Role Of Slavery In The 19th Century

The slaves were dressed up well, oiled on their bodies and feed up good . The traders relied on the slaves to act their part as valuable commodities. When a slave was bought by a master, they would be stripped and asked for their past, aspecting honest answers from the traders. The masters would use the information against the traders asking for a sale to their own advantage. A lot of Southern Whites were effected by slavery and this market to the point that a lot of them identify themselves based on their ownership of slaves.

The Pre-Slavery Era – Elements of African American Identity https://elementsofafricanamericanidentity.word Slave culture in North America was largely a combination of tribal African culture, Christian worship and resistance. American slave culture was based on defiance and survival against the American slave system. American slaves practiced other forms of resistance like running away, suicide, slow paces of work, deliberate sabotage of the plantation equipment or crops, and poisoning of their slave masters. In all of these instances, slave culture enabled a ELEMENTS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN IDENTITY PAGE 3 significant amount of resistance to the plantation economy and created a relatively cohesive slave identity that shaped the southern life and relationships between slaves and whites in the colonial era. Although the treatment of slaves varied depending on the plantation more often than not it was characterized by brutality.

The authors used examples of Anthony Johnson, an African American who was a slave and then became a successful land owner and farmer. Johnson himself even owned slaves. Breen and Innes believe that this was one example of mutability, a black male could be owned as a slave, as well as reach a high enough status in the community to own slaves himself. Johnson was also involved in a court case against a white man. No one “questioned the legitimacy of slavery nor the propriety of a black man owning a black slave.” Breen and Innes argue slavery and racism are not as strong in the early century because you status in your community was established by how much land you owned.

Most Americans couldn’t fathom that something as horrific as slavery could still exist in our current day; we fought a whole war trying to abolish it but the horrors of dehumanization continue. While steps have been made to eradicate slavery since the civil war, the issue of slavery and human-trafficking will arguably never go away. Whitehead’s novel presents an inside view on the terrors of slavery; while following the main character Cora the reader is given the chance to picture slavery, a concept that many times feels like a fictional story. A book like “The Underground Railroad” is important because it doesn’t sugarcoat anything- what one sees is what they get

What was the south all about? Cotton was not the only crop grown in the South, but it was sure the crop that fueled the Southern economy. Southerners began saying ''Cotton is king'' because cotton became so populated that they would choose it over Industry. The cotton gin was a compact machine that removed seeds from cotton fibers. The value of enslaved people increased because of their key role in producing cotton and sugar.

In the United States, the slave trade was very common. In the north of the United States and in the south, there were slightly different thoughts about slaves. In both places, Africans were used to work and serve, but during the 19th century northern Americans preferred to proclaim

The need to solve economic and social problems drove the Colonists to strip Afro-Americans down from their basic rights and such, which rose to naming all blacks, slaves. The adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a novel set before the Civil war, when slavery was legal and seen as the social norm, but written during post civil war. This novel demonstrates all the aspects or traditional America, as far from what it is today. Mark twain illustrates a lifetime were slavery and racism were seen as a natural part of life. Through incidents, comments by the characters and statements by the narrator 's Twain illustrates a satirical atmosphere on slavery and racism.

These times were when they would run away and not be caught by a person and returned, or when they would be paid for. Slavery had an extreme influence on the thinking of humane actions. Now, the majority of people believe that slavery is wrong and inhumane. Booker T. Washington is the author of one of the most descriptive works describing slavery written. He wrote the autobiography which he called Up from Slavery.

Although the concept of abolition was introduced, action wouldn’t be taken until almost a century later in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. During that century slaves had various forms of revolt/ rebellion within the system they were in; this ranged from the simplest action of learning how to read to the most radical of violent uproars. Various free African American activists were vital in bringing awareness to their cause to white America. For example, Frederick Douglass’ work “ levied a powerful indictment against slavery and racism, provided an indomitable voice of hope for his people, embraced antislavery politics and preached his own brand of American ideals” (“Frederick Douglass”). This can be seen in his “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” speech where he states, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?

They also brought about various responses from people around. It is believed that “…interracial relations both supported and undermined slavery and racism…” in many ways. Slavery and racism were both supported and undermined by adultery, laws, and separation of races throughout interracial relations. Rothman begins his analysis on interracial sexual relationships using Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with a slave he owned named Sally Hemings. He was in the sexual relationship because he promised his wife to never remarry after she died.

Looking at the period in which the primary source was written it was a time when “effective emancipation in the cotton South forced a hasty reorganization of the black labor force to secure the harvest.” “Planters…offered money wages or crop shares plus specified rations and garden rights to freedmen for resumption of slave-style work gang employment in the cotton field” The first primary source that are to be examined deals with sharecropping: “Working on Shares” by Henry Blake. This source is a first-hand account of a former slave, Henry Blake about life in the sharecropping system. Once they were freed, they worked on shares and then they rented. He then says that half the shares went to the landowner and your half could be destroyed if you weren’t careful. And if the slave could not count you would lose even if you could count you could still lose.

Southern states justified slavery by using many points. They used the economy, history, religion, legality, social, and humanitarianism. One reason was that if all slaves were freed, there would be a very high unemployment. Another reason the South had was that having slaves would boost the economy. Southern states defended slavery by using history:” Slavery has been legal for a long time before now, so it is a natural thing to do.” On the other hand, the main point was that slaves planting and picking cotton would heavily boost the economy.

After the Civil War and Reconstruction ceased, the South 's Lost Cause was introduced to the southern United States by ex-confederates. A very politically influenced movement, the Lost Cause, while building a legacy for the controversial Redemption, was subject to backlash for it 's false interpretations of what slavery was like as well as how they interpreted the event of the Civil War. Even with all of its misinterpretations and falsities, however, the Lost Cause influenced the memories of many of the Civil War, Redemption, and slavery for generations to come. The lost cause was spurred by ex Confederates as a way to get back at the union and to prove that the Confederate spirit was not lost, even though the Civil War had ended years ago. As seen from articles from Confederate Veteran Magazine, the Confederate spirit was upheld throughout the years, mostly by women who felt the need to avenge husbands, brothers, and fathers ' deaths .

Slavery in the Southern United States was a system by which the white man ruled the black man. Slavery in the United States draws its roots back to the colonial era with the African slave trade. What makes slavery different in the United States than in the Caribbean was the fact that the United States developed a slave population capable of reproduction and even growth. When the African Slave trade ended, the slave population was able to maintain and grow in size. Slavery would continue to thrive in the southern United States due largely to the booming cotton industry which required a large work force to cultivate the crop.

The slavery was the most important issue in the 19th century in American where societies were divided from the Northern and southern. In the Southern States, mush of peoples depends on slave handwork in their economic development, but slave were legal free in the Northern States. Slave owner benefits from the labor of the slave in the same way that peoples who believe it is right to tax the rich at higher rate benefit form the labor and property of others that is not their own. Slavery is viewed as evil in this country, because many whites were mean to blacks for their skin color and treated like animals. Abolitionists think all men are created equal and blacks should be treated as fairly as they would white people.