The Treatment Of Men During Slavery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Treatwork forcet Of Men During Slavery - Essay ExampleSlaves in the ancient Roman conglomerate consisted mostly of prisoners of war, captives sold by pirates, or even children of Romans in penury who had been sold. The slaves were engaged in farming, businesses, functional for private households, and in the construction of infrastructure for public use including aqueducts, bridges, roads etc. It was common for the owners to distribute the slaves cruelly, and even kill them and not be punished for it. But nigh slave masters were also kind and considerate to their slaves (Nardo) as indicated by the saturnalia festival which was an occasion for the slaves and masters to be thankful to each other and enjoyed peaceful time together. Also, a hallmark of Roman slavery as compared to the innovative variety was manumission or the formal release from slavery by the owner. Contrasting the ancient system of slavery in Rome with the system that existed until the end of the 19th centur y in the Americas, in particular northeasterly America, the glaring difference was that the latter was based mainly on race. Marysue Andreozzi The import of slaves from Africa to America began mainly imputable to the shortage of labor. And the blacks were believed to be hard workers. Furthermore, the practice did not meet with any religious disapproval either, since the church building law did not prohibit black slavery. Thus began slavery with racist overtones. Gradually, the slaves themselves became a trade commodity. Thus, what began as a need to overcome shortage of labor became the means to acquire more wealth (McKay et al., 2008). It is believed that in a span of a little more than 300 years (between 1500 A.D. and mid 1800 A.D.), around 12 million black slaves from Africa to the Western Hemisphere. A first-hand account of the harrowing life of the slaves aboard the ship on their voyage from Africa to America has been given by Alexander Falconbridge (1788) who was the British surgeon on four of those voyages. As mentioned in the narrative, the blacks who refused to eat had their lips almost scorched by red-hot coal that was brought on a dig very close to their lips and also issued dire threats that they would be made to swallow the embers if they continued to resist take food. The author mentions that he heard of a captain pouring molten lead on some slaves who obstinately refused to eat (p. 23). On the voyages Falconbridge saw that the Blacks were provided extremely uncomfortable accommodation on the half prettify with planks to sleep on. Lying on the bare planks caused their skin and in even flesh of the emaciated men to get rubbed off from their shoulders, hips and elbows due to the constant motion of the ship (p. 28). Exercise being deemed necessary to trammel the slaves healthy, they were forcibly made to dance on the deck even in foul weather when it was unmanageable to be on the deck. They were flogged if they showed any reluctance or were no t Marysue Andreozzi active (p. 23). On longer voyages such as from the coast of Guinea to the West Indies, the food ration was very small, which led to quarrels among the slaves (Falconbridge, 1788, p.22). Also, the allowance of irrigate was restricted to about half a pint per head per meal. The life of the slaves once they reached the shores of America became good a shade better. They were housed in slave pens a description of which has been provided by Abdy