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Africans who were enslaved experienced immense suffering, trauma, and loss of freedom. Many resisted slavery through acts of defiance, rebellion, and escape, as well as by maintaining cultural practices and forms of resistance. The legacies of slavery continue to impact African communities worldwide.
Enslaved Africans resisted slavery by practicing cultural traditions and maintaining their languages to preserve their identity. They also resisted through acts of sabotage, such as working slowly or breaking tools, to disrupt the system of slavery.
At the height of slavery in Haiti, there were around half a million enslaved Africans on the island. After Haiti gained independence in 1804, slavery was abolished.
European colonists excused African slavery by promoting racist ideologies that dehumanized Africans and justified their subjugation as a means to exploit their labor for economic gain. They also used religious beliefs to rationalize the practice and argued that Africans were inferior and needed to be controlled for their own good.
Europeans justified using Africans as slaves by dehumanizing them, believing they were inferior and lacking civilization. They portrayed Africans as exotic, savage, and uncivilized people who needed to be civilized through slavery. This allowed Europeans to exploit Africans for labor and economic gain without guilt.
Europeans justified the enslavement of Africans through racist ideologies that portrayed Africans as inferior and in need of "civilizing." They also argued that slavery was necessary for economic prosperity and that Africans were better off as slaves in European colonies. These justifications helped perpetuate the transatlantic slave trade and the brutal exploitation of Africans for centuries.