“It is estimated that some fifty million [Google shows different statistics] people were taken from the continent during the years of the slave trade. These fifty million were, of course the youngest, the strongest, those most capable of bringing great profit, first to the slave trader, and later to the slave owner. These Africans were scattered throughout South America, the islands of the West Indies, and the United States. Africa’s citizens became the laboring backbone of much of the western hemisphere.
“Slavery differed from country to country. But it was in The United States that a system of slavery evolved that was more cruel and total than almost any other system of slavery devised by one group of men against another. No other country where blacks were enslaved destroyed African culture to the extent that it was destroyed here. Today there still exist, in South America and the Caribbean Islands, African religions, music, and language, which come over on the slave ships. Only fragments of Africa remain among the blacks of the United States.
“The slavery instituted by the founders of America has few comparisons for its far-reaching cruelty,”
Julius Lester, To Be A Slave, The Dial Press, 1968, p 27.
“One of the greatest overlooked sources for information concerning slavery has been the words of those who were slaves, p 13] . . . the Federal Writers’ Project [1930’s] was organized, and one task it undertook was to interview those ex-slaves still alive. At least two books were published using this material: B.A. Botkin’s Lay My Burden Down and the Federal Writers’ Project book, The Negro in Virginia. But most of the material remains unpublished,” p 13.
This author Julius Lester, writes: “In this book the reader will find numerous examples of both kinds of narratives. Those of the Federal Writers’ Project offer the advantage of an early directness of communication. The ninetieth-century narrative offer the advantage of analysis of the slave experience. Together the two present a vivid picture of how the slaves felt about slavery,” p 15.
For me, this short book speaks loudly and truthfully as it helps me grasp these heartbreaking stories. “How,” I immediately want to ask, “can I help?”
The answer of course is: I must find my own path to mitigate these deep and continuing wrongs.
Is this part of our duty as human beings: to understand? To help?
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