Slavery in America

Origins of the Slave Trade

• Planter had first used Native Americans as workers, but European diseases had killed millions of them.
• Instead, Plantation owners turned to African slaves to do the work

Data

• Over 12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken from their homeland between the 16th and 19th centuries.
• Only about 10.7 million survived the journey across the Atlantic.
• Slave destinations:
• 48% went to the Caribbean (primarily sugar plantations).
• 41% went to Brazil, where conditions were brutal and life expectancy was short.
• 5% were sent to North America, primarily the American South.
• 6% were taken to other regions such as Spanish South America.

Triangular Trade

• Triangular Trade- trading network lasting from the 1600’s to the 1800’s that carried goods and enslaved people between Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

Why African Slaves?

• Slavery in Africa had existed for ages
• Africans tribes traded slaves for manufactured goods like cloth, silk, guns, pots, and copper
• Africans participated in trade by enslaving others, selling debtors and criminals, and kidnapping
• As European demand grew, African tribes launched wars against each other for the purpose of capturing slaves.

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Stage One

• Ships left Europe loaded with goods, such as guns, tools, textiles & rum.
• Crews with guns went ashore to capture slaves.
• Slaves were obtained by:
1. Kidnapping
2. Trading
3. Chiefs would send prisoners, criminals, and debters

Forced Participation

• African Chiefs did resist in the beginning; however, they needed weapons for defence.
• The Europeans were too powerful; therefore, any effort to resistance was unsuccessful
• If chiefs did not supply slaves, they were threatened to be taken as slaves.

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Forced Participation

• Slaves were held in prisons along the west coast of Africa.
• They were waiting to put on slaves ships.
• Those that journeyed from the interior and were not fit for the ship were left on the shores to die

Goree, or Slave-Stick

Stage Two: The Middle Passage

• Middle Passage- the name for voyages that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies.
• Ships sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas
• The journey took 8-12 weeks

The Slavers (cont.)

• Slaves would be chained up and held below deck for the majority of the trip
• Crowded, unsanitary conditions
• Males chained together in pairs
• If you had to use the restroom or got sick, you went right where you were
• Women and children were kept is separate areas
• High mortality rates
• 1/3 died

Stage Two

• “Loose packing” meant that the captains would take on board fewer slaves in hope to reduce sickness and death.
• “Tight packing” meant that the captains would carry as many slaves as their ship could hold, as they believed that many blacks would die on the voyage anyway

Abuse and Death

• Enslaved Africans were routinely beaten, branded, and subjected to physical and psychological torture.
• Women were frequently subjected to sexual violence by the crew.
• Children were sometimes thrown overboard if they were deemed too weak to survive.
• Many captives chose suicide by jumping overboard, preferring death to enslavement.
• The mortality rate on these ships ranged from 15-20%, meaning that up to 2 million people died during the Middle Passage.

The Middle Passage

• Slaves would be routinely punished with whipping and beating amongst other forms of punishment.
• When they were allowed on the upper deck for brief period during the daytime, slaves were forced to ‘exercise’.
• Often this took the form of being forced to dance for their master’s amusement�

The Middle Passage

• Slaves fed poor food twice per day
• Beans and Rice
• Denied meat or fish
• Ten people eating from one bucket
• Unwashed hands spread disease
• Malnutrition ~ weakness ~ depression ~ death

Resistance and Revolt

• Uprisings were common
• Most rebellions before sailing
• Justification for harsh treatment by slavers
• Some Africans tried to jump ship, refused to eat and rebelled.
• Loss of a slave’s life was a loss of money for the sailors.
• 10-15 million slaves who were to be forced across the Atlantic
• 15-20% or 2 million of Africans died on voyage

Stage Three - Auctions

• Africans would be sold at auctions in the Americas
• There were 3 ways slaves were auctioned off:
• Public Auctions:
• Private Auctions
• A Scramble

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Public Auctions

• An auction to took place and the higher bidder would get to purchase the slave
• Slaves were inspected
• They put tar on the slaves to hide any sores and cuts
• Slaves were branded
• Families were separated
• They were given a European name.

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Auctions

• 2. Private Auctions:
• Similar to public auctions
• They were indoors and red markers would be placed on the door to indicate an auction.

Auctions

• 3. A Scramble Auction:
• They would take place on the docks or on the deck of the ship
• There would be a fixed price per head
• Slave owners would go in and grab who they wanted to purchase.

Auctions

• American born slaves who had skills were the most expensive
• African born slaves were less money, as they had to be “broken in”
• Age, sex and skills determined the cost
• Slaves with a lot of scars were considered too rebellious

Slave Trade Outlawed

• International slave trade outlawed in 1808
• America could no longer import enslaved people from Africa
• Slave demand rises as does the cost of slaves
• 1790 - $300
• 1860 – $1500
• Slave traders began to smuggle Slaves into the United States
• 1790 – 500,000 Slaves
• 1850 – 4 Million Slaves

Auction Block – Key and Peele

• https://www.cc.com/video/myky3c/key-peele-auction-block

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Day 2

Slave Trade Outlawed

• International slave trade outlawed in 1808
• America could no longer import enslaved people from Africa
• Slave demand rises as does the cost of slaves
• 1790 - $300
• 1860 – $1500
• Slave traders began to smuggle Slaves into the United States
• 1790 – 500,000 Slaves
• 1850 – 5 Million Slaves

Property

• Laws in Americas considered enslaved Africans to be property
• Slaves had no rights, freedoms
• Slaveholders controlled most conditions under which they lived
• Often enslaved people endured brutal treatment, abuse

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Slave Codes

• State laws to limit movement of slaves and define them as property
• Cannot own a gun
• Marriages not legally recognized
• No alcohol
• Passes to leave plantation
• Illegal to teach slaves to read or write
• Legalized homicide as “punishment”

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Free Blacks

• There were about 250,000 free blacks living in slave holding states before the Civil War
• Earned money to buy freedom, set free by master with moral qualms about slavery
• 6% of total Black population
• 3% of total population
• Laws limited their rights and citizenship, papers, no access to courts

Free Blacks

• Racial hierarchies based on skin color
• The lighter the skin, the better the job
• Mainly manual labor
• Slave traders sometimes kidnapped free African Americans and sold them into slavery.
• Free blacks joined whites in creating the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.
• This group fought for the end of slavery. Many free blacks gave money to the group.

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Slavery in the South

• There were a variety of slave workplaces such as mines and factories
• Women given domestic duties and worked as servants
• Most slaves worked on plantations

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Slaves’ Daily Life and Labor

• 90% of slaves lived on plantations or farms
• Most slaves on cotton plantations worked sun up to sun down, 6 days a week
• About 75% of slaves were field workers, about 5% worked in industry

“Field Slaves”

• Working on a plantation (field) was very hard work.
• Slaves had to work long hours - 16 hours 6/7 days a week
• They had to do all labour on the plantation
• Planting crops and harvesting crops
• Picking cotton
• Tending animals
• Building Barns

“House slaves”

• House slaves were often treated better due to their close relationship with the owner and family.
• House jobs included:
• Cooking,
• Cleaning
• Looking after children
• Women were often sexually abused by their masters

• Virginian Luxuries - 1825
• A well dressed white man, kisses an enslaved woman
• In a parallel scene, a white man canes an enslaved male

What is the painting trying to say?

Slave Punishments

• The treatment of slaves depended on their owner.
• Some were very cruel, others less so.
• Some planters used punishment to encourage slaves’ obedience.
• They used irons and chains, stocks, and whips to punish slaves

Controlling Slaves

• Slave breakers were individuals hired by plantation owners to enforce discipline and control over enslaved individuals
• Training Slaves: Their primary role involved breaking the will of newly arrived or defiant slaves
• Conditioning them to accept their status as property and comply with plantation rules.
• Isolated from their communities, deprived of social support networks, and subjected to psychological isolation
• Humiliation - strip enslaved individuals of their dignity and self-worth

Control - Violence

• Physical violence, including beatings and whipping to instill fear and subdue resistance among slaves.
• Torture were used as forms of punishment to instill fear and compliance among slaves.
• Enslaved individuals were often restrained with shackles and chains to prevent escape and deter resistance.

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Control – Psychological

• Psychological and emotional trauma affected mental well-being and identity.
• Plantation owners taught slaves that of whites were superior to maintain control.
• Living in constant fear - Plantation owners used fear to control slaves with threats of violence and punishment.
• Punished family members to force others to follow rules.
• Threaten to sell a slave or their family members

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Living Conditions

• Slaves had to meet own basic needs at end of workday
• Cooking, mending, tending the sick had to fit around work for slaveholder
• Slaves usually lived in poor quality huts/shacks, which were overcrowded.
• Furniture (if any) was very poor, with beds often being made of rags or straw.

Slave Food

• Slave diets were also very poor. They were usually given basic food were distributed every Saturday and were to last a week.
• Foods Included:
• Corn meal (to make bread)
• Animal lard
• Left over meat
• Peas
• Greens
• This would tend to consist of cornmeal (which could make bread) and cheap meat.
• The poor quality of food could lead to disease.

Health Care

• Despite poor living conditions, slaves were more likely to receive medical care compared to most white Southerners.
• Slaveholders occasionally hired doctors for sick or injured slaves, although medical knowledge was limited.
• Medical care, while available, often did little to improve the overall health of slaves.

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The Slave Community

• Family was the most important aspect of slave communities.
• Slave parents passed down family histories and African cultures and traditions.
• Slaves told folktales to teach lessons about how to survive under slavery.
• Preserving their cultural heritage

Leisure Time

• Slaves worked in fields but had some leisure time from Saturday night through Sunday.
• Slaves used their creativity to make music out of everyday objects, such as tambourines made from cowhides stretched over cheese-boxes.
• They also crafted drums from sawed-off cow bones or broom straws on fiddle strings, creating their own orchestras.
• Leisure activities on Sundays included hunting, fishing, singing, dancing, telling stories, playing games, and visiting friends

Religion

• Slaves were often forced to attend religious services led by white preachers who preached obedience and submission as Christian virtues.
• White preachers interpreted biblical passages to justify slavery and reinforce the idea of racial inferiority.
• Slaves were warned that resistance was a sin punishable by eternal damnation
• They taught slaves that their suffering would be rewarded in the afterlife

The Slave Community

• Slaves created their own religious gatherings known as the "invisible church."
• These gatherings took place in slave quarters or secret forest clearings called "hush arbors."
• Emphasized stories of liberation, such as Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
• Some slaves sang spirituals to express religious beliefs.

The Slave Community

• Despite tremendous hardships, slaves developed a community and a sense of dignity.
• Religion was very important to them.
• Spirituals often provided slaves with a way to convey messages about freedom
• Preachers also often voiced a desire for freedom in sermons they delivered in secret

A Slave Marriage Ceremony, called a “Broomstick Wedding.”

Resistance

• Slaves coped with inhumane conditions in many ways
• Some fought back by:
• Working slow
• Being “Sick”
• Destroying equipment
• Running away
• Revolting
• Some resisted by trying to keep cultural traditions alive
• Others turned to religion for strength, hope

Rebellion

• There were stiff punishments for even the most minor offenses.
• Many slave owners didn’t teach their slaves to read
• Many slaveholders feared rebellion by angry slaves who could no longer take harsh treatment

Vesey’s - Rebellion

• Denmark Vesey was a formerly enslaved African American who planned one of the largest slave rebellions in U.S. history.
• Goal was to seize Charleston's armories, arm slaves, free slaves, and escape to Haiti
• One of the conspirators revealed the plot to authorities.
• Vesey and his 34 followers were arrested and executed

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

• Nat Turner was a slave in Virginia (1831)
• Turners organized a group of slaves to rebel against their slave owner Joseph Travis
• After killing Joseph Travis, Turner and his rebels gathered weapons and supplies
• They went from plantation to plantation, killing white people and getting more slaves to join them.
• The rebellion spread across Southampton County over two days, leading to roughly 60 white deaths.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

• State and federal troops were sent out to stop the rebellion
• More than 100 slaves were killed in an attempt to stop the rebellion.
• Turner was tried, convicted, and executed by hanging on November 11, 1831.
• Southern states implemented harsher slave codes, limiting the rights and freedoms of enslaved individuals