Africans Were Brought to America and Sold as Slaves

What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves? Africans or people from Africa. Between the early 1600s and the 1800s, approximately 12-12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken from their homes in Africa and transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. About 400,000-500,000 were brought to what became the United States. This forced migration and enslavement of Africans was one of the greatest human rights violations in history. It fundamentally shaped American society, economy, and culture, creating inequalities and injustices whose effects continue today.

For the citizenship test, you need to know that Africans were taken to America and sold as slaves. Understanding this history is essential to understanding American history honestly.

The Essential Facts

For the citizenship test, remember: Africans or people from Africa were brought to America and sold as slaves.

Key facts about the slave trade and slavery:

Transatlantic Slave Trade: Forcible transportation of Africans to the Americas from the 1500s-1800s. About 12-12.5 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic; about 10-11 million survived the voyage.

American Slavery: About 400,000-500,000 Africans were brought to British North America and the United States. Through natural population growth, by 1860 there were about 4 million enslaved people.

Duration: Slavery existed in British colonies from 1619 (or earlier) until 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment abolished it—over 240 years.

Economics: Slavery was an economic system. Enslaved people’s forced labor produced tobacco, rice, cotton, and other crops that enriched slave owners and the broader economy.

Racism: Slavery was justified through racist ideologies claiming Black people were inferior. These racist beliefs outlasted slavery and continue affecting American society.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade was a massive forced migration:

African Capture:
Africans were captured through warfare, raids, and kidnapping. Some African kingdoms and merchants participated in capturing people for sale to Europeans. Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homes.

Middle Passage:
The voyage from Africa to the Americas was called the “Middle Passage.” Conditions were horrific:

• Enslaved people were packed into ships in inhumane conditions
• Many died from disease, malnutrition, or suicide
• The voyage took 6-8 weeks across the Atlantic
• About 15-20% died during the voyage
• Survivors arrived traumatized, sick, and weak

Sale in the Americas:
Upon arrival, enslaved Africans were sold at auctions like property. Families were separated. People were sold to different owners and often never saw their relatives again.

Scale:
About 12-12.5 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic over 400 years. This was one of the largest forced migrations in human history. The majority went to the Caribbean and Brazil; about 400,000-500,000 came to what became the United States.

How Slavery Began in British North America

Slavery developed gradually in English colonies:

1619:
In August 1619, a ship brought “20 and odd” Africans to Jamestown, Virginia. These were likely treated as indentured servants initially, but their status was unclear and evolved toward permanent slavery.

Early Ambiguity:
In the early 1600s, slavery was not yet well-defined in English law. Africans, like some Europeans, might have been indentured servants working for a set period before gaining freedom. Some early Africans in Virginia did gain freedom and even owned property.

Legal Codification:
By the 1640s-1660s, Virginia and Maryland began passing laws making slavery hereditary and permanent for Africans and their children. These laws created racial slavery: Africans and their descendants were enslaved for life, while Europeans could not be.

Why Africans?
Colonists initially used Native American slaves and European indentured servants for labor. But:

• Native Americans died from disease or escaped to their home territories
• Indentured servants were temporary (4-7 years) and became free
• Indentured servitude was declining in England

Africans were targeted because:

• They could not easily escape (far from home, different appearance)
• Europeans rationalized enslavement through racism
• African slave trade already existed, operated by European powers
• Enslaved status could be made permanent and hereditary

Economic Expansion:
As tobacco, rice, and later cotton became profitable, demand for labor grew. Slavery expanded dramatically, especially in Southern colonies where plantation agriculture dominated.

Life Under Slavery

Slavery was a brutal system:

Legal Status:
Enslaved people were considered property, not persons under the law. They had no legal rights. They could be bought, sold, inherited, or given away like animals or tools.

Family Separation:
Families were routinely separated. Children could be sold away from parents. Husbands and wives were sold to different owners. These separations caused enormous psychological pain.

Violence:
Enslavers used violence to control enslaved people:

• Whipping was common punishment
• Torture and mutilation occurred
• Rape of enslaved women was frequent
• Killing enslaved people had few legal consequences

Forced Labor:
Enslaved people worked from dawn to dusk:

• In fields: planting, tending, harvesting crops
• In homes: cooking, cleaning, caring for children
• In skilled trades: blacksmithing, carpentry, etc.

Work was exhausting and unceasing. Enslaved people received minimal food, clothing, and shelter.

No Freedom:
Enslaved people could not:

• Leave the plantation without permission
• Own property
• Marry legally (though many had informal marriages)
• Learn to read or write (laws prohibited teaching enslaved people)
• Testify in court against white people
• Make decisions about their own lives

Resistance:
Despite brutal conditions, enslaved people resisted:

• Running away (though captured runaways were severely punished)
• Working slowly or breaking tools
• Preserving African cultures and creating new African-American culture
• Maintaining family bonds despite separations
• Practicing religion (often Christianity, sometimes mixed with African traditions)
• Occasional rebellions (though brutally suppressed)

Enslaved people maintained their humanity and dignity despite systematic dehumanization.

Regional Differences

Slavery existed throughout colonial America but with regional variations:

Southern Colonies/States:

• Slavery was central to the economy
• Large plantations grew tobacco, rice, indigo, and later cotton
• Enslaved populations were large—in some areas, enslaved people outnumbered free people
• Harsh slave codes controlled enslaved populations
• Slavery lasted until 1865 (Civil War’s end)

Middle Colonies/States:

• Slavery existed but on smaller scale
• Enslaved people worked in cities, on small farms, in skilled trades
• Gradual abolition laws freed enslaved people in Northern states between 1780s-1840s

Northern Colonies/States:

• Slavery existed in colonial period but declined
• Economy based less on agriculture, more on trade and manufacturing
• Slavery abolished earlier: Vermont (1777), Massachusetts (1780s), other Northern states by early 1800s
• But Northern economy still benefited from slavery (shipping enslaved people, financing slave trade, manufacturing goods for Southern plantations)

Even in the North, racism persisted after slavery ended. Free Black people faced discrimination and limited rights.

The Economics of Slavery

Slavery was fundamentally an economic system:

Profitability:
Enslaving people was extremely profitable. Owners paid nothing for labor except minimal food, clothing, and shelter. All profits from enslaved people’s work went to owners.

Cotton Kingdom:
After Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin (1793), cotton production exploded. Cotton became America’s most valuable export. The “Cotton Kingdom” in the Deep South relied entirely on enslaved labor.

By 1860, cotton represented 60% of U.S. exports. The entire American economy—North and South—benefited from cotton wealth built on slavery.

Wealth Concentration:
Slavery concentrated enormous wealth in slave owners’ hands. Large plantation owners were among America’s richest people. This wealth came from stolen labor.

National Implications:
The entire nation’s economy was tied to slavery:

• Northern factories processed cotton
• Northern ships transported cotton and enslaved people
• Northern banks financed plantations
• Northern manufacturers sold goods to Southern plantations

Slavery enriched not just slave owners but the entire American economy.

Justifying Slavery

Slave owners developed ideologies to justify slavery:

Racism:
The primary justification was racism—the false belief that Black people were inferior to white people. Racist pseudoscience claimed biological differences made Black people suited for slavery. These claims were completely false but widely believed.

Religious Arguments:
Some Christians misused the Bible to claim God approved slavery. They ignored biblical teachings about human dignity and equality.

Paternalism:
Slave owners claimed they were helping Africans by “civilizing” them through slavery. This was obviously hypocritical given slavery’s brutality.

Property Rights:
Slave owners argued they had property rights to enslaved people. They portrayed abolition as theft, ignoring that slavery itself was the ultimate theft—of freedom, labor, and dignity.

These justifications were morally bankrupt. They existed to rationalize an evil system, not because they were true.

Abolition and the Civil War

Opposition to slavery grew over time:

Abolition Movement:
Abolitionists worked to end slavery:

• Quakers were early opponents
• Frederick Douglass (escaped from slavery) was a powerful abolitionist speaker
• William Lloyd Garrison published abolitionist newspaper “The Liberator”
• Harriet Tubman helped enslaved people escape via Underground Railroad
• Many others risked their lives opposing slavery

Political Conflict:
Slavery created political divisions:

• Missouri Compromise (1820) tried to balance free and slave states
• Compromise of 1850 included Fugitive Slave Act requiring return of escaped enslaved people
• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) led to violence over whether territories would allow slavery
• Dred Scott decision (1857) ruled Black people could not be citizens

Civil War (1861-1865):
Slavery caused the Civil War. Southern states seceded to preserve slavery. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed enslaved people in Confederate territory. Union victory ended slavery.

Thirteenth Amendment (1865):
Abolished slavery throughout the United States. This finally ended over 240 years of legal slavery in British colonies and the United States.

Lasting Impact

Slavery’s effects continue today:

Racism:
Racist ideologies created to justify slavery did not disappear when slavery ended. Racism continues affecting American society through discrimination, prejudice, and inequality.

Economic Inequality:
Enslaved people and their descendants received no compensation for centuries of stolen labor. This created wealth gaps between Black and white Americans that persist.

Jim Crow:
After slavery ended, Southern states created Jim Crow laws segregating Black and white Americans and denying Black Americans rights. This system lasted until the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

Mass Incarceration:
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery “except as punishment for crime.” This exception has been used to continue exploiting Black Americans through disproportionate imprisonment.

Cultural Contributions:
Despite slavery’s horrors, enslaved Africans and their descendants created African-American culture: music, art, food, language, and traditions that enriched American culture immeasurably.

Trauma:
The trauma of slavery affected generations. Family separations, violence, and dehumanization left psychological scars passed down through families.

Why This History Matters

Understanding slavery is essential to understanding America:

Founding Contradiction:
America was founded on principles of freedom and equality while practicing slavery. This contradiction shaped American history and still affects American society.

Economic Foundation:
Much American wealth was built on slavery. Understanding this is essential to understanding American economic development and ongoing inequalities.

Racial Justice:
Current racial inequalities have historical roots in slavery and its aftermath. Understanding slavery helps understand why racial justice remains an ongoing struggle.

Human Rights:
Slavery was a massive human rights violation. Remembering this history guards against future injustices and honors those who suffered.

Moral Reckoning:
Honestly confronting slavery’s history is necessary for America to live up to its ideals of equality and justice.

Connections That Matter

Understanding slavery connects to the Constitution. The Constitution originally protected slavery through provisions like the Three-Fifths Compromise and Fugitive Slave Clause. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were needed to undo these provisions and grant freedom and rights.

Slavery relates to the Civil War and Reconstruction. The war was fought over slavery. Reconstruction attempted to integrate freed people into American society. Understanding slavery is essential to understanding this period.

Slavery also connects to the Civil Rights Movement. The movement fought against Jim Crow—the system that replaced slavery with segregation and discrimination. Civil rights leaders invoked slavery’s injustice when demanding equality.

For more on slavery, see our articles on the Civil War and Reconstruction in the uscis-questions category. To understand constitutional amendments ending slavery, read about the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. To learn about the Civil Rights Movement, see our article on Martin Luther King Jr.

Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions

Why were Africans enslaved and not other people?
Economic and racist reasons. Africans could not easily escape (far from home), racism rationalized their enslavement, and European powers already operated African slave trade. Native Americans died from disease or escaped easily. Europeans could not be permanently enslaved.

Did Africans sell other Africans into slavery?
Some African kingdoms and merchants participated in the slave trade, capturing people for sale to Europeans. But this does not excuse European and American enslavement. Those taken were victims regardless of who captured them.

How many enslaved people were there?
In 1860, just before the Civil War, about 4 million people were enslaved in the United States. This was about 13% of the total U.S. population.

Did all white Southerners own enslaved people?
No. Only about 25% of white Southern families owned enslaved people. Large plantation owners with many enslaved people were a small minority. But slavery’s economic and social system affected all Southerners.

Did enslaved people fight back?
Yes. They ran away, worked slowly, broke tools, and occasionally rebelled. Rebellions like Nat Turner’s (1831) terrified slave owners. Thousands escaped via the Underground Railroad. Resistance was constant despite brutal punishment.

How did slavery end?
Through Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed enslaved people in Confederate territory. Union victory and the amendment (1865) ended slavery nationwide.

What happened after slavery ended?
Former enslaved people faced enormous challenges. They had no property, education, or resources. Southern states created Jim Crow laws segregating and oppressing Black Americans. True freedom and equality remained elusive for generations.

Did slavery exist in the North?
Yes, in the colonial period and early United States. Northern states gradually abolished slavery between the 1770s-1840s. But Northern economies still profited from Southern slavery.

Were there free Black people?
Yes. Some enslaved people were freed, others were born free in Northern states after gradual abolition. By 1860, about 500,000 free Black people lived in the United States (compared to 4 million enslaved). But free Black people faced severe discrimination and limited rights.

What should I memorize for the citizenship test?
Africans or people from Africa were brought to America and sold as slaves. This is the essential answer. Know that slavery lasted over 240 years and was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment after the Civil War. This is sufficient for the test.