The relationship between poor European Americans, poor free Essay

The relationship between poor European Americans, poor free whites,African Americans and the Native Americans during the early colonial period - Essay Example The poor European Americans also interacted with Native Americans during that period. With regard to the early colonial period, this paper will discuss the relationship between poor European Americans and both African Americans and Native Americans. Although the first African Americans in Virginia are considered by some historians to have been equal servants with their White indentured counterparts, they were treated and perceived differently. Some African Americans had earlier on been treated in the same manner as European American indentured servants, albeit with limited terms of indentures, but racial differences soon changed the situation. The indentured servant system created disorder, making racial slavery more attractive to slaveholders (Morgan 32). Essentially, these made African Americans a permanent and dependent source of labor, often seen as people set racially apart while European American indentured servants earned freedom after several years. It follows, therefore, that under such circumstances the European American slaves also viewed themselves as superior to African Americans. The slave owners developed crude systems to maintain their hold on the African American slaves because they were thought to have agricul tural skills. In a human society, it was inevitable for the European Americans to develop awareness of racism, which negatively impacted their relationship with the African Americans. The two populations were both slaves, but their relationship was further strained by the fact that African Americans had been isolated from their culture and plunged into a new and strange heritage of family relations, language and customs. Here, personal responsibility can be said to have shaped the relationship between the two populations, as African Americans were weighed down by their new and mostly involuntary statuses. Compared to African Americans, Native Americans were considered stronger. The