Enslavement

Enslavement - Beginning in the 17th century, millions of African people were kidnapped, enslaved, and shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas under horrific conditions. Nearly two million people died at sea during the agonizing journey. In 1808, US Congress banned the importation of enslaved people from Africa at the same time that demand for labor in the American South increased. The Domestic Slave Trade grew to meet this demand by trafficking thousands of enslaved people from the Upper South to the Lower South. For the next two centuries, the enslavement of Black people in the United States created wealth, opportunity, and prosperity for millions of white Americans.  See EJI’s Slavery in America website and report for more information. 

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