-they were slaves in early america, up until the 1800s
-even after slavery ended they were discriminated against with segregation, which separated white people and black people- black people got significantly worse treatment
-after slavery was abolished, there were still ways white landowners could exploit legal loopholes to effectively still have black slaves. one such loophole was sharecropping, where the landowner would allow the worker to use the land for farming in exchange for a share of the crops they produced. this didn’t give black americans freedom though, as they often ended up owing more and more towards the landowner, landing them in debt and more poverty.