly and that all men shall be treated equal.