I read chapter 3 in the A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki. This chapter explains about slavery in America's past. First, I would like to give a brief summary of what went on in the chapter to outline how I will analyze the chapter. The chapter begins with explaining the fear and apprehensions that the British people first had against the African people. Then, the chapter goes on to explain how the Africans became slaves and were traded more frequently into the American colonies. Takaki also explains the forms of treatment that the slaves received and the abuse they had. Lastly, he explains Thomas Jefferson's perspective on slavery and how controversial his points were. .
The beginning of the chapter tells about the fear people felt towards Africans. It says, "In the English mind, the color black was freighted with an array of negative images: deeply stained with dirt, foul, dark or deadly in purpose, malignant, sinister, and wicked. The color white, on the other hand, signified purity, innocence and goodness " (50). From this quote we can see that the British people thought of the Africans were nonetheless, not of God and were sinners. They had been taught from the Bible that the people of Cain were cursed with dark skin so, it was obvious that they would fear the Africans, expecting that they were cursed too. In America slavery began in 1619 when John Rolfe said that a Dutch man came and sold them twenty Negars (51). There wasn't a great need for slaves in the beginning of America but as the land expanded and crops needed to be harvested in great numbers the colonies relied heavily on the slave trade to provide free laborers to do their work. This part of the chapter helped me to understand where slave trade initially started and it made me realize why the people felt they had to take charge of the African people, because they were afraid of them. They feared that if they didn't do anything the Africans would do something to them.