http://www.history.com/videos/nat-turners-rebellion#origins-of-slavery
Slavery
How widespread was
slaveholding in the South?
• Division among people
Slaveholders
Nonslaveholders
About 1/3 of
white families
(1840)
Still supported
slavery
1/10 of these
families had
large
plantations with
20+ slaves
Owned small
farms with
hope of
buying slaves
Slaves
African Americans
formed 1/3 of the
South’s population
(1840)
Half of them
worked on large
plantations
White Southern Families in 1840
23%
Slaveholders
Slaveholders
20+
10%
67%
Nonslaveholders
African Americans in the South in 1840
8%
46%
Other
Enslaved
African
Americans
Plantation
Slaves
Free African
Americans
46%
What kinds of work did
enslaved Africans do?
• Domestic servants
• Skilled craftsman
• Factory hands
• Day laborers
What was life like for
African Americans?
• Slaves found ways to be positive in the harsh
conditions
• African American culture
– Strong religious convictions
– Close personal bonds
– Abundance of music
• Spirituals
– Religious folk songs
– Contained coded messages about escaping
slavery
– Later influenced jazz, blues, and other forms of
American music
Create your own spiritual…
• Work with a partner to write your own
spiritual. Your spiritual should have a
positive message for others in our
society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B5mrkPgA94&feature=related
http://auditoriumtheatre.org/wb/media/Education%20Pages/
Lesson%204%20Sounds%20of%20Slavery.pdf?wb_session_id=f49
30415b9aaedded76edbda4001c9c4
How were slave families
kept together?
• They weren’t!
• Some did not part
mother and child,
but most did
• Parents who were
slaves escaped to
visit their children
• Slaves married,
even though their
marriages weren’t
recognized
How did slaves fight back?
• Leaders planned rebellions
– Gabriel Prosser- planned an attack on Virginia
(1800)
– Denmark Vesey planned a revolt in Charleston, SC
(1822)
– Both of these resulted in the leaders being
hanged
• Most famous: Turner’s rebellion- Nat Turner in
Virginia (1831)
– 55 white men, women, children were killed
– 200 African Americans were later killed in revenge
– Turner was hanged
http://www.history.com/videos/nat-turners-rebellion#nat-turners-rebellion
Spiritual Lesson
Go Down Moses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp5Zd0
bYPjQ
Steal Away http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J8f_1R
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