According to Waldron Giles slavery made tremendous economic contributions to the United States, developing it into a world power. Despite this fact, Blacks continue to vie for respect and acceptance in a country which they have practical ownership through the down payment they made through their blood, sweat, and tears. The United States owes African Americans owe trillions of unpaid dollars which was earned by their ancestors (Giles, 2005). They made the largest national loan and financed the world’s greatest power.
From 1619 to 1860, slaves were imported into the US, and for the intervening 246 years, they provided more than 605 billion hours of free labor. These free labor financed the Industrial Revolution, most of the fortune 500 companies, two World Wars and left an indelible negative social impact on the black people. After 1860, slave importation became less profitable, and it was replaced with forced breeding. According to the US Census Bureau, slaves worked for around 60 hours per week for a whole year. The average pay rate $.10 per hour. The economic value of this free labor when inflated is $20.3 trillion (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1918).
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Also, capital gained from slavery was invested in colonialism, compounding the current economic enslavement of Africans on both sides of the Atlantic. Young productive men were taken from Africa, leaving the continent bereft of productivity and military protection. Therefore, on a global scale, the slavery’s total ‘Debt’ is huge enough to destabilizing capitalism.
I agree with Waldron Giles perspective that African Americans are hugely owed by the U.S., major corporations, and institutions such as Brown University, J.P. Morgan and DuPont Company which greatly profited from slavery. The principal income mechanism in the slavery during the slavery period was cotton, and the workers who produced it were never paid.
References
Giles, W. H. (2005). Slavery and the American economy. . African Renaissance, 2(2) , 108-111.
U.S. Department of Commerce. (1918). Negro Population, 1790-1915. Washington, D.C: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census.
