I just was whipped. Nobody cares. Nobody cares that I’m wounded, hurt, bleeding. If you are wondering, my slave name is Lewis. But people call me other things. Bad things. I don’t feel like talking about them. My life was fine until I was taken from my home in Africa. They took my whole family, including me, on a boat, to America. Speaking of family, my owners are selling me, moving me to a new home, and I will probably never see the again. It’s normal, you know. My mom, dad, everybody said this would happen. It’s a cruel world. I do a lot of work outside. I live in Georgia. I would be called a um… I forgot the word. We don’t really get an education, as a slave. I work in the fields, picking cotton. My clothes get all shaggy. But I have
to live with it. I only get one pair of clothes a year. They get all ripped, and I get dirty. I also have to live with that. As a slave, you have to get used to everything. Or else your not going to have the best life. My slave owner is strict. Very strict. You probably already knew that, since I told you I was whipped. He tells me to pick the cotton, and a would say something like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? I SAID TO CHOP THE WOOD!” Honestly, I either I’m smarter than him, or he just likes seeing me hurt.I started working when I was could walk. I have some friends though. There is this kid who is really new here named, umm, like Claire or something. She knows nobody, so I’m trying to be friend with her. She’s nice, but she acts weird around me. I don’t really know why, maybe she doesn’t like me. But I kind of have no other friends, and she doesn’t either. She really needs to get use to our owner though. She already whipped twice. Okay, I need to go. Well, Bye.
Unlike agricultural work non-agricultural work was based on gender and age. As a non-agricultural worker you had more close encounters with your slaveholders, this can be both beneficial and not beneficial. With men who had non-agricultural jobs they were artisans. Their jobs consisted of blacksmiths, brickmakers, boatmen and other various jobs. With women they had the jobs like cleaning, feeding, and caring for the slaveholder’s children. Some women were personal slaves to the slaveholders ad did various jobs that comforted the slaveholders. Although working in the house was viewed at as a privilege there were some disadvantages to it especially for the women that worked in the house. These women were open up to being sexually abused by their slaveholders. Although there were disadvantages being a nonagricultural slave had its benefits. Those who had the skills to stay in their slaveholders home had the privilege of running errands, and going on trips with their slaveholders. The house tasks were not only handed out by gender but also by age. (D. R. Berry 2007) Older women would be given the job as a nurse, cooks, and tended to the kids. At the Kelvin Plantation Postell had two elderly men on his plantation that he gave the job of gardening those men were Old Sam and Old Robin. These slaves were not listed on the slaveholder’s roster for monetary value, but they were on the list of bond people who were on the
The author Kevin Bales ,and co-writer Ron Soodalter, discuss the issues pertaining to forced labor in “Slavery in The Land of The Free”. Free The Slaves is a non-profit organization in Washington that Bales founded to help end slavery not only in the United States, but around the world. The Abraham Lincoln Institute has the honor to have the established historian, Soodalter, serve on it’s board.The two authors also wrote a book by the name of “The Slave Next Door: Human trafficking and Slavery in America Today” (2009). One of the issues that Bales and Soodalter effectively touch on is how widespread the issue of human trafficking and slavery is in
Saiba Haque Word Count: 1347 HUMANITIES 8 RECONSTRUCTION UNIT ESSAY Slavery was a problem that had been solved by the end of the Civil War. Slavery abused black people and forced them to work. The Northerners didn’t like this and constantly criticized Southerners, causing a fight. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln to free all the slaves in the border states. “
Most slaves in the country, as people well know, worked as field hands and jobs involving the crops and livestock, with the exception of the house slaves. In the city however, slaves worked different types of jobs. “City slaves were typically artisans and craftsmen, stevedors and draymen, barbers and common laborers, and house and hotel servants.” (Starobin 9). Frederick Douglass worked as a house servant and as ...
"Life as a Slave." Life as a Slave. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
The film “Slavery by another name" is a one and a half hour documentary produced by Catherine Allan and directed by Sam Pollard, and it was first showcased by Sundance Film Festival in 2012. The film is based on Douglas Blackmonbook Slavery by Another Name, and the plot of the film revolves around the history and life of African Americans after Emancipation Proclamation; which was effected by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, for the purpose of ending slavery of African Americans in the U.S. The film reveals very brutal stories of how slavery of African Americans persisted in through forced labor and cruelty; especially in the American south which continued until the beginning of World War II. The film brings to light one of my upbringing
In his influential autobiography, Frederick Douglass helps pave the way for the early abolitionist movement using his own life story to bring forth the evils of slavery. He illustrates the hardships of slavery during antebellum America, focusing not only on the historical and economic issues of slavery, but mainly on the innate morality of human beings. Although many readers during this period were skeptic of the works authenticity, it brought the proper awareness to an issue in which corrupted America for many years. Frederick Douglass’s account against slavery exploits the brutal nature of slavery in way that shocked those who had looked past its harsh nature. By putting the reader in first perspective on the everyday life of a child born into slavery, he successfully uses the transitions of his life to open the people’s eyes to the crime that is slavery.
When one thinks of slavery, they may consider chains holding captives, beaten into submission, and forced to work indefinitely for no money. The other thing that often comes to mind? Stereotypical African slaves, shipped to America in the seventeenth century. The kind of slavery that was outlawed by the 18th amendment, nearly a century and a half ago. As author of Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People, Kevin Bales, states, the stereotypes surrounding slavery often confuse and blur the reality of slavery. Although slavery surely consists of physical chains, beatings, and forced labor, there is much more depth to the issue, making slavery much more complex today than ever before.
Slavery was so important and spread in because of agriculture and economic value that occurred in the Southern Colonies. When the North was developing economic foundations, the root of it was shipping and manufacturing industry whose primary workforce consisted of poor families. Slaves were not used in shipping because you needed qualified and skilled sailors, were unskilled manual laborers could not be used. The families who owned farms had a work ethic that emphasized personal independence, which didn't agree with slavery in general. Most Northerners couldn't afford to own slaves because the farms in the North were family farms that produced grains, vegetables, and livestock that supported the families, communities, and cities, not emphasizing
African Americans and servants both are treated quite poorly, they did not have the necessary clothing to properly work in the field. They were given a canvas shirt and trowsers, and that 's it. No shoes, no hat, and the shirt and trowsers were hopsack, meaning not the best woven, and rough to the touch. The servants also were given the same amount of food as the slaves, and they worked the same hours. (Source 3)
Slavery has being a part of human history for centuries. Powerful civilizations captured their neighbor people and enslaved them. These people are primarily used for labor in constructions and farms. Other times slavery is mean to pay off debt that you owe someone. In these cases, slavery wasn 't intended to be for life or a system of hereditary; moreover, slavery only happens with people of the same skin color. However, slavery had evolved over time. When Columbus set foot in the American continent, he enslaved the Native Americans as a mean to advance his personal interests. The practice of enslaving other people that had different skin color had contributed to the U.S 's slavery. The American system of slavery was different from that of
Imagine being ripped apart from your mother as a child. Imagine watching family and friends receiving the stinging blow of a whip. Imagine religious men telling you that this is the will of god as they work you as close to death as they can. While difficult to imagine, this occurred to some of those who were enslaved in the early United States of America. One of the most heart wrenching of these accounts comes from a man born as a slave, Frederick Douglass. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an example of how some early Americans dehumanized slaves and how Fredrick Douglass’ viewed this atrocity. Despite this, Douglass found mental and physical means to fight this treatment.
I was in that place, in that ship. If someone ask me that have I ever been a living hell, then I would probably say yes. I was only 10 years old boy. I was living in West Africa with my mom. We were very poor. We just did anything if it makes even a little bit of money. My mom worked at someone’s house, and I did every outside work as possible as I can get. We barely chewed food to eat, but we were happy because I was with her and she was with me. One day my mom got sick and she said she quit her job. Because she couldn’t even move her body well and I heard she got infected by some kind of
Slave Life The warm climate, boundless fields of fertile soil, long growing seasons, and numerous waterways provided favorable conditions for farming plantations in the South (Foster). The richness of the South depended on the productivity of the plantations (Katz 3-5). With the invention of the cotton gin, expansion of the country occurred. This called for the spread of slavery (Foster). Slaves, owned by one in four families, were controlled from birth to death by their white owners. Black men, women, and children toiled in the fields and houses under horrible conditions (Katz 3-5). The slave system attempted to destroy black family structure and take away human dignity (Starobin 101). Slaves led a hard life on the Southern plantations. Most slaves were brought from Africa, either kidnapped or sold by their tribes to slave catchers for violating a tribal command. Some were even traded for tobacco, sugar, and other useful products (Cowan and Maguire 5:18). Those not killed or lucky enough to escape the slave-catching raids were chained together (Foster). The slaves had no understanding of what was happening to them. They were from different tribes and of different speaking languages. Most captured blacks had never seen the white skinned foreigners who came on long, strange boats to journey them across the ocean. They would never see their families or native lands again. These unfortunate people were shackled and crammed tightly into the holds of ships for weeks. Some refused to eat and others committed suicide by jumping overboard (Foster). When the ships reached American ports, slaves were unloaded into pens to be sold at auctions to the highest bidder. One high-priced slave compared auction prices with another, saying, "You wouldn’t fetch ‘bout fifty dollas, but I’m wuth a thousand" (qtd. in Foster). At the auctions, potential buyers would examine the captives’ muscles and teeth. Men’s and women’s bodies were exposed to look for lash marks. No marks on a body meant that he or she was an obedient person. The slaves were required to dance or jump around to prove their limberness. Young, fair-skinned muttaloes, barely clothed and ready to be sold to brothel owners, were kept in private rooms (Foster). It was profitable to teach the slaves skills so that during the crop off-season they could be hired out to work. Although they were not being paid, some were doing more skilled work than poor whites were.
Slavery has been a part of human practices for centuries and dates back to the world’s ancient civilizations. In order for us to recognize modern day slavery we must take a look and understand slavery in the American south before the 1860’s, also known as antebellum slavery. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines a slave as, “a man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another” (B.J.R, pg. 479). In the period of antebellum slavery, African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities and towns, homes, out on fields, industries and transportation. By law, slaves were the perso...