Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group Member

Journal Entry #1:

My name is _________, and I am writing this journal to bring awareness as to how my race of people came to be known as African Americans. Many years ago, my African ancestors were brought to North America by force and made to be slaves to the white man. My people were uprooted from the happy home they knew, the Motherland: Africa. My great-great-great grandparents were brought to this country by force over one-hundred and fifty years ago aboard ships shackled hands, feet, and neck to one another.

Back home, during happier times, they lived in a tribe and enjoyed the company of family and the members of their tribe. They were happy and carefree. When they were stolen away from their home land, they were brought to this country and treated as less than human. They were beaten into submission. Some were beaten to death because they would not submit.

Africans were treated like animals and the personal property of the slave master. They were sold to the highest bidder. Many cotton and tobacco plantation owners in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee bought slaves to work their land, cook, and clean their homes. The slaves were ‘bred’ to multiply while in captivity. Breeding of slaves gave the plantation owners more slaves to work their plantation.

Once the race of my people became mixed because of the slave master taking the African women, the children born to the African slave women were then classified as African-American because they were born on American soil. As time progressed, African Americans were classified as minorities and segregation began. They were not allowed to socialize or associate with white people. Blacks or Negroes, as we were called, were not allowed to use the bathroom of whites. There was a water fountain for whites and one for blacks. There were even doors on public buildings for whites, and blacks had to come in through the back door. Thankfully and eventually freedom came to my ancestors from slavery, but their battles...