How much did AFRICAN SLAVES contribute to make AMERICA one of the richest countries on earth?
This is a more challenging question than you make it out to be. First, you are right that slaves were not paid a cent EVER; however, this is somewhat biased and inaccurate. Slaves were given (subpar) housing and food–which cost the slave owner. In addition, the slave owner had to buy the slave (to pay for the slave trader who bought them from slave sellers in Africa, who were often themselves Black). If due to harsh living conditions, the slave died after a month, the slave owner lost money on the purchase. That is, they did not get the amount of labor out of the slave that would balance the cost the slave seller charged. Second, later in the process, many slaves were sharecroppers (meaning they gain a small income for working part of the land). Slaves could also be indentured servants (this is the classic White slavery of the time), who could work off their debt of being shipped to the US (however, it was rare for them to get out of this debt because the owner often charged them rent
