excerpts from the book...
To Be a Slave
by Julius Lester
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It is estimated that some fifty million people were taken from the continent, (my note: not
including the generation of Africans born into slavery outside the continent) during the years of
the slave trade. These fifty million were, of course, the youngest, the strongest, those most
capable of bringing great profit, first to the slave trader, and later to the slave owner. These
Africans were scattered throughout South America, the islands of the West Indies, and the
United States. Africa's citizens became the labouring backbone of much of the western
hemisphere.
Slavery differed from country to country. But it was in The United States that a system of
slavery evolved that was more cruel and total than almost any other system of slavery devised
by one group of men against another. No other country where Blacks were enslaved destroyed
African culture to the extent that it was destroyed here. Today there still exist, in South
America and the Caribbean Islands, African religions, music, and language, which came over on
the slave ships. Only fragments of Africa remain among the Blacks of the United States.
The slavery instituted by the founders of America has few comparisons for its far-reaching
cruelty.
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Resistance to Slavery - 1
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Resistance to Slavery - 2
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This is a book about how it felt to be a slave. It is told in
the words of men and women who lived through slavery.
Their stories are stories of long ago. But the power of their
emotions will go on forever.
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