Black Existence

African Peoples

Before Captivity

 

 

The lives of Africans before slavery were much like the lives of the Europeans who captured them. Some lived in great cities, others in small towns, still others in the countryside. Some were rich and some were poor. Sometimes they lived in peace; sometimes they made war.

 

Like most of us, they honored their parents and adored their children. They worked hard and, when the work was done, they enjoyed making music, art, and crafts. On special occasions, or just for fun, they liked to dress in beautiful clothing, put on make-up, and see and be seen.

 

We often speak of the huge continent of Africa as if it were a single country. In fact, like Europeans of the same era, Africans lived in a wide variety of ethnic and national groups, spoke many different languages, and worshiped through different religions.

 

Imagine the traumatic shocks that came with being captured. Being permanently separated from your loved ones, forced to leave without saying goodbye or even letting family know what happened to you. Being bound together with people from other ethnic groups whose languages and customs were incomprehensible or who may have even been your enemies. About to face the endless suffering of the Middle Passage and slavery, something that many of the captured would have heard about during the hundreds of years when white people were hunting for and purchasing black people in Africa.

 

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