Slavery
Functions of slaves. During the 1600's and 1700's, most slaves in what became the Southern
States worked on plantations that grew chiefly indigo, rice, or tobacco. The cotton gin invented
by Eli Whitney in 1793 resulted in fast, large-scale production of cotton. This fiber was the raw
material most needed by U.S. and British industry. The high demand for cotton led to the
establishment of cotton plantations throughout the South.
During the 1800's, most of the plantation slaves were field hands who planted and picked
cotton. House slaves worked as servants in the owner's home. Other plantation slaves became
skilled craftworkers such as blacksmiths, bricklayers, cabinetmakers, or carpenters.
Slaves also had a variety of jobs in Southern cities and towns. Many worked in factories. Others
became construction workers on canals and railroads or worked as dockworkers, lumberjacks,
office workers, or riverboat pilots. Still others toiled in mines.
Conditions of slavery. Owners housed their slaves and provided them with food and clothing.
The amount and quality of these provisions varied widely.
Field hands worked longer than any other kind of slave. Their workday generally lasted from
sunrise to sunset. Some of these slaves were housed as well as free workers. But many other field
hands lived under the worst conditions.
Slaves who picked cotton on plantations in the United States during the 1800's usually
worked from sunrise to sunset.
Josiah Henson, who later wrote of his experiences as a field hand, recalled that "our dress was of
tow-cloth ... and a pair of coarse shoes once a year. We lodged in log huts. ... Wooden floors were
an unknown luxury. In a single room were huddled, like cattle, ten or a dozen persons, men,
women, and children. ... There were neither bedsteads nor furniture. ... Our beds were collections
of straw and old rags. ... The wind whistled and the rain and snow blew in through the cracks, and
the damp earth soaked in the moisture till the floor was miry as a pig-sty."
Most house slaves lived in their owner's home. They worked fewer hours and had more privileges
than did field hands, but were more subject to the wishes of the owner's family. Most slaves who
in time were freed by their owner had worked as house servants.
No Southern state gave slaves the legal right to marry, own property, testify in court, or earn their
freedom. Yet some slaves did all these things because slavery, like other human practices, had
certain weaknesses. For example, owners had no guarantee of receiving willing obedience or
even loyal service from their slaves. To encourage faithful service, some slaveholders treated
their slaves kindly and promised them such privileges as gifts and money. Other owners relied on
punishment, such as lashings, short rations, and threats to sell members of the slave's family.
Whatever the system of discipline, slavery resulted in a contest of wills between owners and
slaves. In this unequal contest, the owners held all the power of reward and punishment. But
slaves used flattery, sabotage, and many other tactics to outwit them.
Slave trading became increasingly profitable throughout the South after the arrival of the
first black African slaves in the early 1600's. Many slaves were sold at auction houses, like
this one in Atlanta, Georgia. A sign at the front of the house reads “Auction & Negro Sales.”
The religion of the slaves played a key role in helping them survive the brutality of slavery. This
religion, a mixture of African and Christian beliefs, made the slaves feel part of a community. It
also gave them hope of a better life in heaven. State laws prohibited the education of slaves. But
the slaves developed their own language, music, and other means of communication.
Many slaves tried to run away to freedom. Thousands succeeded, including those who followed
the runaway slave Harriet Tubman along an escape system called the underground
railroad. Some slaves joined organized rebellions, but whites easily crushed most revolts. Noted
leaders of slave revolts in the United States included Gabriel (also called Gabriel Prosser), Nat
Turner, and Denmark Vesey.
Effects of slavery included a major role in the economic development of the United States.
Slaves helped clear the wilderness and build important canals, railroads, and roads. The cotton
picked by slaves became the nation's most valuable export. The income from cotton paid for a
major share of U.S. imports.
The westward expansion of slavery during the early and mid-1800's had important political
effects. Northerners feared that the South would gain control of Congress if Western territories
entered the Union as slave states. Attempts by the North to exclude slavery from these territories
angered the South and helped bring on the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Slavery had a variety of effects on slaves and owners. It broke the spirit of many blacks but made
many others vow to resist it. Slavery caused fear and hate between most owners and slaves. But it
created feelings of love and respect between some. After the Civil War, discrimination and a lack
of education prevented most former slaves from obtaining a good job. Discrimination also kept
them from receiving the civil rights they legally had been granted. Historians disagree over how
much slavery contributed to discrimination and to other racial conflict that occurred in later years.
Source: http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar514020&st=slavery
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snvoices00.html
Click on the link above to go to the American Memory Project Slave
Narrative, LOC Collection. Read some of the slave narratives.
Source: LOC collection
Click this link to see a slideshow of images about slavery. Be
sure to read the captions on the right and to click through the
ads:
http://www.history.com/photos/slavery-slave-life/photo4#
Slave Children, about 1860
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/12/slave-children-photo-foun_n_610036.html
Click this link to see a powerpoint about Harper’s Ferry and slavery in
the United States :
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/forteachers/upload/WFF%20Slideshow.pdf
Iron mask, collar, leg shackles and spurs used to restrict slaves
LOC image
Misleading Advertising
Southern Rights Segars." 1859. This idealized view of slave life appeared on a printed label for cigars
manumaftured by the New York firm Solomon Brothers. It was aimed at smokers in Georgia and Alabama.
The picture shows a fashionably dressed black couple strolling in front of a tobacco plantation. In the
background are a mannor house and black slaves working peacefully in the filds. This misleading image of
happy and prosperous slaves was commonly used to appeal to southern consumers of northern goods.
Library of Congress.
Audio File
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/narratives/nar_harriet_jacobs.htm
Click on the link above to hear a reading of a part of a slave narrative.
Slavery in America Overview
Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American
colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as
tobacco. Slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries,
and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. The
invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the central importance of slavery to the South's
economy. By the mid-19th century, America's westward expansion, along with a growing
abolition movement in the North, would provoke a great debate over slavery that would tear the
nation apart in the bloody American Civil War (1861-65). Though the Union victory freed the
nation's 4 million slaves, the legacy of slavery continued to influence American history, from the
tumultuous years of Reconstruction (1865-77) to the civil rights movement that emerged in the
1960s, a century after emancipation.
Series: http://www.history.com/topics/slavery
Click this link to see four short videos on some of the reasons for
slavery:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/classroom/causes-and-effects-ofabolition-lesson-plan/causes-and-effects-of-abolition-video-segments/
Click here to see five short videos on resistance to slavery:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/classroom/resistance-to-slaverylesson-plan/resistance-to-slavery-video-segments/