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.