It would be impossible to understand women’s imprisonment without looking back to its history. During the sixteenth century English jails were in awful conditions, there was no segregation of inmates. Men, women, children, the mentally ill, physically sick, the serious offenders and the petty offenders were all housed in the same place (Moynahan and Stuart, Pg. 4). Slavery and the Colonial Penal System were a period when America was being colonized; an era when not only the rules of religious and secular beliefs rule, but also of the rules of slavery. Blacks were being sold to slavery.
They received punishments in a form of whip every time to commit even a simple mistake. His punishment also included taking the slaves their basic needs such as food and clothing. “Scarcely a day passed, during the summer, but that some slaves had to take a lash for stealing fruits.” (Douglass, 325). This statement describes the severe consequences of just doing the smallest actions.
Punishments included whipping, mutilation, being sold away, or assaulted (female). You might wonder how a human could treat another with such cruelty, it's because they considered slaves property and not human. Other owners viewed their slaves with paternalism, or with a father-like control. Correspondingly, to keep the slaves in their places, slave codes were passed. These codes inhibited a slave to leave without a pass, stand up against a white, read or write, and or have have anti-slavery items.
Slaves were broken up from their families to ensure that working is their only priority. Having nothing to love and care for made slaves feel less human. Document 8 shows a picture of a man who was badly whipped. The document states, “Beatings with a whip were a common form of punishment used on slaves.” Beating was a form of punishment used when a slave disobeyed their master.
Corporal punishment towards indentured servants was expected for those who broke the rules. However, some servants were beaten so severely they died later that day. Masters were rarely punished for killing or severely injuring their servants. If indentured servants ran away to escape their horrible conditions, they
The brutality of American slavery prior to the abolishment of slavery after the American civil war of 1861 to 1865 varied depending on the conditions offered by slave masters and particular historical events along with the states which slaves were in (Source A). Evidence suggests that the treatment of slaves especially in the southern region of America (which includes the states South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Georgia) was horrendous as it included various punishments which scared slaves not only physically but also mentally. The treatment a slave received was also based on the how long the slave or slaves actually worked for a particular owner (Source B). Many testimonials from former African American slaves go on further to show
Slaves endured an extreme amount of physical abuse. Some were whipped daily while others were starved. Slaves don't get to eat much each day. They were given a food allowance once a month. Some days they might not eat at all because they made their owners mad or they were being punished for doing something wrong.
The slaves were subject to frequent whippings for no obvious reason. Most masters held their slaves in privation, not being concerned of their laborers quality of life. Masters often did not give their laborers sufficient food or clothes because they did not want to spend extravagantly for their free workers. Even if the slaves were fortunate enough to have sufficient food, they would not be allowed ample time to eat. These slaves also lacked adequate time to sleep.
Many slave owners treated African Americans like animals. As an example, they starved their slaves while they gave all the food to their visitors. It is cruel how they didn’t save even a bread for each of their slaves. Not to mention, African Americans had to sleep on a sheet instead of a bed and that is all they had to sleep. The clothing they had was also very little and poor.
Because they were too weak it often resulted in them being abused worse because they weren’t doing exactly what the Europeans wanted to even though they physically could not. They were beaten and chained together. In document 8 it says the slaves were cut, mangled, and all together treated with no respect. There was no respect for their lives and they were treated like animals. They were burned with an imprint to make it known that they were owned.
Physical torture drastically dehumanized slaves as they had no personal opinion when they were tortured because slave masters would whip them more if they complain. With physical torture and other dehumanizing factors, came the dwindling of liberties such as freedom of speech. For example, in the Douglass Narrative, master Lloyd had a huge stable of horses under the care of two slaves, Old Barney and Young Barney. When Master Lloyd felt like Old Barney was at fault for not taking care of the horses well enough, Lloyd spoke to him and all Old Barney could do was “stand, listen, and tremble,” then he was literally whipped right after with “more than thirty lashes.” This example shows how terribly many slave masters tortured their slaves and how slaves were not allowed to defend their positions as they had no freedom of speech.
Sexually, mentally, and physically abused; slaves were struck, smacked and slapped by their masters. Slavery is a practice in which people own other people. A slave is the property of his or her owner and works without pay. The owner, who is called a master or mistress, provides the slave with food, shelter, and clothing. Slavery is a cruel and abusive way to get work done.
As slavery became free in the north this soon disrupted the founding fathers beliefs of what slavery should be and this dismantled the nations stability to the core. Slaves were always beaten for any punishment to keep them in line. The founding fathers like this due to they can control the slaves out of fear. By corporal punishment spreading across America to the whites it was also the biggest thing slaves had that they were valuable to a point more Valuable than some white people which the founding fathers hated. They hated this because According to Russell he names several slaves that had killed their masters for over beating them and the resistant slaves a lot of the time was allowed to live sometime they weren’t even beaten (Pg.61-62).
Slave owners could treat their slaves however they wanted after all the slaves were considered their property. Most slave owners would harshly treat their slaves by wiping their body, burning them, and torturing
Slavery was a long, slow process of dulling. Slaves had the constant fear of physical violence, the threat of losing the ones they love, and endured a life of always being treated as subhuman. One way that slavery dulled those in its grip was the constant fear of physical violence. Their masters could hurt or kill them at any moment and there’s nothing they could do. Dana explains how whippings were
