Bloodlines and race in historical context

Race

Portuguese Thoughts on Seized Africans

The Portuguese chronicler perceived the seized Africans of the mid 15th century with great detail and consideration. The chronicler observed many aspects of the seized Africans that show their culture and their feelings. He saw the various reactions of the people as they stood in chains awaiting the next step in their unthinkable experience(s). He saw people weep; he saw them detach from reality and seem numb. The chronicler noticed the intense emotional responses from the Africans when they were separated from family and friends while led away in chains. He definitely saw many seized Africans lose their grip on reality and their sanity demonstrating hysteria and mania as reactions to their capture. These variations in their reactions show that the African people seized have the full range of human emotions, just as humans from any other part on Earth, such as Portugal.

Other variations that the chronicler noticed included the variations in skin complexion and body type in the seized Africans. Long before Africans were brought to America as slaves and the notorious sexual history among slaves and slave-owners commenced, there were Africans with skin that many westerners considered European. The chronicler calls some of the Africans mulattoes, which is a term used to describe blacks who are mixed with white but are just too brown to pass (as white), yet not dark enough to be considered full blown African (at first glance). There were no whites in Africa at this point in history, yet the diversity of the African people as it is more modernly imagined had always been a characteristic of the African people. As the chronicler notices differences in their physicalities, he also notices differences in their cultural expressions. Some of groups of Africans mourn their situation with song; some groups of African engage in basic rituals of prayer. Whether the chronicler is aware of it or not, he is chronicling the diversity of African cultures as seen through the eyes of those who have made them their captives. This observation is significant with regard to the propaganda spread throughout the western world about how Africans are savages with no culture, civilization, humanity or other redeeming qualities.