Indentured servitude in the colonies, described as a contractual apprenticeship, was first and foremost a voluntary decision. For the opportunity to become eventual landowners and improve their economic destiny in the new world, poor Europeans opted to accept the exchange of transportation, room and board for five years of labor and unknown experiences. Although the living and working conditions of the servants were intolerable, the servants were still recognized as human, armed with the ability to sue in the worst case scenarios of abuse and a contract termination date to again exercise free will post-servitude. In contrast, Africans did not volunteer for slavery nor were there any contractual agreements exchanging labor for any consideration, present or future. However bad indentured servants were treated, slaves were treated exponentially worse as they were not even considered human. They bore no legal or human rights but were identified, branded and treated as property. Slaves couldn’t salvage hope from a contract termination date because one did not exist for them. Everyday they endured abuse, beatings and rape until they had been psychologically conditioned to accept their new station in life or death. Although there is the similarity of working for room and board for a period of time that servants and slaves may share; the two groups experience in the colonies were very much different.
The voyages for both Europeans and Africans to America were horrific. Both passages suffered spoiled food as nutrition, filthy water to drink, and contaminated air to physically and psychologically filter for life. Also, both were afflicted by multiple diseases and fell victim to many deaths. However, for Africans, en-route a trade system which took them from their homeland to South America and eventually North America, the travel conditions were gravely worse. Unlike indentured servants who received a 2x6 feet bedstead; slaves were handcuffed in twos and chained...