When slavery ended in 1865 how exactly did it contribute to the development of the U.S in the years moving forward?
Unfortunately, the United States had significant amounts of slavery in its history. This is evident in many things.
Sure it was. Just like slavery heavily contributed in all of civilisation building throughout the ages; the pyramids in both Africa and America through to every (or almost?) empire and dynasty around the world.
Not really though. Besides the morality of it, there were some pretty basic economic reasons why it was always going to end https://www.measuringworth.com/slavery.php Roughly in todays money, $50,000 per slave early 1800s through to $150,000 by the end of the civil war. They werent cheap, and it was only the large mining and plantation operations that could even afford them And that was all up front, prices determined in part on how much you it would cost to house and feed them vs a free worker whos costs you wouldnt have to pay up front and who you wouldnt have to house and feed. Economics are part of the reason the south clung on to the idea. You can claim it was about the Unions superior morality, but most types of businesses in the north simply wouldnt have been able to afford those kind of costs upfront. Apologies to anyone that thinks thats way too clinical But thats the way it really was. In the same time frame you also had a lot of chinese immigrants that would work for next to nothing and ended up working out cheaper than paying for slaves, especially upfront
You also had somewhere in the region of 12 million people abducted from africa over a 250 year period with the slave trade, and only 1/2 million of them ended up in America The other 11.5 million ended up in other countries you dont know about because they dont give a shit 50% of Brazils population has African heritage compared to the US's 14% 90% in Barbados How much does the average American Citizen know of Brazils slave history?
Well, there was a good alternative coming along called industrialisation. That contributed at least as much to several aspects of US society as slavery. The pyramids in Egypt might not be build by slaves.
A good example of symbolic violence is the nearly worldwide acceptance of European standards of beauty. The false aesthetic separation between “white beauty”—epitomized by long, straight, blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin— and “black ugliness”—epitomized by short, curly, black hair, brown eyes, and dark brown skin—grew out of slavery. Desmond, Matthew. Race in America (p. 15). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. So really, our entire concept of blackness, and even the word we use to describe African-Americans; "black", is a fallacy and is born out of the Atlantic slave trade. Otherwise, Africans would be know as Africans.
Black slavery would become institutionalized—meaning it would be incorporated into American society as a formalized establishment—through a series of social and legal changes that took place between 1660 and 1860. Rights began to be stripped from Africans specifically and nonwhites in general. When Virginia introduced laws in the early 1660s that defined Africans as lifelong servants, it became the first colony to legalize chattel slavery. Desmond, Matthew. Race in America (p. 57). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.
EDIT: There's a lot to say, but in general yes the slavery, among other things, did help build the U.S. unfortunately. EDIT: looks like there was slavery in South as well as North America.
Black africans were already referenced by the color of their skin long before the Atlantic slave trade.
It might be interesting to trace the origins of that. I think before black, it was maybe negro. But I think the point of what myself and Desmond from the quote are making is that we should not not not understate the role of slavery! It was an atrocity! And one that shaped the ethos's of societies throughout the entire world. It's not just the United States. And it's not just that black isn't black, nor white actually white. It's a multitude of things we must learn and absolutely know in our minds and hearts took place. Was wrong! Here is a site on the Web for anyone who is interested. Goes to Smithsonian. The Changing Definition of African-American | History | Smithsonian
Slaves probably didn't build a tenth of what labor unions have destroyed. Millions of slaves still exist in Africa and southern Asia. Black Americans don't talk much about that fact, or the thousands of white Americans who died fighting for their freedom.
Yes, and the vast majority of which ended up in the Carribean, Sth America and the Middle East. And how much do you know, how much do we ever hear about the plight of those people. In the US, related slave laws before the civil war through to segregation laws in the jumping jim crow era. How much of all that was really about the fear of black people taking over. Look at the history of Barbados in particular, because thats exactly what happened. They had slave codes brought in in the 1600s, which basically made any non african worker too expensive, so they all emmigrated out, leaving the blacks to do all kinds of work. Emancipation in 1834. The colony pretty much got abandoned. Ultimately leading to today where 90% of the population are descended from those slaves. An indigenous population that all got wiped out of course. In Barbados, in essence, the blacks won...which is one of the reasons you dont here so much about it
