Essay, Research Paper: To Be A Slave

To Be A Slave
Essay submitted by Anonymous

The only things that come to my mind when I think of slavery and of the book To be a
Slave are either misunderstanding or very negative. During the slavery years, African
people were subjected to some of the worst treatments of the history of this planet.
They were forced to work for white people as slaves, but that is nothing compared with
the treatment they received. Slaves were beaten, mal-nourished, and disrespected as
a whole. Slaves were considered as low as the lowest forms of life. They were treated
less than some forms of life. They were treated as property that was disposable and
replaceable, and I don't understand why this mentality came into the human brain.

I sometimes can try to make myself understand how a man could feel that he could
own another man. Money and greed is probably the reason that made people feel that
they should convince themselves that they are superior to another race. I believe that
white people tried to make themselves believe that they were superior, and eventually
the idea surfaced that they were superior, even though deep down they knew they
were not. Why treatment was so harsh I don't fully understand either. My theory is
that the extremely rough treatment given to the Africans was to ensure that the white
people would remain "top dog." This could also explain the holocaust, when the Nazis
executed millions of innocent people for no apparent reason. They too could have felt
threatened by a different society. The only difference is that the Americans didn't
necessarily feel threatened by the Africans, but they probably didn't like the fact that
they could revolt and free themselves. Intimidation was a very effective strategy.
Harsh punishment could keep the slaves in-line. However, this thinking could only
happen once the idea that White people were superior was firmly, and falsely, imprinted
in the slave owner's minds. At first, when slave trading was new in America, I would be
willing to assume that punishment was not as harsh. It was probably gradual. Leading
to the climax of one of the worst spectacles that the eye of man has beheld. The
bottom line was the fact that slavery was evil, and that's bad. It unfairly took the lives
of innocent people who didn't stand much of a chance, and stole every profit that
could be made of them for another person. It became so bad that law declared that a
man could own another man. Luckily, we are no longer in the dark ages of slavery.
Every human being has, or should have, an equal opportunity to do what they want
with themselves, and that's good.