Reaction Paper to A. Gavin's Diasporic Africans and Slavery - Essay Example

Reaction Paper to A. Gavin’s Diasporic Africans and Slavery Synopsis The article by Raymond Gavins, Diaspora Africansand Slavery, gives readers a compelling description of the current Africans in the diaspora. The article discusses how the Africans were taken to the Western Hemisphere to work as slaves. Raymond Gavins also talks about slavery in details such as the evolution of slavery, the nature of slavery, along with the destruction of the inhumane act. Its sections talk about why Africans were enslaved and why slavery was essential in southern states and colonies.

Finally, it also discusses how slaves looked for liberation and survival, and also how slave trade led to the American Civil War, as well as the 13th Amendment. Question 1 The basis stated for enslaving Africans by a majority of scholars was that Africans were much easier to purchase compared to other indigenous Americans or white slaves (Gavins 92). Africans were also less vulnerable to Europeans’ diseases as compared to the Europeans themselves. According to Raymond Gavins, it is true to say that Africans formed better slave laborers compared to Europeans.

Raymond says that it is also a belief that Africans were targeted as slaves since they did not have the technology or advanced skills that Europeans had during the time when slave trade was so common. Africans still live in isolated tribes with restricted or limited communication among other people rather than large cites as the Europeans. Also, Africans never realized that they were being shipped off to the New World to work as slaves (Gavins 93). They realized this once they docked in the New World.

This made them more vulnerable to slave trade than any other race.Question 2In the past, slave labor was an accepted norm in the Western society (Gavins 94). This was particularly in complex financial systems and areas that needed specialized labor. Europeans who decided to settle in the New World took with them slaves that they had acquired from West Africa. Slavery was essential in the whole southern economy, southern colonies and states, mainly due to agriculture. Agriculture was the main factor of the southern states and economy (Gavins 95).

Slaves, on the other hand, were the main laborers when it came to planting. The southern land could not have worked as fast as it did without slave labor. Therefore, in order to drive the economy of the southern states and colonies, it was essential to maintain slavery in the region. Question 3African American slaves, in the new world, looked for survival and liberation in a couple of ways. They included economic, environmental and political incentives of improving themselves. Slaves exerted pressure on politicians to abolish slavery in the new world.

They advocated for their God given rights not to be treated as slaves, particularly in a country that takes pride in promoting human rights (Gavins 98). African Americans also looked for liberation through techniques such as strikes. A couple of times, Africans refused to go to the plantations, which, on the other hand, led to massive losses as there was nobody else to work on the plantations. Such acts made the government of consider abolishing slavery and introduce paid labor. Work CitedGavins, Raymond.

Diaspora Africans and Slavery. Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2005. Print.