In the following video, you will see the experiences of the initial Africans to arrive in the British Mainland Colonies. Please pay attention to the world they entered and what their status and role was within it. As always, you are expected to leave your reflections/reaction to what you have viewed as well as leaving at least three comments to the viewpoints of others. Keep in mind, we are seeking to create a vibrant learning community that benefits all of us.
19 thoughts on “The Terrible Transformation”
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This video showed how essential slaves were to their economy. It also shows the fear that white people had of the slaves uprising so they instilled fear in them through punishments, separating them from their families, and killing them.
This video gave me a bit more insight into the history of slavery in the early days of the colony. The way that I remember it was that slavery just kind of appeared in the colonies and it was brought over by England and so on. Watching this, I now learn that there was that opportunity of equality. Those that were on contracts would work and then were entitled to land and clothes and such. However, because there were many who deserved their land or parts weren’t able to receive it, it led to revolts and rebellions, which led to others wondering whether or not indentured servants were worth it. Just because of the difference of skin color, they justified that African Americans were no longer apart of the colony, and that the rights that they had worked hard themselves to earn were taken away. It just seems crazy to me that before the establishment of what we know as slavery there was an actual point where everyone was equal. It was due to greed that their rights were taken away as they weren’t considered to be European, and with so little numbers what could they do? The title of the video really does suit the topic, and it was a terrible transformation for those who slowly watched their rights being stripped away from them little by little.
What most surprised me and caught my attention was the life of Anthony Johnson (Antonio). In grade school when we learn about the American history of Black people, we start at slavery. Outside of school, others would skip far in the past and state that “we were kings and queens!” But, we were never taught that in 1640 we were and had the capability of being and functioning as normal civilians. Anthony Johnson made a nice life for him, his wife Mary, and his four (4) children. He owned his own land (over 250 acres), cattle, and even his own servants.
After watching this video I kinda like how they talked about Anthony Johnson life story and how a women robbed a cargo ship full of Africans and traded them for food and after the Africans were baptized and given christian names. I found those two parts interesting.
First and foremost, I would like to state that I learned a great deal of information from this video. Growing up, I was the only African American female in my graduating class, meaning I went all four years of high school being the only one. In addition to this, I lived in a predominantly white town at the time as well. With that being said, it is easy to guess that I did not receive the adequate amount of knowledge concerning the time period of slavery. The most we ever discussed was Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr, Fredrick Douglas, etc. I had never heard the name Anthony Johnson until now. I was clueless of so much information for years, I am glad to finally have the opportunity.
I think that the details of Anthony Johnson is important information that should be taught. His land and hard work was stripped from him just because he was considered different in the eyes of white colonists. His name should be recognized and his story should be told more, as should all the others who had their hard work taken from them. I think it could be just one way to make up for what was taken for them at least, just by bringing recognition to the unfairness that took place.
It shows how it’s not all about skin color at first, it’s actually about profit but then slowly goes to limiting blacks to enslaving blacks.
What interested me most about this video is the life of Anthony Johnson (Antonio). Growing up, when we learned about slavery, i was never introduce to anything pertaining Anthony Johnson. This documentary gave me insight on more information within 2hrs than what I learned in school for years. I really was able to see how everything came about.
I agree. This video was a lot more informational then what is constantly repeated to us in high school. If we are going to cover such a heavy sensitive topic, they should cover key points too not just “oh lets just go straight to the colonies having slavery already.” Background information is key to everything, and I think this would help drive the point that everyone is equal.
It tells and talks about a lot of stuff I didn’t kno/ had no idea about how sudden slavery was and the origins of slavery
The crazy thing to me is that the slaves were traded for things such as goods. These are people’s lives are being given away by someone else for some goods. Horrible. Also, I can’t even imagine the mental problems what the Africans went through by having everything in their life taken and changed for them.
In this video, I learned in addition to the terrible transformation that was established in Jamestown, a racial caste system was developed to further demote the status as a black person. Africans were given the title “half-free” which allowed them to take others to court, yet, as explained in the video, many cases resulted in a death or slavery. I also found it interesting that if a black woman was impregnated by a white man in the colony, the child is under the same status as the father. On the other hand, if a white woman had a child with a black man, the white woman was banned from the colony along with the child. It just goes to show how patriarchy, misogyny, and racism have constantly been ingrained in the societal making of Jamestown, as well as today.
In 1619, before the pilgrims got to Plymouth Rock a women rob the cargo of Africans and traded them for food. Those Africans were baptized and given Christians names. Under British law a Christian slave couldn’t be enslaved for their whole life and that took me by surprised. They were put to work on enslaved estates for only a certain amount of years. Also when they said that in the African community it was a nation within a nation it wasn’t hard to believe.
In 1619 before pilgrims got to Plymouth Rock a women robbed a cargo of Africans and traded them for food. Those Africans were baptized and given christian names. Under British law a christian slave couldn’t be enslaved their whole life and that took me by surprise. They were put to work on enslaved estates for only a certain amount of years. When they would say that the African community was a nation within a nation, I believed it.
I was shocked to learn about Anthony Johnson. This was my first time hearing his name but I think that is because as black people they try to erase what happened by not mentioning all the important people we should know. Robbing a big cargo ship entirely filled with Africans and traded for things like goods and food. I could not imagine being sold for food. They look at our life like it doesn’t mean anything. They have changed their names and stripped of their culture just because they can. To me I feel it is all about power and money.
The terrible transformation is a different story than the American History version of how slavery started. Idealism of free men existed shortly. Slavery and freedom existed side by side. Slavery was a labor system of human bondage. Greed and laziness is the cause of slavery. The first trade of Africans for food was the beginning of white profit. The British stole Africans without consideration of their demise. Some of the British died on these voyages. Making and changing laws to keep Africans and African Americans in slavery so whites could profit is systematic racism. The system exist today. Blacks salaries unequal to whites in most white collar jobs. The unemployment among blacks is the highest in the country. Most blacks that work on blue collar jobs are the majority. The Virginia General Assembly made laws of violence to control blacks because of the fear they had of blacks rebelling. Laws continued to increase until slavery happened. Blacks are still controlled by unjust laws today. A high percentage of black males are in prison working for less than minimum wage. The story enlightens us to the beginning causes of slavery and passage to our present stage,
The British stole everything from the Africans. Their families, their way of living, their socioeconomic statuses. Once they entered British territory they were nothing more than slaves.
What most surprised me and caught my attention was the life of Anthony Johnson (Antonio). In grade school when we learn about the American history of Black people, we start at slavery. Outside of school, others would skip far in the past and state that “we were kings and queens!” But, we were never taught that in 1640 we were and had the capability of being and functioning as normal civilians. Anthony Johnson made a nice life for him, his wife Mary, and his four (4) children. He owned his own land (over 250 acres), cattle, and even his own servants. He had white servants! Not all white, be he still had white servants. I was gobsmacked. Anthony Johnson bore children who also bore children who didn’t. That was it and the white people took his land. It was like he never existed. Initially I was upset that their story ended like that, but after moments of reflection and watching the documentary further I believe this was for the best. Especially when the status of Black people was only getting worse.
I honestly agree with you there. It was just surprising to even know that this was possible at some point. It’s a piece of critical history others should really know so we can better understand the events of how slavery came to be in the colonies.