Before the war there was a very large African American community already in place. Of course, these had mainly come from the west of Africa as slaves. The conditions in which they were transported were horrendous. The slave ships were always packed. The slaves were positioned head to toe and this allowed disease and death to spread quickly.
Of course the Africans arrived in the US to do a job for the white people that lived there. This was despite the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that stated,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." The transport of slaves from Africa had been continuing for many years.…
