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Impacts of Forced Migration

There are two different forced migrations in the United States that I feel have most dramatically impacted who inhabits this nation and how America is today.  One is the forced migration of Native Americans away from their original homelands.  The other is the Africans that were brought to this country to be used as slaves.  The Native American population was decimated by the forced migrations.  As many as 1/4 of Natives died on the Trail of Tears where they were forced to relocate to "Indian Territory", which is present day Oklahoma.  Many present day Native American tribes are still located in Oklahoma today.  This forced migration has changed the populations of states all over the nation.  Instead of these tribes and people being all over the United States, like they were originally, there are only in reservations set aside by the government. Of course, not every person of Native American descent lives on the reservations, with the original tribes.  Many have intermarried and merged with other races, cultures and societies. The other forced migration I feel has an enormous impact on today is African slave trade.  Many African Americans today can trace their roots to slave ancestors.  Africans were taken from their homeland and forced into a live of servitude here in the United States.  Even though African Americans are considered a minority, there are many, many African Americans in this country today that never would be here if it were not for slavery.  I think that many slave owners felt that blacks were less than them; that is how they rationalized the fact that they could be a slave owner and also a good person.  Most slave owners would consider themselves a Christian.  This no doubt fuels the great divide in race relations that exists today between blacks and whites.  Some of the divide is perceived racism, but many instances are very real, even deadly.

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