Layout 1

Cultural Assimilation.Assimilationwas

virtually impossible for earlyAfrican-

Americans.The firstAfrican-Americans to

arrive in the colonies had been captured

from their home inAngola and sold in

Jamestown in the early 1600s.Many of

these firstAfrican-Americans were

allowed to raise crops and cattle to

purchase their freedom,and to marry and

purchase their own farms in Jamestown.

By the early 1700s,court rulings

established the racial basis for slavery to

apply primarily toAfrican-Americans and

occasionally to Native-Americans.These

court rulings institutionalized slavery and

allowed it to prosper (Hashaw,2007).

African slaves had become an essential

part of the European settler’s life.

Nearly all the slaves in the NewWorld

were brought from various parts of Africa.

The harsh conditions in the NewWorld

were just as difficult for the newAfrican

immigrants,if not more so,than for the

European colonists.Africans experienced

the same high mortality rate and skewed

sex ratio as the European colonists.

Africans came from various family

traditions based on their national origin

and religion.Because of the vast cultural

differences,as well as separation from

families,replication of their original

family style was virtually impossible.The

struggle was how to rebuild kinship in a

new,unfamiliar land.How much should

beAfrican,how much should be

European,and how much should be a new

model based on the experiences and

circumstances they encountered? The

constraints of slavery will probably never

be fully understood.We do know,

however,that,for better or worse,African

slaves were forced to adopt many of the

white settlers’cultural norms,including

religion.

Chapter 2

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