Blog question 3

I agree that economics played a role in the Atlantic slave trade. Painter tells us that it was a profitable endeavor for both the British colonists and the African village leaders. The fact that African village leaders aided in the capture of potential slaves helped provide a continuous supply of slaves. Europeans justified the need for slaves because of the particular crops grown in the colonies and islands of the New World. But, I don't think a policy or practice continues for over 250 years without it being about more than one issue. There were plenty of other people who could have been forced into slavery, such as the poor and powerless English, Europeans or the Native Americans. But, Africa had always been viewed as a distant and exotic place. One of the reasons was because peoples of Africa had different customs, religions and especially skin color. (The debate of Greek/Roman civilization versus Egypian had been part of society even in the 1600's.) That difference of skin color, I believe played a major role in the thinking that Africa was the "natural" place to secure slave labor. That is racism. If we accept racism as part of the equation of slavery, it is not so surprising that the colonists, and later Americans, justified so passionately its continuation for over 250 years and fought so fiercely to defend discrimination for a hundred years after emancipation.