Page 32 - 100 Events That Made History

Slaves were Slave trade
shackled for the Spanish traders sent the first
long journey.
kidnapped slaves from Africa
to the Americas in 1501. Soon,
they were being sent all over the
Americas. Many slaves did
not survive the grueling
journey, as hunger and
DISEASE WERE RIFE on
the overcrowded ships.

Slave traders often
bought slaves from
African merchants.

The slave trade to the
Americas destroyed
the lives of more than
How it changed
12 million Africans before
its official end in the
19th century.
the world
Slavery

abolished

After centuries of corruption and
CRUELTY, America ends slavery

Suffering of slaves
Upon arrival, most slaves worked as farmhands
on PLANTATIONS—large estates run by wealthy
landowners where crops were grown and sold for
profit. Life was miserable, with slaves made to toil
without breaks and in constant fear.

Slaves read the
Emancipation Proclamation.
Free at last
Slaves in the United States cast off their
chains in 1863 when President Abraham
Lincoln announced the Emancipation
Proclamation, an order that freed them
all. Though no longer owned by
someone else, the PATH TO EQUALITY
for former slaves would not be smooth.
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