An enduring grit

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Four hundred years ago, America’s first involuntary immigrants were delivered to the shores of the Jamestown colony.

They were mainly prisoners of war, and at first were EVEN perceived as human. Despite having no choice in departure from the shores of West Africa, the first Black transportees to make the infamous “Middle Passage” were considered indentured servants – to be freed within seven years and then afforded all rights of a subject of the English crown.

How different North American history would have been had this policy endured. Instead, greed for indigo, tobacco, and eventually cotton made it too easy to dehumanize an entire race. Centuries of British jurisprudence – which had from its Germanic roots ended Roman slavery on the Isle of Albion – was twisted and ignored across the Atlantic until people were considered little better than talking cattle.

Even in the French and Spanish colonies, which afforded African slaves some (very) limited sets of rights and an ability to hold onto at least a modicum of their native cultures were eventually stamped down thanks to Anglo-American common jurisprudence. Voodoo, food preparation, and the bamboula beat would be amongst the few cultural fragments to survive – and typically only in Latin colonies like Louisiana. The rich, urbanized, and sophisticated cultures from which their ancestors came in Africa would almost be forgotten – under the pain of the Lash and mandate of the Law.

Yet, the story of the original 20 African servants – turned-slaves who disembarked at Jamestown and their successors would prove more than just a tale of legal injustice. It would evolve into an inspirational story equivalent to the endurance of the Israelites in Egypt, of the development of a culture and a thirst for liberty which would later define much of the culture of the United States, and that of the world.

It is a tale of a multi-generational fight for freedom which ended peacefully and presidentially. Conquered Africa Conquered America by the grace of human hearts and the determination of men’s souls.

Dehumanizing racism, so essential to the growth of slavery, remains with us still today. That curse of the slavemasters continues to poison our body politic and our society. African Americans may feel its wrath for generations to come still, but hate’s endurance should not take away from the tremendous triumph of Black freedom. From the sweat and songs of those imprisoned, the culture of America grew. As the Biblical adage once put it, “Out of great evil, good can come.”

This article originally published in the February 25, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.