Q: What are some of the reasons why Black people were not generally united during the time of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade?
– Black History Questions and Answers Admin Team
A: There were several reasons for this.
Here are five of the main ones…
- Some were opportunists, who participated in the trade themselves in order to secure positions of power, prosperity, and protection. Opportunists came in all colors. Even persons who were enslaved in the Americas found ways to exploit the trust of others who were also enslaved only to divulge plans of resistance to the oppressors.
- Some were prideful in what the enslavers thought of them. There were those who committed not to do anything without the approval of their master. This attitude was key to the disruption of many revolts on the slave ships and in the Americas. In the United States, for example, the insurrection plots of Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey, which had been years in the making, were crushed for the simple reason that they were told to loyal slaves.
- Some had embraced the culture and ideologies of their oppressors to the point that they only saw the enslavement and indoctrination of their peers as a natural and beneficial process. By equating the adoption of Christianity with freedom, many who were enslaved were more likely to pacify others into servitude and less likely to agitate for true freedom.
- Some were controlled by the petty benefits of the system. Slavery encouraged certain vices which are known to shred the moral fabric of any human society. These included lewdness, intemperance, gluttony, and revelry. With an abundance of options for temporary escapism, there was very little incentive for a real escape from the slave system.
- All were first conquered along existing divisions. When outsiders first encountered the people of Africa, there was no vast community to identify themselves with any landmass, physical traits, or historical struggle. Rather, there were many groups of people who related to each other in different ways with different understandings of origin, character, and history. European traders, who had common interests and motives in plundering the land and the people, used the clashing interests and motives of Africans to their advantage.
– Omri Coke, Black Researchers United Admin Team
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