Racism: Why were Americans so racist prior to the 20th century?

[NewUser]

Hey all, this has been on my mind for a long time. Why were African-Americans treated so poorly by European-Americans? While I've been out there looking for answers, nothing has really satisfied my curiosity. Historians have reported on what happened to African-Americans, but has no one looked for the rationale behind WHY it happened? I'm only looking at the relationship between African-Americans and European-Americans as this post would be too long if I touched on Native-Americans and Asian-Americans.

How can you say in 1776 the United States was founded upon the ideals of freedom and rugged individualism when people were classified as property? Slavery is the direct anti-thesis to freedom. I don't know, it just seems disgusting to me. How can you say 'All men are created equal' and then in the same breath, have people existing as slaves? I've read that European-Americans viewed the enslavement of African-Americans as being a part of a 'civilising mission'.

The only sensible conclusion is that European Americans didn't view African-Americans as being completely human. This makes sense because if you look at African-Americans in this way, their treatment doesn't really appear nasty at all. If African-Americans weren't considered human then the laws that apply to humans don't apply to them. In other words, African-Americans weren't an enslaved people because they weren't people.

 

[tony m]

How and when did slavery begin?

It wasn't always black people who were slaves, were they?

Who is the demon, those who turned the black human into a commodity or those who bought the commodity?

Slavery was starting to wind down but some Founding Fathers were not going to rebuild their livelihood. No different than today. These days people will keep their mouth shut than have their livelihood threatened.

Modernity vs tribal.

 

[Danke]

Because there wasn't force busing back then.

 

[AuH20]

Most of the slaves supplied to North America were victims of tribal warfare. Secondly, the Portuguese were the first European power to really ramp up the slave trade to a staggering height.

 

[Ronin Truth]

We inherited slavery and white superiority from the Brits. In some cases African tribal chieftains were willing to sell some of their war captives. Hey cheap labor!

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Negative rep for piss poor trolling and multiple user names. I thought I told you to come back when your trolling is more interesting. All you did was change your font??!! Seriously, Holmes?

If you can entertain me in this thread, then I'll consider a positive rep. It probably won't happen, but I want you to get out there and hustle. Come on, let's move it!

 

[NewUser]

[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]Couldn't [FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]you[/FONT] argue that leaving Africa and being brought to the United States was the best thing that could have happened to them. If you look at the poverty, disease and general bleakness the African continent has to unfortunately endure, being sent to a wealthy, Western country is definitely a 'step up', even if you are a slave.
[/FONT]
Stop calling me a troll please. I'm just asking a question.

 

[pcosmar]

Why were Americans so racist prior to the 20th century

Slavery was practiced world wide prior to the creation of "America". It was the universal rule rather than the exception.

It was changing,, and it was on it's way out when the country was formed,, but it was not yet gone entirely and was still widely accepted as the Status Quo.

It had very little to do with racism.. Nearly every "Race" (and I reject the concept of race) practiced slavery.

 

[pcosmar]

Stop calling me a troll please. I'm just asking a question.

a simple forum search would show that these issues have been discussed at length,, and you are not "just asking a question",,
You are pushing a fallacy.

Not all slaves were from Africa. Not all slaves were black. and slavery had nothing to do with racism.

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]Couldn't [FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]you[/FONT] argue that leaving Africa and being brought to the United States was the best thing that could have happened to them. If you look at the poverty, disease and general bleakness the African continent has to unfortunately endure, being sent to a wealthy, Western country is definitely a 'step up', even if you are a slave.
[/FONT]
Stop calling me a troll please. I'm just asking a question.

Oh geez. Now you're just mixing up your fonts? And that's the best user name you could come up with for a multiple account? NewUser? Really? NEWUSER? Holy friggin' crap.

Tell you what New Loser; let's take it from the top. Take off a week and come back. Start easy. You know, with a good user name. Something like Liberty Fuckin A! Or ObamatheDictator. Shit like that.

And don't come back and tell everybody you're a student on Christmas break. Too clichéd.

 

[jbauer]

Hey all, this has been on my mind for a long time. Why were African-Americans treated so poorly by European-Americans? While I've been out there looking for answers, nothing has really satisfied my curiosity. Historians have reported on what happened to African-Americans, but has no one looked for the rationale behind WHY it happened? I'm only looking at the relationship between African-Americans and European-Americans as this post would be too long if I touched on Native-Americans and Asian-Americans.

How can you say in 1776 the United States was founded upon the ideals of freedom and rugged individualism when people were classified as property? Slavery is the direct anti-thesis to freedom. I don't know, it just seems disgusting to me. How can you say 'All men are created equal' and then in the same breath, have people existing as slaves? I've read that European-Americans viewed the enslavement of African-Americans as being a part of a 'civilising mission'.

The only sensible conclusion is that European Americans didn't view African-Americans as being completely human. This makes sense because if you look at African-Americans in this way, their treatment doesn't really appear nasty at all. If African-Americans weren't considered human then the laws that apply to humans don't apply to them. In other words, African-Americans weren't an enslaved people because they weren't people.

Trolling would be easier if you atleast made the effort to change the font from your copy/paste from a different site.

After fixing that, you already answered your question in which European's didn't view Africans as humans rather as property which isn't a justification for what happened its just the way it happened. I would argue "racism" didn't start till after slavery because prior to that blacks were viewed as sub-human thus didn't receive the same rights that come with being human. To be racist you have to view a race as human and that didn't happen till after the abolishment of slavery.

 

[pcosmar]

Trolling would be easier if you atleast made the effort to change the font from your copy/paste from a different site.

After fixing that, you already answered your question in which European's didn't view Africans as humans rather as property which isn't a justification for what happened its just the way it happened. I would argue "racism" didn't start till after slavery because prior to that blacks were viewed as sub-human thus didn't receive the same rights that come with being human. To be racist you have to view a race as human and that didn't happen till after the abolishment of slavery.

This still does not address the reality of slavery. In Europe and throughout the world slavery existed as a reality.
The Europeans kept White Slaves prior to acquiring slaves from the African continent. Africans kept slaves,, and sold them to merchant ships.

The Native Indians, on this continent kept slaves,, and sold them to the slaver merchants. As well as Indians that were captured by Slavers.

one such example is well known.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto

And on White Slaves,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves

 

[Dr.3D]

As if anything has changed at all.

Now they use what they call "the war on drugs" to put slaves into the prison system. It works because people fail to see what has been happening is really just a continuation of slavery.

 

[CPUd]

An old Poli Sci professor talked about the origins of slavery once, and gave a definition something like:

One person is in a position to spare the life of another, either by rescuing him from imminent death, or by holding a sword over his head; thus, one life spared is one life earned. It is a common theme in old stories, particularly in the East.

 

[James Madison]

Slavery is as old as man himself.

 

[Root]

As if anything has changed at all.

Now they use what they call "the war on drugs" to put slaves into the prison system. It works because people fail to see what has been happening is really just a continuation of slavery.

+ rep. So many people don't see this.

 

[jmdrake]

Slavery is as old as man himself.

Murder is as old as man himself.

Tyranny (government run slavery) is as old as man himself.

Anyway, the reason for black slavery is pretty simple when you think about it. There were white slaves early on in the "New World". They could easily blend in to the local free population when they escaped. Native Americans could blend into the forrest and hook back up with their tribes. Blacks couldn't blend in to the free population and swimming across the Atlantic is pretty difficult. So for this (and other reasons), blacks made better slaves. The racism that followed was the result of the condition and not the other way around. My 2 1/2 cents.

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

 

[dannno]

The best post I've seen on the topic was by a poster named torchbearer who explained something along the lines of how a lot of people in the south didn't want slavery, but even the smaller farmers were essentially forced into the practice because they couldn't compete with the multinational corporations that had the big slavery plantations. And some British slave trading company was responsible for bringing over the vast majority of slaves. So it always seems to be these giant corporations that are given enormous state subsidies that cause all of these really bad things in society.

 

[FSU63]

Same reason people are homophobic today.