Africans sold into slavery arrived in the New World by means of a forced immigration. Unlike the nation's other immigrants, they did not arrive on U.S. shores to seek opportunities or to start a new life; rather, they were shipped to the country against their will and deprived of their human rights for the benefit of slave owners. An immigrant is someone who travels to a country of which he or she is not a native with the intention of settling there as a permanent resident. Although Africans brought to the United States as slaves were certainly immigrants, their experiences differed widely from the experiences of people who chose to immigrate. (See chapter 8 for more information about the massive forced migration of Africans in the slavery era.)

Many of the lands the pioneers in the United States took over during the westward expansion already...