African Americans In The Colonies

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African-Americans in the Colonies The United States didn’t always have 50 states, obviously. It first started with 13 colonies. There were many people that had arrived at first to contribute to these colonies. Caucasians came to the colonies only 60 years before the African-Americans. African-Americans had first come as slaves, but had many impacts on the rest of the colonization. “At the dawn of the American Revolution, 20 percent of the population in the thirteen colonies was of African descent.” (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). As soon as the blacks arrived, everything in the colonies was dramatically changed. African-Americans played just as an important role in establishing the colonies as the Caucasians did. The African-Americans…show more content…
Caucasians did contribute to America also. They came to the colonies sixty years before African Americans, and they started farming crops, building their shelter, and establishing the basics needs of living in a brand new place. They started the colonies, but they didn’t finish colonizing on their own. Caucasians started to coerce the African-Americans to do their work for them when they came. Not all African Americans were slaves early on. Some were indentured servants, who were poor immigrants that agreed to work 4-7 years for the cost of passage to the colonies. ”Indentured servants were most popularly chosen by several plantation owners before the 1680’s. The system provided motivation for the owner and servant to increase the amount of worker’s population in the Chesapeake Colonies” (USHistory.org). After the servants had done their time and were released, many became wealthy, and some even went on to own their own indentured servant. Some slaves and indentured servants even went on to write famous poems, songs, and other pieces of art that went down in…show more content…
As a gift for his adorned wife, John Wheatley bought Phillis to be a household slave. The Wheatley’s wanted Phillis to be educated, so they taught her to read and write by the time she was nine years old. Phillis went on to take care of herself being a poet and a seamstress. “Wheatley wrote a letter and poem supporting George Washington in 1776. Washington replied inviting her to visit him in Cambridge. He stated in the letter the he’d be ‘happy to see a person so favored by the muses.’” (Academy of American Poets). She went on to write several famous

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