Page 5 - My FlipBook

paid the captain of the White Lion with food
and other supplies. The slaves were given “The United States of
new names by their owners, among them America, ‘a new nation,
Anthony, Isabela, William, Angela, Frances, conceived in liberty and
Margaret, John, and Edward. They were put dedicated to the proposition
to work in the fi elds as well as the homes of that all men are created
equal,’ began as a slave
their new owners. And so began the era of society.” 5
slavery in America—a dark and unmistak-
ably contrary chapter in a nation founded — Glenn C. Loury, Brown University
more than 150 years later on the principles social sciences professor
of equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness for all. Says Glenn C. Loury, a professor of social sciences at
Brown University in Rhode Island, quoting Abraham Lincoln, “The
United States of America, ‘a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,’ be-
gan as a slave society. What can rightly be called the ‘original sin,’
slavery has left an indelible imprint on our nation’s soul.” 5

In the early colonial period, colonists at Jamestown
(pictured) were happy to accept African slaves
from traders to work their farms. This was the
beginning of the era of slavery in America.