An Overview of Slavery in Americaft.rogersschools.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server...An Overview of Slavery in America Many different people from all over Europe came to the colonies to

An Overview of Slavery in America

Created by: Heather Rice

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Vocabulary Flash cards

Abolitionist Someone who is opposed to slavery and wants it to be illegal.

Fugitive Slave Law A law passed in 1850 that gave slave catchers the right to go into northern states in search of fugitive slaves.

Plantations Huge farms that grew rice, cotton or tobacco.

They used slave labor to pick the crops.

Immigrants People who choose to leave the country they

were born in and move to a new country to live.

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Vocabulary Flash cards

13th Amendment An amendment to the constitution passed in

1865 making slavery illegal.

When a wound or cut gets red and hot to the touch and then you get a temperature or illness.

Prejudice When a person or a group of people thinks

they better than another group of people, such as when white people thought they were better than black people.

Infection

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An Overview of Slavery in America Many different people from all over Europe came to the colonies to live. (The colonies is what people called America before it became a country). Most people who came here chose to come. They left their country and their homes to live in America. People who do this are called immigrants.

Beginning in 1619, a new group of people began to arrive in America. They were Africans, and they did not come here willingly. These Africans were snatched from their homes in Africa and brought to America as slaves. The Africans were kidnapped by men called slave traders. These men were called slave traders because they traded or sold slaves.

Sometimes other Africans were slave traders. They caught people from other tribes and then sold them to white or Arab traders. At other times, white people worked with other Africans to catch men and women they could make into slaves. The white and Arab traders then put them on ships to sail for America.

The hold of the ship is the area of the ship underneath the deck. Hundreds of Africans were squeezed into the holds of each ship. There were no bathrooms and not enough food. People could not move around, and they had to sit in their own bathroom waste.

It was very frightening in the hold of the ship for a slave. There are hundreds of languages in Africa. With so many languages, the Africans on board the ship could not usually understand each other. They could also not understand the strange languages of the white skinned people who ran the ship.

Not only did they not know where they were going, but they knew they would never see their families again. They knew they would never see their villages again. How sad they must have felt!

Journey of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Image. Hanning, John. New York 1869, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library."

A Pictorial History of the Slave Trade. Aguet, Isabelle. (Geneva: Editions

Minerva, 1971), plate 3, p. 18; from Hull Museums, original source not identified,as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite,

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Group of Slaves with Arab men. Zanzibar, 1850-1890, National Archives. as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library

Many slaves died on the trip to America. They got sick because there was not enough food and because they had to sit in their own waste. They got sores on their skin from the chains, and then the sores got infected from the dirt that the slaves had to sleep in. If a slave died, his or her body was thrown over board the ship like their body was trash to be thrown out.

When they got to America, the Africans were cleaned up and brought to auctions. At the auctions they were checked over for diseases by people who wanted to buy them. Then people bid on them. The person who bid the most money on any one slave won the auction and got to take him/her home. The slave was now the property of the man who had just purchased him/her.

During the times of slavery, a slave was not a person. A slave was a piece of property. A slave had no more rights than a mule or a horse. He or she could be bought and sold. He or she could be beaten or killed by his master. (Master was the name a slave used when talking to his owner). He could be sold away from his family at any time, or his wife and children could be sold away from him.

At first, slavery was allowed everywhere in the 13 colonies. But by the 1780's, many states in the north outlawed slavery. That means that they passed a law saying that slavery was not allowed in that state.

The southern colonies were slave states. This means that they allowed slavery. Not only did they allow it, they brought new slaves into their states all the time. These slaves were brought from Africa into their ports where they were sold.

Slaves did all kinds of work in the colonies. Some slaves did skilled work, and worked as black smiths, stone masons and brick layers. African American slaves who were skilled as stone masons and brick layers helped to build the Capitol building and the White House. Most slaves, however, worked on plantations. A plantation is an enormous farm. Plantations were found in the south and they usually grew rice or cotton.

Slave Auction, Christiansburg, Virginia, 1850s. Sketchbook of Landscapes in the State of Virginia, 1853-1867. Courtesy, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia; slide 83-167

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No matter what kind of work a slave did, he or she did not get paid for doing it. A slave was the property of his or her master. Masters did not pay slaves for doing work for them. Only free black men and black women got paid. Sometimes a slave owner would send a slave out to do work for someone else. The slave might do a stone carving or build a beautiful new piece of furniture. The slave would get paid for the work. But the money did not belong to the slave. It belonged to his or her owner.

If you were a slave, working on a plantation was the worst place to work. Slaves spent all day picking tobacco, cotton, and rice crops. The work was back breaking. Men called slave drivers walked around the fields. If a slave driver thought you weren't picking fast enough, he would beat you with a whip.

Life was hard in other ways, too. Slaves were housed in tiny huts. Often the only furniture was a table and a couple of chairs. Slaves often slept on the floor with a blanket. They were usually not given enough to eat and were always hungry. When it was meal time, slaves were called up to the kitchen. Here their food was dumped into a pig trough where it was then scooped up into wooden bowls. The message to the slaves was, “You are animals, not people.”

Slaves lived under many rules. For example, slaves were not allowed to leave their owners property without permission. Slaves caught trying to run away could be whipped and killed. Another rule was that slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write.

Why did Americans allow slavery for so long? Some of the reasons were economic ones. Other reasons had to do with prejudice against black people.

Today, tobacco, cotton and rice can be picked by machines. But 150 years ago or more, there were no machines to pick these crops. So, the labor of people was needed. Plantation owners knew the cheapest way to get the labor they needed to pick these crops was by using slaves. Remember, slaves were not paid. Once you bought a slave, you only needed to feed him, clothe him, and house him. You didn't have to pay him.

Definitions: A smith is a man who makes tools and

horseshoes out of metal. A stone carver carves stone into statues or other

decorations. A pig trough is a long, V shaped rectangle that

pig's food was put in.

“Slaves Working Cotton from the Smith plantation, near Port Royal.” Sons of the South, htttp://www.sonofthesouth. net/slavery /photographs/plantation-slaves.htm

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Map of Free and

Slave States in 1857

Green states=free, red states=slave states,

pink states=exported slaves, light green=territories were the

legality of slavery had not yet been decided.

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Source Cassell's Illustrated History of England, . . . 1820-1861 (London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863), vol. 3, p. 307,as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library

Was that the only choice that plantation owners had? No. It wasn't. They could have paid workers. But, they would have made less money. The plantation owners were greedy. Using slaves was the cheapest way to pick their crops. So that it what they did. They didn't worry about whether it was “right” to own slaves.

Some slave owners thought that slavery was wrong, but they owned slaves anyway because they wanted the free labor. Most slave owners, though, thought their was nothing wrong with owning slaves. They were prejudiced against black people. If you are prejudiced, it means that you think you are better than another group of people. Slave owners thought all white people were better than black people. They thought slavery was good for black people. They told themselves that slaves from Africa needed to learn the “right way” to do things. They wanted to make slaves into English speaking Christians. They called this making slaves “civilized.” This was all nonsense. Put people can come up with excuses for doing bad things if they want to.

Sometimes slaves would try to run away from their owners to free states in the north. It was a very dangerous trip. Dogs and slave catchers chased after them the whole way. If they got caught, they were beaten or killed.

People who wanted slavery to end were called abolitionists. Some abolitionists would help runaway slaves get to the north where slavery was not allowed. They were part of something called the Underground Railroad.

There was no railroad, and it was not underground. Instead, it was a network of safe places where slaves could hide on their trip to the north. A runaway slave might come to an abolitionists home. There he or she would be fed and given a place to sleep. Often the abolitionist had a secret room for runaways to hide in. This is because white people who got caught helping runaways went to jail. For a long time, if a slave made it to a free state where slavery was not allowed, then he/she was free.

“Plantation Slaves,” website Sons of the South, htttp://www.sonofthesouth. net/slavery/photographs/plantation-slaves.htm

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In 1850, Congress passed a law called the Missouri Compromise. Part of the Missouri Compromise was something called the Fugitive Slave Law. It said that slave catchers could go into northern states and search for runaway slaves. If a runaway slave was found, the slave catcher could bring the runaway slave back to their owners in the south. Under this law, northern judges and policemen had to help catch runaway slaves. Northern states hated this Fugitive Slave law, and southern states loved it.

The Northern states went along with the Fugitive Slave Law because they got something they wanted in the law. The spread of slavery into new states was stopped. The south agreed to let California in as a free state. Also, both New Mexico and Utah became free states.

Southern states and northern states agreed to the Missouri Compromise to try and stop a civil war from breaking out. However, the law only gave another ten years of peace before war broke out at last. The North’s hatred of the Fugitive Slave law was one reason that war finally came.

No other issue ever caused as many problems between the states as did slavery. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, the southern states felt sure that he would abolish, or end, slavery. They declared war against the north and tried to start their own country of slave states. The north did not want the country to break into two parts. It felt it had to stop the south from making a new country. So, the north joined the war and a terrible blood bath began. The war lasted four years. In the end, the north won the war. But, the war took the lives of many men. In fact, over 620,000 soldiers died in the war. To give you an idea of how many people that is, in the whole state of West Virginia there are 1,600,000 people. 620,000 deaths is equal to one out of every three people in the state dying.

The argument over slavery was finally solved in 1865 when the 13th amendment to the Constitution was passed under President Abraham Lincoln. The amendment said that slavery was illegal. But, we are still trying to repair the harm that slavery did to our society.

Source Edmund Ollier, Cassell's History of the United States (London, 1874-77), Vol.3, p. 91,as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library

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Name:_______________________________________________ Teacher: ____________________________________________

1. An immigrant is someone who:

a. Chooses to leave their country and move to a new

country.

b. Is kidnapped and brought her against their wishes.

c. was sold by slavers to come to America as a slave. \ 2. The difference between a slave coming to America and an

immigrant coming to America is that:

a. An immigrant is captured and brought here against their will, but a slave chooses to move here b. An slave is captured and brought here against their will, but an immigrant chooses to move here. C. Both slaves and immigrants choose to move here.

3. Why did many Africans die on the trip to America?

a. Poor food. b. infections from sitting in bathroom waste. c. Illness d. All of the above

. 5. Which of the following statements is an opinion about slavery?

a. Slaves were considered the property of their owners. b. Slaves had to give any money they earned to their

owners. c. It was a cruel for owners to sell slaves and separate

families. d. Slaves could be sold away from their families.

6. The Fugitive Slave law allowed:

a. Runaway slaves to be safe if they got to a free state. b. Slave catchers could go into free states and bring back runaway slaves.

c. Slave catchers could go into Canada in search of runaway slaves. d. Slaves were not allowed to be sold anymore. 7. According to the map, was Texas a slave state or a free state? ______________________________________________

4. What was the Underground Railroad?

a. Railroad tracks that slaves followed north to freedom. b. An underground tunnel system that led from the slave states to freedom. c. A network of people who would help runaway slaves

reach the north. d. A system of roads that slaves followed to freedom.

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8. Are you surprised that Africans would work as slave traders? Why might an African work as a slave trade?

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9. Why wouldn't slave owners want their slaves to learn to read and write?.

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10. White people who helped runaway slaves broke the law. Is it ever OK to break the law? Was it OK for white people to break the law in this case? Why or why not?

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Answer Key

1. A

2. B

3. C

4. D

5. C

6. B

7. Yes

8. Possible answer:

Yes. I was surprised that Africans would work as slave traders because they are selling fellow countrymen into slavery. You would think that they would want to stop this happening from other Africans. Some might have done it for money. Some might have done it because they wanted revenge on an enemy tribe.

9. Letting slaves read and write might make it easier for them to escape. It might also make a slave more likely to think for themselves and question whether slavery is wrong. It might make them more rebellious.

10. Possible answer:

Yes. It is ok that they broke the law by helping runaway slaves because slavery is morally wrong. If you are working against something that is morally wrong, it is ok to break the law. This is just like what Rosa Parks did when she refused to move on the bus.