FREE ESSAY ON SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH

SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH

Slavery in the South
1500-1863
Slavery of the Black man in America was the cruelest ever known to man. Europeans
transported slaves from Africa as early as 1505. The African Slaves were first exploited
on an island named Hispaniola, in the Caribbean by the Europeans to do labor work, before
they were sent to the Americas. The women usually worked the interior cooking and
cleaning while the men were sent out into the plantation fields to farm. These Africans
were stripped of their homes, cultures, and languages. Slaves were treated like animals.

The black man was not considered part of the human race then. Blacks were taught that
their slavery was the way things were meant to be. The white man used religion and other
institutions in order to justify slavery in the south. According to historians, slavery
existed in the south because of the economical situation. However, this does not explain
why Africans were enslaved in America. 
The desperation for people to work the fertile land of the south called for the need of
slaves. In Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky the plantations grew tobacco. In South
Carolina, rice was grown. Cotton plantation increased in Georgia, Alabama, and
Mississippi. These plantations needed people to work them. These plantations could not
hire indentured servants; it would have been too expensive. Indians could not be enslaved
because it was easier for them to revolt against their slave masters, the Americas being
their home and all. Africans were the perfect victims because they were thousands of
miles away from home. Therefore, it was hard for them to escape slavery. In addition,
most of these Africans came from different tribes so communication was very hard amongst
them. During the 1790, more than one thousand tons of cotton was produced every year in
the South. Eventually, more than a million tons was produced every year. Slavery was the
only answer. Between late 1700s and early 1800s, slaves increased from 500,000 to 4
million. Out of all the slaves, the Black women were who suffered the most. Women were
known to be inferior to men and Blacks were to be inferior to whites. Black women
suffered a great deal during slavery. White women were discriminated, but they were
treated according to their gender in society. In society back then the women's role was
to stay home and cook, while the man's role was to go out and work. The black women did
not have the privileged of just staying home. She had to work the fields or in the slave
masters house, as well. The Black women had no gender she was treated just like a Black
man and sometimes even worst. The severity of the punishments was equal amongst Black men
and women. When the Black women became pregnant, she was still not excused from her daily
chores. 
Slave masters used Black women for their sexual pleasure as well. After transportation of
slaves from Africa to America became illegal, the need for female slaves became more
important for slave masters. Slaves master began to produce slave on their plantation
because the accessibility of slaves from Africa was diminishing. Thus, black women became
breeders. Therefore, white slave masters raped the Black women not only for sexual
pleasure, but to create new slaves that were going to replace the old ones. Sometimes the
slave masters forced other Black men to have sex with Black women, while her husband was
also forced to watch. Blacks carried a big burden because of slavery, but Black women had
to carry an even bigger burden. After being raped, the Black women were assured that she
was going to keep her child. Most of the times her child was sold off to another slave
master, especially if she was a breeder. These divisions affected families of the slaves.
The majority of the families were incomplete because most family members were often sold
through slavery auction. So, Black male relatives took the role of a father figure.
Everyone was brother and sister because the same institution was oppressing them. 
Aside from all other things the black woman had to do, she had to also be a teacher to
her children. Slaves were not given an education, other than the negative education that
justified slavery. This made it harder for slaves to progress and free themselves from
bondage. However, the slaves did find a way to resist slavery. It was harder for slaves
to revolt in America rather than in the Caribbean. The population of slaves were four
times larger than that of the slave masters, so it was easier to have a successful revolt
in the Caribbean. In the United States there were to many whites. Slaves revolted by
getting armed and then destroying plantations as they traveled from town to town. Another
way slaves resisted was by running away mainly to the north, either to free states or to
Canada. And we all know Harriet Tubman was born into slavery and she made her way to
freedom as a young woman. She became the famous conductor of the Underground Railroad
directed toward Canada and those free states. The tracks for the railroad weren't exactly
laid. A slave had many possible directions to run in, but the main idea here was safety
over quickness. The slaves often zigzagged in their paths to throw off the sent for the
dogs. Men were dressed as women, women were dressed as men, and slave's clothes were
exchanged for those of a rich free person of color's to confuse the true identity of the
slave when seen by curious eyes. There were also some slaves that traveled the road, by
foot, in a carriage, or in a wagon often containing a fake bottom making a tiny space
where slaves could safely journey to freedom. Some traveled on surface lines the actual
railroads of this time. Lightly colored slaves were dressed as whites, and others were
put in with the luggage and freight and others traveled as baggage. Another form of
resistance was not to work as hard. Sometimes slaves even burned the fields they had to
work on. The slaves also resisted by forming secret societies, where they could practice
their African religions and where they could organize other ways to resist their slave
masters. 
The runaway slave numbers increased and action increased. Slave owners in the south
certainly weren't happy about the loss of property. Too much money was being lost. This
caused the south to pass the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793. This titled slaves as property
of their owners and gave permission to the owners to retrieve runaway slaves anywhere in
the states, even the states that were free states. It was known that a runaway slave
would be found by bloodhounds, trained to find black slaves, then, the slave upon
returning, would be executed or severely whipped. In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation
was issued which made slavery illegal in the states that had rebelled and allowed black
slaves to serve in the army and get jobs, or continue to work on plantations as employees
making money.