“A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate. ” -Frederick DouglassWhen you think about slavery, you may want to consider the effects of an earthquake because that's how powerful it was. Like many earthquakes, slavery produced various harmful ramifications on everything around it. This included the devastation of family structures and, in the worst cases, the loss of life; and no doubt slavery caused the death of many just as Harriet Jacobs expressed: “I once saw a slave die after the birth of a nearly white child. In his agony he cried out, "O Lord, come and take me!" Her mistress looked on and teased her like a friend incarnate (Jacob 20). “The energy released by slavery is endless and will always live in all African Americans. Although, being practiced years earlier, slavery became very prominent in America in the 18th century. African Americans were beaten, starved, and stripped of their rights. It was common for them to live in terrible conditions and work in unjust circumstances In addition to being raped day after day, not least, they were deprived of freedom and dismantled by society, as well as by their relatives were not alarming enough, when slavery was legitimately abolished, “White America” found another way to control African Americans, through Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws immediately became the modernized institution of slavery barrier between opportunity and blacks, as they were seen as intellectually and culturally inferior to mainstream America African-Americans needed to heal from the ongoing…middle of paper…everything. However, society's divergent beliefs soon began to influence everything that would become of it. Their struggles became their motivations in life, especially as they faced a new world and discovered what lay beyond the plantations and hard work. Why were slavery and racism so powerful? They were no longer just linguistic units, they had acquired meaning. “White America” had become excited and linked its emotional and physical sensations to the control of African Americans. They had simply separated their feelings from life. And even so, they used fear as a shield to protect their feelings. However, due to the past, present, and growing future of African Americans, a wound can never be fully healed, because you will always carry it with you for the rest of your life. But through mental, spiritual, physical and emotional practices it is easier to succumb to pain.