The Haunted Tropics Analysis

Stuart gave well historical accounts of how the much mixing of people from different cultural background and race conglomerate to form cultural setting currently present in the Caribbean islands. The literature from this novel can be successfully applied in learning institution teach race and ethnic relation courses to assist students in gaining a significant understanding the Barbados inhabitants history. Though the author of the book speaks of the assimilation race in a very compassionate way, she efficaciously demonstrates the how the spectrum of color originated in this Island. According to her, this societal predicament connects to colonialism; the slave trade from Africa to American as well as the oppressive injustices came with the expansion of sugar plantations to meet the booming market demand during the period. The slaves worked under a harsh environmental condition where their masters denied them fundamental rights of human being.

This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.

Barker, Joseph. Interesting Memoirs and Documents relating to American Slavery. London: Chapman, Brother, 1846. Reprinted from a copy in the Negro Collection of the Fisk University Library. Mnemosyne Publishing, Inc., Miami:

Jamaica Kincaid 's A Small Place examines the historical/social context of how Antiguans dealt racism through slavery after an oppressive European colonization. Kincaid reveals that European colonization resulted in Antigua dealing with injustice such as corruption and poverty. She argues Europeans and Americans traveling to Antigua are focused on the beautiful scenery, which is not a correct representation of the day to day lives of Antiguans. Although racism has many negative effects, Kincaid seemed to state the benefits of Europeans’ colonialism and how it contributed to her life such by introducing the English language and the library that helped her to become a writer. Kincaid states that we “cannot get over the past, cannot forgive and cannot forget” (26); therefore, Kincaid feels that the past influences the present.

However, in the North, slavery did not play such a vital role which lead to slaves experiencing “less harsh labor, punishments, and more freedom”. Before the American colonies, “slavery had never been based on color and many times it was a role, not a permanent status”.

The theme of slavery still, to this day, remains and the world doesn’t need to remain shy on this brutal topic. Gaspar, David Barry, and Darlene Clark Hine. Black Women and Slavery in the Americas: More Than Chattel. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996. Print.

Within all major societies of the world exists a power struggle between the majority and the minority, the disenfranchised and the coddled. But no power struggle has achieved the same notoriety as the black slave’s plight in the Western world. From England to the West Indies and the Americas, black slaves suffered insurmountable trauma and subjugation. One of these slaves, Olaudah Equiano, recounts his experiences, both triumphant and pitiful, within the Americas and England to affect change in his audience and in the world. In his The Life of Olaudah Equiano, he utilizes specific rhetorical strategies to affect this change and to accomplish his goal.

Europe’s insatiable capitalist quest led to its conquest of many parts of the world, including the Caribbean island and mainland states. The process started with the ‘discovery’ of the West Indies in the late 15th Century by Christopher Columbus, and continued through the Triangular or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The need for land for the extension of Europe’s value-added assets resulted in colonisation of the West Indies, while the need for labour to till the soil led to slavery. Colonisation and slavery, therefore, are agents of capitalism. Imperialism is considered the plateau or highest point of capitalism, for imperialism is the conquest of lands and peoples for the imperialist regime’s extension of power and influence.

Slavery in Africa and in Latin America was distinct, despite being connected through the Atlantic slave trade. While traditional African slavery was practiced largely by communities to help produce food or for prestige, slave labor in Latin America was practiced on a much larger scale, for it was central to the colonies’

This excerpt is extremely important because it makes us better understand the status of African people, subdued by the European nations, and how the concept of slavery was perceived and addressed by

Since the number of Africans far outweighed English servants, the English dominant sought to take advantage of this and in 1662 passed an act that racialized slavery by defining it as a status inherited “according to the condition of the mother.” In January 1639/40, Act X passed stating, “All persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council” giving us one of many documented acts of how racial freedom was affected. In this essay, I

Score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free.” ( King, para.

In this article “African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion”, John Thornton a professor of history and African American studies, who wrote about the African slaves in the Americas, and specifically the servants in South Carolina during the early eighteenth century. In his writing, the author describes the personality of Africans and their desire to escape from slavery, going through obstacles on their path to freedom. John Thornton is primarily an Africanist, with a specialty in the history of West Central Africa before 1800. His work has also carried him into the study of the African Diaspora, and from there to the history of the Atlantic Basin as a whole, also in the period before the early nineteenth century. Thornton also serves as a consultant

So when ships arrived in 1619 with African Americans the problem was solved, slaves seemed like a simple solution. Even though the Declaration of Independence states, “all men are created equal” a large group of people was ignored in this statement. While white Americans were free African American

The Caribbean is a place where most of the countries share the history. It is a history that is deeply embedded with loss and struggle. Over the course of history, the Caribbean has been through a lot of stages from slavery, colonialism come right down to independence and post-independence. With slavery, the blacks were introduced, then we have the Europeans and of course the Indians came with the indenture ship program. Since the Caribbean has such a diverse array of cultures and ethnic groups, it is expected that these groups will leave their own impact on the society as a whole.