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Around 1500, European mariners started bringing the black Africans into America as slaves. This forced migration was a first in American history. The slave trade, however, wasn't new to Europe or Africa. In the eighth century, Moorish merchants traded humans as goods throughout the Mediterranean. Additionally there were numerous West African peoples kept slaves. The West African slaves were typically criminals, prisoners of war or were the lowest-ranking members of their caste system.

The capture and sale of Africans to American slave market was brutal and, often, deadly. Two of five West African captives were killed in the process of transferring them to the Atlantic coast, where they were sold to European slave traders. On board the slave vessels they were chained beneath decks, in coffin-sized racks. A third of them died at sea.

They were frequently sold to owners in America who wanted to employ them as plantation workers. Slave owners could be harshly punished for slaves. They could also break up families by selling off family members.

Despite the struggles they endured, slaves developed a strong cultural identity. The adults of the plantations all looked after the children. While they were at risk of separation, slaves frequently married and kept strong family ties. They were introduced to Christianity and developed their own style of worship. You will get more details on travel by visiting housing discrimination website.

Spirituals, which are music of worship, reflect slave's endurance and the belief system of religion. Slaves frequently altered the lyrics of religious songs to convey the message of freedom or to commemorate the struggle for freedom.

African culture had a huge influence on American music, theater and dance throughout the course of time. African music and rhythms were incorporated into Christian hymns as well as European marches. The banjo was originally the African stringed instrument. The sound of the blues is an amalgamation of African and European musical scales. Vaudeville was a part of the evolution of song-and-dance forms first performed by black street artists.

Abolition and Civil War

The 17th and 18th centuries, some blacks gained their freedom, obtained the right to own property and were able to join American society. A lot of them moved to the North which was in which slavery, while legal, was not as much of an issue. Both free and slave African Americans made important contributions to the North's economy as well as infrastructure by working on roads, canals and the construction of cities.

Frederick Douglass understood that slavery wasn't the sole burden of the South. The South's slave-based agriculture was the backbone of the economy of the industrial North. Douglass demanded his Northern audience members to fight Southern slavery. "Are the fundamental principles of freedom from political repression and natural justice, as embodied in the Declaration of Independence, extended to us?" he asked. "What does the Fourth of July to an American slave?"

In the years before the Civil War began, many Northern blacks joined the fight for the Union. Many were surprised at the fierce fighting spirit of the black soldiers. The black soldiers weren't fighting to restore the Union. They were fighting for the liberation of their people.

Reconstruction and Reaction

To ensure that slaves were released, Northern soldiers remained South after the defeat of Confederacy. Blacks established their own churches and schools as well as bought land and they voted themselves into the offices. By 1870 African Americans had sent 22 representatives to Congress.

The Great Migration North

A lot of blacks started moving north in the 1890s. World War I opened many factory jobs. In the 1920s, new and strict laws dramatically reduced European immigration. This decrease in immigration caused a rise in demands for workers in Northern cities. Southern blacks, who were still ruled through segregation, started to migrate to the north in increasing numbers. Jobs that were not skilled were offered to young black men working in steel mills and meat packing manufacturing plants. They also were employed at auto assembly lines in Chicago and Omaha.

Black workers certainly made a difference in their lives in Northern cities. A lot of people from the rural South hoped for gas and indoor plumbing. Also, they were subject to discrimination.

But black urban culture flourished. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver brought their music north from New Orleans. In the sophisticated urban atmosphere of Chicago, these jazz pioneers took advantage of improvements in musical instruments as well as the latest recording technology to become famous during the Roaring '20s, also known as the Jazz Age.