The Different Roles Played By African Men And Women During Slavery - Book Report/Review Example

?The different roles played by African men and women during slavery I. Krotoa and women in the West Africa Slavery in African began with the arrival of slave traders and resulted to conflict of interest for resources. According to Gomez1, slaves to Muslim slave traders in West Africa were to be treated with lots of dignity and kindness, were to marry at own consent, and overworking or excessive punishment was not allowed among other benefits. At first, race was not an issue on the slaves, but Muslim slaveholders later specialized to blacks only. The arrival of Dutch settlers in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, led to conflict of interests between the KhoiKhoi, who became slaves and the Dutch who became the slave masters2. The presence of the divisions did not please a woman named Krotoa who at the age of 21 got married to a Dutch, Meerhof, against the prevalent culture that saw slaves marry other slaves and the settlers never marrying slaves3. Krotoa was convinced that through learning the ways of the Dutch, she could assist her own people (Khoikhoi) by being a translator and continue embracing the ways of her people despite being married to the Meerhof, who had a different culture. Van Riebeeck4, the successor of Wagenaer, the Dutch who had employed Krotoa as a house help, perceived the double life by Krotoa as unacceptable and decided to end it. After the appointment of Meerhof as Superintendent, Van Riebeeck ensured that he remained busy in a Garrison and oversaw convicts such that he had little time for Krotoa. Isolation from her husband led Krotoa to turn to drinking possibly due to loneliness and this worsened after Meerhof’s death in an expedition5. Van Riebeeck saw Krotoa as a slave who was not entitled to any form of happiness or good life and after misconduct while drunk, Van Riebeeck ordered her to be taken to the fort as a slave where she died. Through being an initiator of mixed marriages, Krotoa played a key role in the development of her own people and South Africa at large. The uniting motivation in Krotoa was not the same for women in West Africa especially in the Kingdom of Dahomey. In this Kingdom, female slaves assumed power and influence and served in loyalty to the kingdom and as soldier elite6. In addition, women slaves served as confidants to high officials. Comparable to Krotoa’s life, women slaves in West Africa performed agricultural work and other economic functions like dyeing and cotton spinning and trading7. Female slaves were also married as wives or concubines to powerful African men and performed domestic chores which was what Krotoa was doing in the Wagenaer household. II. The Capture and Zamba Zembola To some extent, slavery in Africa was perpetuated by those who were close to the slave masters. This was the story of a young man named Zamba whose father, Zembola, was the king of a small Congo community8. As the King, Zembola was in close relations to a slave trader known as Captain Winton9, an American. Out of the honorable relationship between his father and the captain, Zamba trusted the captain and agreed the invitation to accompany the captain to America in his slave ship. Although his father did not wish ill from the relationship he had with the captain on his son, the truth is that Zamba ended up being kidnapped upon his arrival in America and became a slave for 40 years before gaining his freedom. The life of Zamba is comparable to that of Soren, a barn Owl born in the forest Kingdom of Tyto the second born in a family of three10. Being only two weeks old, Soren, was with his siblings in their barn nest when the last born, Mirella threw him out of the nest on their home tree. It was not the ill intention of Mirella to have his brother captured as a slave but as he fell, Soren was picked by an owl patrol from St. Aegolius academy for orphaned owls. Like young Elf Owl named Gylfie, Soren had been stolen from his family. Gylfie was trying to fly prior to her flying time when she fell from the nest and captured by the owl patrol. Upon his arrival in America, Zamba is kidnapped and sold as a slave just like Soren and Gylfie would be made to moon blink as they matched under full moon repeating their name thereby losing their sense of individuality and becoming perfect slaves. At his home, Zamba remained enclosed within his village for the first six years of his life just like Soren and Gylfie11 had remained in their nests for the first days of their lives before they would learn how to fly perfectly12. Zamba’s father felt that the right time was not yet for him to be out of the village confines given that he was his only heir. As a slave, freedom was limited and all was done to ensure that one never managed to escape. For Zamba, being in America where he knew no one meant that it was impossible for him to escape especially now that slave trading involved blacks and its practice was on the rise. The aim of slave traders was to take control of the Africans such that they would remain under slavery and never have any form of freedom13. In order to retain slave fields, slave masters like Arabs forced everyone to learn their religion, culture and language, while the African culture was eroded and the culture and language of the slave masters were retained and spread across settled fields14. Bibliography Lasky, Kathryn. The Capture. New York, USA: Scholastic Inc.2003. Morris, Michael and Linnegar, John. Every step of the way: The journey to freedom in South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Human Sciences Research Council, 2004. Neilson, Peter. The life and Adventures of Zamba, an African Negro King: and his experience of slavery in South Carolina. Cornhill, London: Stewart and Murray, 1847. Wright, Donald, R. Slavery in Africa. Microsoft Corporation. 2000. https://autocww2.colorado.edu/~blackmon/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/SlaveryInAfrica.html. (accessed February, 20, 2013) Additional sources Gomez, Michael, A. Reserving Sail: A History of the African Diaspora. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Read More