Why did black Africans allow themselves to become enslaved?

Answer 1

They were unable to stop the greed of their fellow humans. The shores of Africa are rocky, and a very dangerous place for ships to land. There are only a few places on the southern coast where a ship can land. Tribal warfare in Africa was an extremely common thing, and so were prisoners of war, and slaves in Africa. Europeans used this to their advantage. European Slave Traders did not march into villages, stripping Africans from their villages and homes to ship them off to be slaves. Majority of African tribal societies live inland due to the cliffs and rocky shores that are not suitable for fishing. The Europeans utilized African tribal warfare. The victorious tribe would march their prisoners of war to the southern coast, and trade them for weapons, as well as many other foreign items such as blankets and clothes. Then the prisoners became slaves. This was quickly recognized to be a very profitable practice. Soon raiding parties, formed of African natives, would overtake villages for slaves, and even abduct Africans in the night for slave trade.

It is worth noting that the "Black Africans" were not a unity. There were numerous different tribes with longstanding animosities. They saw no reason to unite against Europeans who were giving them good monetary treatment.