ColonisationSlave trade originated from European countries in the 15th century to the 19th century. It also
occurred in America largely. Spain, portugal and france were established ‘adventureres’ in the 13th
century and would travel to unvisited places in search of wealthy objects, like gold and silver from
the mines. During these searches, the colonists (Europe and America) began to use Africans to collect
these materials as they wouldn’t need to be paid and they would be able to make higher profits. It
wasn’t until the 15th century (starting in Portugal) that slave trading first knowingly began.
Evidence shows that the slave traders forced the slaves into incredibly dangerous and fatal
circumstances in the search for items such as sugar, cotton and tobacco. Slaves limbs would be cut
off if they didn’t gather enough items, and they could be tortured until they ‘worked harder.’ Many
slaves also had to share intensely small living areas with others, ranging to up to 10-15 people in one
area, giving higher risk to diseases spreading, and at the time, leading to mass death of slaveshowever this wouldn’t affect the slave owners, as they could simply acquire more for barely any cost.
Due to this, African civilisation and tribes became almost completely extinct as there wasn’t any
reproduction occuring or many habitants of their rightful homes.
https://www.pbs.org/video/why-did-europeans-enslave-africans-srl1wr/ - video link.
Civil Rights Movement-
In 1954-68, a movement intending to end racism and discrimination began in the USA. African
Americans had been forced to live in segregation, with them only being allowed to sit on the back of
buses, having toilets/restaurants/shops they could use being limited by the colour of their skin. Due
to this, a large group throughout the country decided to use peaceful methods of protest to try to
show that they could co-exist peacefully with white people and that they were the same regardless
of their skin colour.
Martin Luther King jr played a huge role in the development of rights for African
Americans.Influenced by his father, King used his motivational language and passion and produced
speeches that would resonate deeply with people, most famously his ‘I have a dream’ speech that
highlighted his views that all people could live equally without judgement. However, he faced a
magnitude of discrimation, with racist protestors throwing bricks through his home windows, where
his children lived. This did not deter Martin from following through with his dream. In 1968,
Tennesse, King was supporting Black sanitary workers who were on strike, when he was assassinated
by James Earl Ray. This led to a huge step in the way for black people in America, and later larger
parts of the world, as the President Johnson declared a national day of mourning, and inspiring so
many people to share Luther’s story and help with protests.
n 1964, a Civil Rights Act was passed, which banned discrimination in jobs and schools and
segregation in most public places. This changed lives hugely for African-americans and encouraged
other parts of the world to follow suit and modernise and adapt.
The Black Panther Party-
The Black Panther Party, which began in 1966, started ad a self-defense group for black people
against police brutality. At the time, police would grow quickly violent with african-americans (such
as the murder of Matthew Johnson, an unarmed teen shot dead by an officer), with little to no
punishment as rights for black people were so limited. They decided that something had to be done
to protect themselves in public. At their highest power in 1968, the organisation had over 2,000
members.
At the start, they simply monitored police activity in Oakland mostly and some other cities. The
founders of the organisation (Newton and Seale) used Marxist idéologies to promote. They had a
ten-point program, which highlighted their main goals- employment for African Americans, land -!;
an end to police brutality.
The group were involved in many violent encounters, with one of the founders, Huey Newton,
allegedly killing an Oakland police officer in 1968. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but later
the conviction was overturned.
The group were forced to disband in 1968, after the FBI declared them enemies to the United
States, placing the members in an extremely precarious situation that could fataly damage their
futures.
Present day-
Whilst the world has significantly improved in their ideologies and been educated to realise that
skin colour does not affect people in any way, just after the release of the movie Black Panther the BLM movement increased in size and popularity. However, the campaign still excited before this,
which could have directly affected the making of the movie, as the studio and cast would have been
aware of the positive impact a movie solely based on culture and inclusion would bring to the world .
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