The Story We Tell: Pre-viewing Activity

Please answer BOTH of the following questions prior to our viewing Episode Two: The Story We Tell

> How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

> Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

27 thoughts on “The Story We Tell: Pre-viewing Activity

  1. – I think the idea of race started around the time people started dividing themselves into different nation, continent, social class and people were also able to easily migrate to different lands where their clothings, appearances, cultures, and civilization differ greatly from one another. Migration wasn’t an easy task until advancement were made that allows easier means to travel so maybe around the Renaissance period (14-17 centuries) where ideas and advancement flourish throughout Europe. It was also during this time when African enslavement started and the slave trade began.
    – Slavery existed in Europe way before Africans enslavement. One example is during the medieval time where there were masters and serfs. In a way, serfdom can be viewed as a form of slavery because the serfs were tied to the land so if the land was sold the serfs go with it. The social classes were fixed. If you were a serf, your child was born one as well. The idea of inferiority existed before the Renaissance so why wouldn’t it exist during and after the Renaissance as well. I think they were enslaved because they were deemed inferior. Due to the distance between the two continent (Africa closest to Europe), the European must had viewed them as inferior because of the differences between their civilization. They were easy nearby target for European countries to enslave. The European then brought them to Americas.

  2. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I think the idea of race has been around for a very long time. I am not sure where it began, but it probably started when people began migrating to other countries during war and difficult times. Perhaps it started in the United States around the time of the civil war, but the idea of race were probably around even before that. When people see things that are different, they will label and classify them to try to understand it.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    Did the chicken come before the egg or the egg before the chicken? It’s hard to say which was first, but I think that Africans were deemed inferior in the Americas because they were different and not white. In order to control them and to create superiority, they were enslaved.

  3. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I think the idea of race has been around in the 17 century and even till now. I am not sure where race come from, But i think it had started from back in the days when people had to migrated to different countries to find places to live and farm. Also by the skin color, the way they dress, and the language they speak.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I think Africans were deemed inferior because they were enslaved because they notice that Africans people can satisfy their needs with cheap products.

  4. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I believe race has been around for hundreds of years. I think it once people started noticing that other people looked different from them or talked different from them they started to separate themselves into different groups. When people come to other nations they are instantly outcasted as someone who is not like them, so I imagine it started like that.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior. Whites saw that a group of people who were different from them and thought they were superior. I don’t even think whites saw Africans as human beings. They wanted power so they enslaved Africans because they did not feel Africans had the same rights as them.

  5. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I think the idea of race has been around for a long time since before people begun separating themselves into tribes, groups, civilizations, and countries. The idea of race probably have been around since people realize they are different from others to differentiate between themselves and others. She is female, and he is male. I believe the realization of gender is the start of the idea of race. Everything begins from becoming aware of the differences between ourselves and others.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior. Slavery have been around since ancient times, enemies were caught, sold, and put to work usually in the lost of war / battle. An example will be the Anglo-Saxon Society who captures prisoners of war, enslave, and put to labor. In the case of the Africans in the Americas, they were viewed to be of poor civilization, and is efficient for cheap labor. Enslavement is used to display superiority, and status therefore, I believe Africans were deemed inferior then enslaved.

  6. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    The idea of race is probably been around for amount of years which you can’t account for. It probably started way before when wars and conflicts started (I believe at one point everything was peaceful). For some reason it reminded me how the Europeans first explored Asia. The Asians most likely didn’t want outsiders invading their land and such which is how the idea of race started.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I think Africans were enslaved in America because they were deemed inferior. Back in the days, when slavery was still going on, the white people had power such as guns when the Africans didn’t have so the white people were superior. But if the Africans had power would slavery happen? No one would know

  7. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    From my knowledge the idea of race began during the time where people began to divide themselves in groups, even as hunter gatherers settlement of early civilizations lived at war with each other over land, resources and food. No one really knows were the idea of race came from to point exactly in one direction, but if you look at the history of Mayans, early Greek history, all the way to ancient civilizations like Ancient Babylonian times the concept of race already existed in that people view themselves as different. However, if you look at it in modern times it seems like we must have given it a name recently to understand it; Perhaps, during the industrial revolution where documents and other journal resources became an important part of society.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    African Americans were deemed inferior because the idea of slavery had already existed before Europeans reached the Americas. By the time the Trans-Atlantic slave trade had started Africans were transported by boats suffering the worst conditions and inhumane treatment. Any African American children born out of African ethnic groups from this time automatically became slaves without given the opportunity to be free. If Africans would have overthrown and enslaved the Europeans, today we would have been talking about white slavery. In other words, History has many loops that could have been different that even from ancient times no one can point to a specific person who started the idea of slavery. It is now only at this time that we can see that almost every culture, nationality or region has experienced slavery at one point in history.

  8. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I think the idea of race has been around from the beginning of mankind. I think that the development of language finally led to the term being formed, but I feel that the idea of race has been around long before the word was created for it. the word came from Europeans in the 17th century.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I think Africans were enslaved for both reasons, they were deemed inferior therefore they were enslaved. I feel that the minds of the racist white people at the time of American slavery were pretty wrong and failed to see that these Africans were human beings just like them.

  9. I’m not quite sure where the idea of race came from but I do know that it has been around for decades. I think the inferiority of Africans lead them to be enslaved and they were deemed inferior before slavery (if that makes any sense). I say this because if you look back many slaves were stronger than their masters and didn’t stand up to them due to fear. through all of the torture and abuse Africans were subject to, they still remained strong and overcame the inevitable. Some learned the escape routes and were able to escape to freedom, some were also brave enough to go back to free more slaves and some survived until slavery was abolished and lived to tell their stories.

  10. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    It’s been around for an incredibly long time. Probably as a consequence of migration and the conquering of territories as a way to label people. Exactly when and where, I cannot say.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I think they were deemed inferior and therefore enslaved.

  11. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I’m not quite sure how long the idea of race has been around, but I believe the idea started to come about through migration when people started to notice that there was a certain distinction between the way they looked and talked from a certain group of people. This question makes me wonder if there was no such thing as migration, would the idea of race ever exist ?

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I certainly don’t think that they were enslaved because they were deemed inferior because I believe slave owners probably saw that they there were certain quality that Africans had and were able to withstand punishment and long hours of labor. I believe that Africans were deemed inferior because they were enslaved. If seeing that almost everyone had slaves, after a while it becomes normal to just treat them horribly and not see them as humans. If Africans were never enslaved would they ever be deemed inferior? How would society look like today ?

  12. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    – Race has been around for many years. I think race has always been among us we just never put as much thought into it as we do now. I think race arose from people who looked for a reason to discriminate anyone who was different. I think White people especially discriminated anyone who did not look like them and acted like a superior being to those around them.

  13. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I think the idea of race started around the time where colonization began around the world. That’s were explorers began to discover the land with a diverse groups of people. They felt superior to those who had a darker skin completion. Based on the Columbus journal he described the people unappealing and unintelligent with out knowing them.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior from my point of view. Based on their skin color they seem unappealing to the Europeans. They were thought as people with no knowledge because of cultural differences. Unlike Europeans had fancy clothing and known religion. To Europeans the Africans had no soul and they were not seen as people just property.

  14. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I believe the idea of race has been around for a very long time. I believe it come from the age of exploration because it is when people started going out to sea to explorer. The explorer meet with other people with different color.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I believe that Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior due to being enslaved.

  15. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I think that the idea of race is a recent concept within the last century. The idea of race came from us gaining more knowledge throughout the years. When we started to look at our appearance and realized that we looked different. It seems to me that we found maybe a group to belong, to find our identity based on how look.
    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I don’t know if Africans were considered inferior. I think they were enslaved because they were different, easily identifiable, and certain skills that they were good at, they were used for. Throughout history there has always been a struggle with power and control. I still see that today. Men want some kind of power and control over a set of people, race or gender. I say people because sometimes men do not know they too are being controlled by other men sometimes in a cult or war.

  16. 1. Race has been around as long as skin color was a determining factor in cultures around the world, so basically after nomads settled down into civilizations. Originally racism was defined as those outside of your tribe, or those with a significantly different physical appearance. It then evolved into being mainly about cultural background and skin tone. The skin tone aspect is still found all over the world, while cultural race has melded in many areas, especially like New York or other melting pots.

    2. I believe that Africans were enslaved in the Americas due to several layers of injustice. First is the fact that warlords, tribe leaders and the like sold their kinsmen into slavery for resources or material wealth devaluing them into objects, not people. Secondly because this was seen as the way the continent (and subsequently all people of color) operated the Europeans had little issue degrading them into objects, and devaluing them into slaves instead of humans.

  17. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I think the idea of race has been around as long as humans have been around. People have always divided themselves into different groups or tribes. In the early days of humanity race might have been looked at as people from different tribes. Then as thinks like skin color or language started to change they were used to differentiate races.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I think that they were enslaved because they were deemed inferior. If you look at the history of slavery, not just the enslavement of Africans, the stronger civilization tends to enslave those who they deem inferior and who might not be as technologically advanced. When Europeans first came to the Americas (looking at you Columbus), they immediately began enslaving the native population. They viewed the natives as inferior and were easily able to enslave them because of the Europeans technological advantage (guns). This is similar to what happened in Africa where a technologically advanced came across still developing tribes and found it easy to enslave them.

  18. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around?
    Where did it come from?
    I guess it’s been a long time since people differentiate a minority and treat them differently. I think it began before the colonization but that was the time when people started to distinct a different group of people; different races during the colonization then racism has turned to slavery.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas
    because they were deemed inferior,
    or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    Africans were not enslaved because they were first deemed inferior. I think they were deemed inferior as they were born at that time.

  19. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I think the idea of race has been around for way too long; before when all people starts migrating and seeing different people in their regions. All those migrations, all those power-hungry forced wars to claim land, and such.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    I feel as though they were deemed inferior that’s why they were enslaved for being so. If one sees you as a threat, they would do anything to their power to try to “suppress” that sort of say. Its all in the part of degrading one’s group in order to gain control of their own kind; not to be viewed as weak.

  20. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    I think that the idea of race has been around for a very long time. It probably has been around when people started to differentiate themselves on the basis of their physical characteristics such as skin and eyes color, hair texture, shape of the nose and mouth. Race has been around when people started to divide the world into continents, into nations and into social classes. The idea of race started when those in position of power wanted to dominate those who had no power at all.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I think that African were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior based of their color, way of living and certainly lack of power to defend themselves. The other reason that explains why Africans were deemed inferior and enslaved by the white people was due to the shortage of labor that existed in the white plantations, but the official rationale for enslaving Africans was that they were considered heathens, but slave traders and slave owners sometimes interpreted a passage in the book of Genesis as their justification. Ham, they maintained, committed a sin against his father Noah that condemned his supposedly black descendants to be “servants unto servants.” This was all just made up story by those who were in position of power, but in reality there is no evidence that a certain race is inferior to another.

  21. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I think the idea of race has been around in the 15th century with the Europeans conquest, bring to the new world by America and to the American slave systems.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    From History i remember at the time of Columbus where the Taino died because they cannot withstand labor given by the colonists. Some of them went through suicide, many by sickness there was a priest Las-casas that favored the Indians and stated that blacks are physically made and born for hard labors. The White colonist went to buy blacks in Africa, the priest himself went to different stribes where blacks are to tell them that they should listen to their masters if not they will get punish or not going to heaven. Enslavement of Africans in America was opportunistic not based on beliefs about inferiority.

  22. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I believe that the concept of race began with the increase of colonization. Europeans interaction with the rest of the world resulted in their belief of their superiority and their need of defining the differences among them.

    I believe that Africans were enslaved because they were deemed inferior. The European saw African as less civilized and evolved and because of that treated them so inhumane.

  23. > How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    I believe the idea of race has been around since Europeans began to explore the world. It resulted from seeing people unlike themselves and was developed to justify their opinionated superiority.

    > Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    Africans were enslaved because they were deemed inferior and in turn were seen as less civilized and animalistic.

  24. How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
    – I believe the idea of race has been around as long as humans have been civilized. I think that when there were only cavemen and neanderthals, there was no concept of race or skin tone, but when homo sapiens came to be, people started coming up with concepts of superiority and inferiority and comparing each other based on the physical.

    Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?
    – I think that Africans were enslaved because they were deemed inferior based on their physical appearance being different and the fact that they were seen as uncivilized.

  25. -> How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?

    The idea of race has been around since people from different places began to migrate into the same areas. It was used as a means of classifying people and separating them socially based upon where they where from and what they looked like.

    -> Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

    I believe that Africans where deemed inferior because of their enslavement rather than their enslavement being a product of their deemed inferiority. Their enslavement was most likely due to their distinct appearance and the rural lifestyles they lived in certain parts of Africa at the time.

  26. i think race has been around since the beginning of time when people notice that no everyone is the same and started grouping people by what they see (skin color). i think the idea of race came from realizing people can be separated by figure, skin tone, belief, and others. i think that Africans were deemed inferior because the white people can take advantage of african americans

  27. i think race has been around since the beginning of time when people notice that no everyone is the same and started grouping people by what they see (skin color). i think the idea of race came from realizing people can be separated by figure, skin tone, belief, and others. i think that Africans were deemed inferior because the white people can take advantage of african americans

Leave a Reply to Malcolm M Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *