🔗 Transatlantic Slave Trade and Beginning of Slavery in America

The Transatlantic Slave Trade began in the 16th century and lasted until the 19th century. European
traders took enslaved Africans from West Africa and transported them across the Atlantic Ocean—the
horrific middle passage—to the Americas, including the American colonies.
• The first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619.
• Africans were not brought as workers with rights but as property, to be owned and forced to
work without pay or freedom.

❓ Why Were Slaves Used Instead of Colonizers?

Colonizers in America, especially the British settlers:
• Wanted to make huge profits from plantation agriculture (especially tobacco, cotton, and
sugar).
• Did not want to do the hard, back-breaking labor themselves.
• Native Americans could not be enslaved easily due to knowledge of land and resistance.
• Indentured servants (poor white laborers) worked temporarily and gained freedom after years.
• Africans were seen as a permanent source of free labor—they could be enslaved for life, and
their children would also be slaves.
Slavery became a racial system—white colonizers at the top, Black slaves at the bottom.

When Was the Slave Trade Abolished in the U.S.?

You're right!
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade was abolished by the United States in 1807.
• The U.S. banned the importation of enslaved Africans through a law passed on March 2,

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1807, which took effect on January 1, 1808.
Important note: This law only banned the importing of slaves from Africa. Slavery itself
continued inside the U.S. for several more decades.

Transatlantic Slave Trade Timeline & Numbers

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade operated from roughly 1501 to 1867.
• During this period, about 12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken across the Atlantic Ocean
to the Americas (North, South, and the Caribbean).
• Of these, about 10.7 million survived the journey known as the "Middle Passage."
📦 How Many African Slaves Were Brought to America (U.S. Only)?
• The number of enslaved Africans brought directly to what is now the United States was about
388,000.
• This was less than 4% of the total African slaves brought to the Americas.
• Most slaves went to the Caribbean and South America (especially Brazil).
Even though the number brought to the U.S. was relatively small, the enslaved population grew rapidly
due to natural increase (births among slaves).

🗽 American Independence and Hypocrisy on Slavery (1776)

When the United States declared independence from Britain in 1776, the ideals were "liberty" and
"equality." However:
• The U.S. Declaration of Independence said "All men are created equal," but slavery
continued.
• Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson owned slaves.
• Slavery was ignored in the U.S. Constitution (1787), to keep Southern states in agreement.
So, freedom was only for white Americans, not the Black slaves.

⚔️ Civil War (1861–1865): North vs. South

The Civil War was mainly about slavery:
• The Southern states depended on slave labor for their plantation economy and wanted to keep
slavery.
• The Northern states had moved toward industrialization and opposed the expansion of slavery
into new territories.
• When Abraham Lincoln became President (1860), promising to stop the spread of slavery,
Southern states seceded from the Union.
The North won the war in 1865. Slavery officially ended, but racism didn’t.

📜 U.S. Constitutional Amendments After Civil War (Reconstruction Era)

To give former slaves rights, three key amendments were added:
 1. 13th Amendment (1865) – Abolished slavery in all of the U.S.
2. 14th Amendment (1868) – Gave citizenship and equal protection under law.

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3. 15th Amendment (1870) – Gave Black men the right to vote (but not women yet).
However, white supremacists in the South soon created Jim Crow laws to limit these rights.

🕊️ Civil Rights Movement (1950s–1960s)

Although slavery ended in 1865, it took almost 100 years for African Americans to gain real civil
rights. They faced:
• Racial segregation (separate schools, buses, etc.)
• Discrimination in jobs, voting, and housing
• Violence (e.g., lynching)
The Civil Rights Movement fought for equality, justice, and enforcement of the constitutional rights
Black people already had.
Prominent figures:
• Martin Luther King Jr. – Led peaceful protests, "I Have a Dream" speech
• Malcolm X – Demanded self-respect and self-defense
• Rosa Parks – Sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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• Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis, and many others
Important achievements:
• Civil Rights Act (1964) – Banned segregation and discrimination
• Voting Rights Act (1965) – Protected Black voting rights

Literary Movements Related to Slavery and African American

History
1. Slave Narratives (18th–19th Century)
Time Period: Late 1700s to mid-1800s (before and during the Civil War)
Purpose: First-hand accounts of life in slavery. These were powerful tools used by abolitionists to
expose the horrors of slavery.
Key Features:
• Personal suffering and resistance
 • Emphasis on the cruelty of slave masters
• Journey from slavery to freedom
Famous Writers:
• Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass)
• Harriet Jacobs (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl)

2. Reconstruction and Post-Reconstruction Literature (1865–1910)

Time Period: After slavery ended with the 13th Amendment (1865)
Themes:
• Struggles of freed African Americans
• Racism, segregation, and poverty under “Jim Crow” laws
• Hope and disillusionment with freedom
Notable Voices:
• Frances Harper
• Charles W. Chesnutt – Wrote about racial passing and colorism

3. Harlem Renaissance (1920s–1930s)

Time Period: After World War I, centered in Harlem, New York
Also called: The New Negro Movement
Themes:
• Celebration of Black identity and heritage
• Pride in African roots
• Rejection of white stereotypes
• Innovation in music (jazz), poetry, and art
Key Writers and Poets:
• Langston Hughes
• Zora Neale Hurston
• Claude McKay
• Countee Cullen
4. Civil Rights Era Literature (1950s–1960s)
Time Period: During the Civil Rights Movement
Themes:
• Racism and segregation in modern America
• Struggle for equality and justice
• Identity, trauma, and survival
Notable Writers:
• James Baldwin (The Fire Next Time)
• Richard Wright (Native Son)
• Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun – a play about a Black family's dreams)

5. Black Arts Movement (1965–1975)

Time Period: Directly tied to the Black Power and Civil Rights Movements
Slogan: "Black is Beautiful"
Goals:
• Use art to uplift and empower the Black community
• Create literature for, by, and about Black people
• Reject white literary standards
Famous Figures:
• Amiri Baraka – Founder of the movement
• Nikki Giovanni
• Sonia Sanchez
• Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
Toni Morrison, although influenced by this period, is usually considered part of a later
wave of Black feminist and postmodern writers.

6. Contemporary African American Literature (1980s–Today)

Themes:
• Black identity in a modern world
• Legacy of slavery and racism
• Intersectionality (race, gender, class)
 • Historical memory and trauma
Famous Writers:
• Toni Morrison (Beloved, The Bluest Eye)
• Alice Walker (The Color Purple)
• Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me)
• Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad)
• Jesmyn Ward, Roxane Gay, and many more

✍️Toni Morrison and Black Literary Movements

Toni Morrison was a powerful literary voice who:
• Wrote about the Black experience in America, especially from a female perspective
• Highlighted the psychological and cultural scars of slavery
• Famous works: Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon
She was associated with African American literature and emerged during the Black Arts Movement
(a cultural extension of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s–1970s), which aimed to:
• Celebrate Black identity
• Create art for, by, and about Black people

How Many African Americans Live in the U.S. Today?

As of the latest data from the 2020 U.S. Census:
• The Black or African American population in the United States is about 46.9 million people,
which is roughly 14.2% of the total U.S. population.
This population includes:
• Descendants of enslaved Africans
• African immigrants
• Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latinx people