Slavery and Emancipation of Slaves After the establishment of a refreshment station at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck was

to ensure a constant supply of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat for VOC ships. they were not provided with labour. &he 'utch initially did not have a sufficient labour force to grow enough fresh food supplies to meet the needs of their ships. (t soon became apparent that if the free burghers were to be successful agricultural producers, they would need access to substantial labour. &here were three possible sources of labour, the local )hoikhoi pastoralists, 'utch immigrants or people from passing ships, and the importation of slave labour. Van Riebeeck was instructed by the VOC not to set up a colony or imprison the local population for use as labour. *urthermore the )hoikhoi were not willing to become labourers for free burgers. &he VOC was already familiar with the practice of using slave labour in the +ast (ndies. (n !"#,, Abraham van -atavia, the first slave at the Cape arrived aboard a ship named the .alacca. &he following year a slave voyage was undertaken from the Cape via .auritius to .adagascar to purchase slaves. (n !"#/ two ma0or shiploads of slaves arrived at the Cape, the first shipload arrived in .arch on board the Amersfort. A total of !%1 slaves survived the treacherous sea 0ourney from an initial number of $#1. &hese slaves were captured by the 2ortuguese from the area around Angola and destined for -ra3il before the 'utch captured the ship and brought it to the Cape. &he second shipload of slaves arrived in .ay with $$/ from the Coast of 4uinea aboard the 5assalt. &hus, by !"#/ over half of the population at the settlement was slaves. 6lavery formed the backbone of labour force at the &able -ay settlement. *or instance, Van Riebeeck had eight female and three male slaves. hen the company allocated land to company employees in !"#$ and !"#% with various incentives,

&he 'utch began to use the Cape as place for banishing people that they considered 7troublesome8 from +ast (ndies. Others were imprisoned and shipped to the Cape as slaves. 6everal leaders such as 6heik .adura, who opposed 'utch colonialism and e9pansionism in the +ast (ndies was banished to Robben (sland at the Cape. &uan 4uru, a prince from &idore in the &ernate (slands, was also sent to the imprisoned on Robben (sland from where he wrote a book on (slamic 0urisprudence. :'eacon, !;;", p.,1<,$=. (t was both slaves and royalty from +ast (ndies that introduced (slam at the Cape. &he importation of slaves continued in the Cape until a temporary ban of the importation of male slaves from Asia was introduced in !%"% and !%/%. 6lave trade was then opened to free enterprise in !%;!. &his reopening of the slave trade by the 'utch was disrupted by the first -ritish occupation of the Cape in !%;#. &he first occupation ended in .arch !/1, when the colony was handed back to 'utch under the &reaty of Amiens and -ritish forces left the Cape. &hat same year war between and *rance broke again in +urope, >apoleon tried to stop -ritish trade with +urope. *earing loss of trade with +ast, -ritain occupied the Cape for the second time permanently in !/1". (n !/1% the -ritish government passed the Abolition of 6lave Act abolishing slave trade in the -ritish +mpire. (n the Cape, Amelioration laws that were aimed at improving the welfare of slaves in the Cape were introduced. A slave guardian appointed by the -ritish government was appointed to enforce these laws. As a result, the lives of some slaves improved somewhat after !/1%. 6lavery continued to e9ist within the Cape until !/,? when the 6lavery Abolition -ill passed in !/,, was enforced. &he emancipated slaves became 7apprentices8 to their previous masters for four years until !/,/ when the -ritish administration ended slave apprenticeship.

Emancipation and Reconstruction Freedom and Upheaval hen war broke out in !/"!, African Americans were ready. *ree African Americans flocked to 0oin the @nion army, but were re0ected at first for fear of alienating pro<slavery sympathi3ers in the >orth and the -order 6tates. ith time, though, this position weakened, and African Americans, both free >ortherners and escaped 6outherners, were allowed to enlist. -y the end of the war four years later, more than !/",111 African American soldiers had served, including several officers, making up !1 percent of the @nion army. .ore than ,/,111 lost their lives, and $! were awarded the Congressional .edal of 5onor, including 6ergeant .a0or Christian *leetwood. Aears later, *leetwood would writeB After each war, of !%%", of !/!$, and of !/"!, history repeats itself in the absolute effacement of remembrance of the gallant deeds done for the country by its brave black defenders and in their relegation to outer darkness. 5istory further repeats itself in the fact that in every war so far known to this country, the first blood, and, in some cases, the last also, has been shed by the faithful >egro, and this in spite of all the years of bondage and oppression, and of wrongs unspeakable. &he +mancipation 2roclamation of !/", marked the official beginning of freedom for enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy, although many did not hear of it for several months. 5owever, much of the slave population of the 6outh had been finding its way to freedom for some time, as African Americans walked off their plantations and farms in vast numbers, many making their way to the @nion lines for food and clothing. &his slow<spreading freedom eventually brought the Confederate economy to a near< standstill and helped guarantee its defeat at the hands of the @nion. Promising Beginnings ith the end of the war, the ratification of the !,th Amendment to the Constitution provided freedom for all African Americans in the @nited 6tates. &his freedom came, however, during a time of great national disruption, during which African Americans

faced hard times and an uncertain future. .ost had been left penniless by the war, and some had to avoid attacks by returning Confederates. .any tens of thousands began traveling throughout the 6outh in search of long<lost family members, searches that often took years. .ost important, the structure of the nation had been reordered dramatically, and it would take decades for the aftershocks of this transformation to fully work themselves out. African Americans were on the fault lines of that process. Howard University class, 1 1! &he chaos of the postwar years was met, however, by a tremendous wave of African American organi3ation. +ducation, long denied African Americans in the 6outh, became an especially impassioned cause. African American teachers helped found new schools operated by the federal *reedmenCs -ureau, and brought free public education to African Americans in the 6outh for the first time. -y !/%1, there were more than $?1,111 pupils in more than ?,111 schools. 5oward @niversity, *isk @niversity, and 5ampton (nstitute were also founded during this period. Significant election scene, 1"#! &he change with perhaps the greatest transformative potential, however, was African AmericansC new participation in electoral politics. (n !/%1 the !#th Amendment was ratified, which guaranteed all males the right to vote, regardless of Drace, color, or previous condition of servitude.D ithin a few years, every 6outhern state legislature had African American members, and !! African Americans had been elected to the @.6. Congress by !/%#. (n this regard, at least, the nationCs political identity appeared to have changed for good. Freedom $urtailed .any of the victories of the postwar years were Euickly withdrawn, however, and many of the worst aspects of the slave system returned to the former Confederacy. *ederal troops left the region in !/%%, and with them went much of the >orthCs interest in the well<being of the freed slaves. *ormer Confederates soon returned to power and enacted

grandfather clauses and other statutes that rescinded African American voting rights, along with many others. %eath at the polls, 1"! 6oon, African Americans in many 6outhern states were forbidden to vote, to testify in court against a +uropean American, to enroll in school, to travel freely, to disobey an order, or to leave a 0ob without permission. (n many states, any African American traveling alone could be arrested, sentenced to forced labor, and even rented out to private employers by local or state authorities. +ven African Americans who remained free of the law Euickly became prisoners of debt, as landowners implemented a sharecropping system that guaranteed that workers would never turn a profit on their land. Slavery is dead&'(, 1"#! >ew codes of social segregation also came into being, as +uropean and African Americans were forced into separate accommodations to an e9tent even greater than during slavery. &his harsh social order, sometimes known as DJim CrowD, was enforced by new vigilante organi3ations, including the )u )lu9 )lan, which terrori3ed African Americans and tortured and killed those who violated the new codes. Fynching skyrocketed, peaking in !/;$, when !"! African Americans were murdered by mobs. )isit of the *u+*lu,, 1"!*or all the tyranny and hardship of the postwar years, however, they laid the foundation for tremendous changes to come. (n the ne9t century, African Americans would sei3e the national agenda as they had never done before.