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A Man to be Remembered

In 1619, a beginning to the development of America was the arrival of Africans to Jamestown. A Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of Africans for food, Africans became indentured servants, similar to many poor Englishmen who traded several years labor in exchange for passage to America, but up until 1680 the concept of racial-based slave system did not yet develop. Although the number of African American slaves grew slowly at first, by the 1680s African slave numbers grew to between 600,000 and 650,000 which had been forcibly transported to North America. By 1810, the number reached 6,000,000!! Slaves were forbidden from carrying guns, taking food, striking their masters, and running away. All slaves could be flogged or killed for resisting or breaking the slave codes (Sylvester). Although conditions became much better by January 15, 1929, when Martin Luther King Jr. was born into his Atlanta, Georgia home, weak traces of slavery and strong cases of prejudice and racism still exist...

Posted by: Margaret Rowden

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