Native American slavery “is a piece of the history of slavery that has been glossed over,” says Linford D. Fisher, associate professor of history at Brown University. “Between 1492 and 1880, between 2 and 5.5 million Native Americans were enslaved in the Americas in addition to 12.5 million African slaves.”
While natives had been forced into slavery and servitude as early as 1636, it was not until King Philip’s War that natives were enslaved in large numbers, Fisher writes in the study. The 1675 to 1676 war pitted Native American leader King Philip, also known as Metacom, and his allies against the English colonial settlers.
During the war, New England colonies routinely shipped Native Americans as slaves to Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, the Azores, Spain, and Tangier in North Africa, Fisher says.In 1721, 45 years after the end of King Philip’s War, the Connecticut General Assembly took up the question of second-generation Native American child slaves. The Native American children who had been placed as servants in English households after the war had grown up and had children of their own. What should be done with them? Fisher writes that while leaders did not approve of enslaving them, they also did not want to set them free, so that generation of children also became indentured servants.
Native Americans sold overseas occasionally made it back to the United States, Fisher writes. Others died or disappeared into a wider slave market and labor force, or became established in the locations where they were sent, like the modern-day community of individuals in Bermuda who claim New England Indian descent.The Boston Massacre was not really a massacre, but more like a riot. In fact only five people died.One of the most common myths is that the BM was the event that led to the Revolutionary War. In fact, many important events led up to the massacre. It was called a massacre by the use of propaganda. It mainly started by the British trying to enforce laws.British Soldiers were sent to America to enforce the Proclamation and to maintain order but their presence just made matter worse.It all started March 5 by a couple of boys throwing snowballs at British soldiers. A crowd soon gathered throwing ice and making fun of them. Soon after, the British started firing wildly. Other weapons were clubs, knives, swords, and a popular weapon, your own bare hands.The people that died are: Crispus Attacks, one of the more famous people who was an African American sailor, Samuel Gray, a worker at rope walk, James Caldwell, a mate on a American ship, Samuel Maverick, who was a young seventeen year old male, and Patrick Carr, a feather maker.The purpose of the Boston Massacre was to try to make liberal and moderate people become radicals. It was really an accident and the radicals tried to use propaganda and turn something small into something big. The British soldiers were accused of Murder and manslaughter. To represent them was John Adams, a relative of Samuel Adams. Adams wanted the trial to get over and didn’t want the truth to come out. The Boston Massacre and misleading visual representation by Paul Revere could have been one cause of a later war.The BM increased the hatred between the Americans and the British. The radical people tried to use this minor event as propaganda. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams were happy the few colonists died because they used it as propaganda so the colonist would get mad at the British. Whenever the word propaganda is used it means the truth is stretched
