A Statement on the words Immigrant and Fugitive Slaves
It is very important that educators make a distinct difference for students between immigrants and fugitive slaves. The dictionary defines immigrants as people who leave one country to settle permanently in another in hopes of having a better life. Although many immigrants and refugees today come from war-torn countries and terrible conditions, many end up in refugee camps. However, their journey is much different than that of fugitive slaves who came to this country in chains under captivity.
Enslaved Africans had no choice in deciding whether or not they wanted to come to America. They were chained and forced to march hundreds of miles to the west coast of Africa, where they were placed in slave castles. Men, women, and children were separated into the most horrific conditions imaginable. When they entered the “door of no return,” they had little hope of returning to their homeland.
They were placed in the bottom of slave ships with little air and chained next to each other. The dead and the dying lay shackled beside the living. They could reach the latrines only if they were able to crawl over other human beings in a tossing ship. In a book called *The Black Holocaust* by S.E. Anderson, the following narrative was recorded by an African: “We had to either squat with knees and arms folded or sit with another person wedged between our legs for 8 to 14 hours every day for the weeks and months it took to cross the Atlantic. The alternative was to lie flat on our backs for hours or days on wooden deck boards that were splintered and filthy with blood, vomit, human waste, parasitic bugs, and f lies. We were shoulder to shoulder, chained to each other and chained to the floor or the ship’s hull.”
Africans were prisoners aboard ships of death and brutality, yet these ships had such names as *Brotherhood, John the Baptist, Justice, Integrity, Liberty, Mary, Morning Star*, and a ship called *Jesus.* This information is recorded in *There Is a River* by Vincent Harding. It must also be noted that African people never accepted this condition of enslavement, and they resisted in numerous ways. Their goal was to escape by any means possible. Many committed suicide by jumping overboard into the ocean.
In many textbooks, the term *immigrants* is used when referring to African slaves. When Dr. Ben Carson referred to the Africans aboard slave ships as immigrants, he met a storm of protest from African Americans across the country. As a result, he issued an apology.
My message to educators is to learn as much as possible about the history of African Americans. Be sensitive to these topics. Provide our youth with meaningful and correct information about the history of African people. Remember also that prior to enslavement, there was civilization on the continent of Africa. Civilization itself began on the continent of Africa.