Racism and the African Condition in America Research Paper

Racism and the African Condition in America - Research Paper Example The African Americans, who during the early times of the American civil war were not part of the recognized American society, were used as sources of labor. As such, they were treated as no more than animals that provided labor for the benefit of the slave owners and drivers, who reaped the benefits of free labor and controlled how much output they wanted from the slaves. This was one of the highest levels of racism, where non-blacks would not work, and if they did, they would do the least amount of work. The above case was also demonstrated by the use of African Americans being used to take part in and complete tasks that were deemed degrading to the prestigious and elite white race. Due to this, African-Americans had their role in the society reserved as per predisposition that they were inferior to the whites, which allowed African-Americans to be used for heavy manual labor in the farms and plantations. Following their predisposition in society, they were referred to as Negroes a nd were entitled to all forms of slavery-affiliated activities concerning forced labor. This was by all means, against traditional convention found in ancient civilizations, in which slavery was not based on skin color, but rather on the superiority of character and ability of the person I question. This is because ancient slaves were often the spoils of war or people that were captured from wars and raids, but the African American slaves were only picked to work based on the color of their skins. The above was a blatant portrayal of racism that existed in the period prior to the American civil war from the time of their capture from their native homes in different parts of West Africa. In addition to slavery, due to the color of the skin African-Americans bore the title of slaves from as early as the 18th century. With this in mind, they did not hold any form of human dignity as they were viewed and perceived as being less than human, but better than animals considering that they u nderstood the directions given to them. Under the treatment as slaves, they did not enjoy equal rights with the rest of the human population in America, as they were not human to the American slave drivers and owners; a direct translation of this statement indicates that as slaves they lived under very dilapidated conditions with no necessities except those that sustain life. However, they had to work for the same food they fed on in spite of working on plantations and fields for hours on end. They were forced into sugar factories and tobacco farms, with no form of protective gear, as they were as disposable as the next animal of no value despite raking in plenty of fortunes for their owners. As such, no other races were involved in work as slaves except African-Americans who were denied their rights as individuals and humans through collective treatment and misconceptions of inferiority in a white-dominated continent or land of Americans.1 In addition, for African-Americans to be d enied their rights there must have been a form of recognition of them being humans in order to decide that they were not equal to the rest. Religiously from the moment that the African-Americans were allowed to practice their own religious practices, they were faced with numerous racial challenges.