Slaves: Life After The Civil War

Olaudah’s Autobiography states. ”;on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind before. . . . The crew used to watch us very closely chained down to the decks, in case we would ever leap into the water: and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners, most severely cut for attempting to do so.” This is evident that slaves were treated tempestuously because if he is a slave and sees other slaves being cut for trying to escape and knowing what happens to slaves when they refuse to eat and going through all the punishment.

Racism still existed and they were still treated as slaves. Some drank too much and were abusive to their families because they were afraid. Like the slaves Papa had no money, job or home to go back to once the war was over. Papa started drinking heavily, was angry all the time and was very abusive to his family.

Most of the men had scars on their back. The scars were from the ship owners tying them up to a pole and hitting the slaves on the back with a whip. Also the slaves were very dirty. They were covered by other peoples waste because there wasnt any room for them to do their buisness. You could only lay on your side because there is too many people.

These slaves were not allowed to have a jury at trial or a trial itself. Laws were passed that went against the running away of slaves or from fleeing from the states and into neighboring countries like for example Canada. Freed slaves were being captured and sent to jail, to a new job, or returned to their owners if they had been escaped from their labor. Slaves were upset due to the laws that were being created and enforced in every state against them.

The Slave Ship, by Marcus Rediker was wrote in 2007 about the cruel and brutal actions the slaves endured on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He states, “this has been a painful book to write, if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read.” Marcus Rediker accomplished exactly that. This book was not only compelling but emotional, heartbreaking, and makes a reader think, how could someone be so cruel to another living being. Within the first couple pages, the book brought me to tears.

“The people of the great vessel were wicked: when we had been shipped, they took away all the small pieces of cloth which were on our bodies, and threw them into the water, then they took chains and tethered two together. Every morning they had to take the man, and throw them into the water,” (First Hand Accounts Case Study). This quote suggests that the crew expressed little sympathy to slaves. This is demonstrated in the novel by Paula Fox The Slave Dancer.

Slave ships drain Africans mentally but also physically. Unsanitary and dangerous ships hold hundreds of slaves in the bottom of them making conditions unbearable. Equiano documents these conditions saying, “Many a time we were near suffocation from the want of fresh air, which we were often without for whole days together. This, and the stench of the necessary tubs, carried off many,” (Equiano). Many slaves die from these egregious conditions if they chose not to attempt suicide.

Some died on the walk to the ships, some escaped only to be caught and punished with extreme brutality. The survivers of the march were trapped in pens or warehouses for an undeterminable amount of time, until the European traders came and they were purchased. Than, they were placed in the bottom of slave ships in chains. Hundreds of men, women, and kids were confined in the

I. I agree with the first statement, lee 's surrender at appomattox and grant 's magnanimity to the defeated forces save the nation form drawn out guerilla war. It saved the nation from a guerilla war and united the Northern and Southern whites back into one nation. At this time Blacks were just emancipated from bondage and slavery meaning they were no ready to advocate for voting rights, politics and economics. First there had a to be a peace between the whites in the union (ending the civil war) II.

The Reconstruction is the first thing I would talk about. I believe many people still have the impression that once slaves were freed in the South, that was it—all of a sudden everything was great for them, when in reality, they were essentially still slaves. I never knew about the black codes, vagrant laws, and sharecropping that took place in the South until this class. Slavery is covered as early as 7th grade, and I believe that the Reconstruction period following it is a significant enough event that it should be addressed sooner, perhaps in high school, so even those who choose to not attend college have the chance to hear about it.

The social life in the south was an almost carefree for the families of the land owners. The land owners of these time realized that cotton was an easy to become rich. Because cotton was more that half of the export from the states. To produce the amount of cotton that was needed to become rich the landowners would have to have slaves. With the people moving further and further out the discussion of emancipation was stopped.

The contracts and rules that were included in these agreements put these newly freed slaves in almost exactly the same situations they had just been liberated from. Typical terms included in these contracts included things like: no conversation between “workers” is to take place during the day, one cannot leave during the day without permission, no raising cattle without permission, and they must be “cheerful” while working (Clark-Pujara

As Zinn noted, “John Barbot had written, The ship’s surgeons examine every part, of every one of them… Men and women being stark naked…Such as are allowed good and sound are set on one side…marked on the breast with a red-hot iron, imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch…they awaited shipment 10-15 days” (Zinn 28) After the abuse they had suffered, they were put into the slave quarters on the ships. The size of the slave quarters varied, however they were always packed and foul, with the smell of human waste. The Africans were removed from everything they had ever known, any comfort and knowledge they had about their world, was now useless.

Some slaves jumped overboard then suffering. Others staged violent shipboard

Living conditions for slaves were dreadful, with long work hours and low wages. Slave masters separated families and sold off children from their parents, or vice versa. Slaves were prone to severe punishment for even trivial offenses. Whippings and beatings were prevalent. Running away allowed them to get away from all the hostility, if only for a while.