Unfair Morals of Slavery

          Recently in class, we have been learning about slavery. We looked at interactive maps, to determine why slavery is entrenched. We also read, about Futa Jallon, Africa and Natchez, Mississippi and the slavery that occurs in these two places. In class we also watched the movie, "A Prince Among Slaves." about a prince who was captured and forced to be a slave.  As a class we discussed the questions: How did slavery become economically entrenched  in American society by the early 19th century? How does a system of slavery based on race affect  human dignity? What human characteristics does such a system tend  to ignore?
          Slavery became entrenched for many reasons. The production of slavery increased by a large amount from 1790-1860. When the amount of cotton production increases the amount of workers to harvest the cotton increased. In 1790, only 1.5 million pounds of cotton was produced, most of which came from semi-tropical, long-staple cotton plants. However, by 1860, the south produced 2.28 billion pounds of cotton. In correlation, the slave population in 1790 was approximately 690,000. By 1860, with the growth of the cotton industry, the slave population was approximately 3,954,000. Slavery was entrenched because without the work of slaves the cotton industry would not have prospered as much as it did in 1860.
           A system of slavery based on race affects human dignity greatly. The prince of Futa Jallon, Abdul Rahman, obviously had a great amount of status in Africa. However, in Mississippi he had no status, he was a slave. In Africa a symbol of status and of your importance was your hair. When he became a slave, his owner cut off all his hair which wrecked his dignity. The salve system has no tolerance for the slaves personal feelings and beliefs which ultimately destroy their dignity.
           This system tends to ignore many important human characteristics. One of these characteristics is status. Abdul Rahman, the prince of Futa Jallon, got captured and was forced into slavery. Rahman tried to tell his owner of his position and life in Africa but instead of respect and empathy, his owner made fun of him by calling him "Prince". Another characteristic the system ignores is family. When Abdul Rahman is freed from slavery by his owner, he is the only one freed not his wife and several kids. The owner has no regard for family and Rahman has to fight extremely hard to free his family and one or two kids from the slave system.