African American Slavery Essay

This paper intends to discuss the daily life of African American slaves in the nineteenth century. The first Africans landed in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia. By this time numerous accounts of slave life were published. The origins of slavery in the United States can be traced to colonial America where there was an abundance of agricultural land but not enough labor. In responding to that, this paper will also discuss, first, the importance slavery played on the economic and political development of the United States; second it will explain the daily life of African American slaves; and lastly defending that slavery is not â€Å"a positive good†. In conclusion I will explain what led me to this topic, why this subject is important to world history and how it’s changed my perception. To begin with the most fundamental fact: Slaves were not things. Whatever the law said, they were in reality human beings. A plow could not be evasive at work tasks, or burn down the barn, or escape – nor would it bleed when whipped, or develop for self-protection an elaborate courteous politeness when dealing with a master. An indicate complex of informal customs and â€Å"rights† sprang up because the slave was a person†. The institution of slavery has played an important part in the economic and political development of the United States since colonial times. North America developed race-based plantation slavery. The colonization of North America could not of formed without the use African slaves. The demand for workers increased due to the tobacco cultivation. Unlike indentured servants, African slaves were not protected by the English common law. They could never be free, and their kids would be born into slavery. The English saw that African slaves were accustomed to heavy agriculture labor and unlike the Indians they were able to surpass various diseases that were spreading in Europe. â€Å"As the value of African workers increased the gradually ceased to be treated at indentured servants. First they became â€Å"servants for life,† and then subject of ever more elaborate â€Å"slave codes† the defined their legal position in detailed ways†¦.. By the end of the seventeenth century the distinction between black slaves and white servants had become sharply defined: Servants were humans; slaves were things†. As colonies began to develop, the need for labor increased. Tobacco became one of the important crops in the new colonies. Western Europeans could not do the work alone so African slaves were brought to the new colonies to cultivate and care for the crops. Slaves became a crucial part in the development of the United States. In Virginia, slaves were considered the center of the economic process and that instead of a â€Å"society with slaves†; it became a â€Å"slave society. † â€Å"Slavery was the foundation of Virginia’s agricultural system and essential to its economic viability. Initially, planters bought slaves primarily to raise tobacco for export. By the last quarter of the 18th century, wealthy Virginia farmers were using slave labor in a diversified agricultural regime. Enslaved African Americans also worked as skilled tradesmen in the countryside and in the capital city of Williamsburg. Many also served as domestics in the households of wealthier white Virginians. † Slaves became essential in the growth of the economy. Slave life was not easy. African slaves lived under a wide variety of circumstances, such as; household servants, wagon driver, iron foundry worker, and skilled artisan. The majority of African slaves worked as farm laborers; growing cotton, tobacco, rice and other products. Some worked in large plantations or farms alongside their masters. Slaves worked from sunset to sunrise. Their masters kept a close eye on them. At night they had a curfew in their cabins, which was randomly inspected to ensure they didn’t escape. They had no right to leave their home without the permission of their master. African Americans come from a strong tradition of extended families, which was taken away from them when sold into slavery. Mothers and their children were separated from one another. The slave family was the most important institution for African Americans. Families, though oftentimes broken up, provided a foundation that prevented slaves from becoming completely demoralized. Most importantly, families provided slaves with a sense of community, not simply victimized individuals of oppression. â€Å"The family as a functional entity was outlawed and permitted to exist only when it benefited the slave-master. Maintenance of the slave family as a family unit benefited the slave-owners only when, and to the extent that such unions created new slaved could be exploited†. Slave owners often forcibly coupled men and women with the goal to produce healthy child slaves. â€Å"When you married, you had to jump over a broom three times†. Women symbols no less then men. â€Å"African slave woman: in the living quarters, the major responsibilities â€Å"naturally† fell to her. It was the woman who was charged with keeping the â€Å"home in order†. This role was dictated by the male supremacist ideology of white society in America; it was also woven into patriarchal traditions of Africa. As her biological destiny, the woman bore the fruits of procreation; as her social destiny, she cooked, sewed, washed, cleaned house, raised the children. Traditionally the labor of females, domestic work is supposed to complement and confirm their inferiority. † Woman were also alongside the men, from sun up to sun down. The start of their day begin with a bell ringing to wake them up at four o’clock in the morning and they are given a half an hour to get ready. Both men and woman work together, and the woman must work as steadily as the men and perform the same tasks as the men. Woman slaves who were pregnant were treated with no greater compassion and with no less severity than her man. Slave owners had a reserved punishment for woman that were pregnant; â€Å"She is compelled to lie down over a hole made to receive her corpulency, and is flogged with the whip, or beat with a paddle, which has hoes in it; at every stroke comes a blister†. In order for a black woman to function as a slave, they needed to annul themselves from being a woman and equal themselves to men. Slaves were treated with barbarous inhumanity. They often had to wear iron collars around their necks, drag heavy chains and weights at their feet while working in the fields to prevent runaways. Sometimes slave owners put them in stocks all day with gags in their mouths, causing their teeth to break off. Each day they were severely punished with whips. Slaves were tortured for the entertainment of their masters, they would get pepper rubbed into their cuts, burnt and beaten naked. The life African American slaves lived was cruel, although in time many were able to create a tolerable life and community for themselves. Virtually no one today defends slavery as a â€Å"positive good†. Slavery is evil. Today many historians have a controversy determining just what life was like under slavery. It is true that slavery brought riches to the port cities of Boston, New York, Charleston, and others. The wealth of America could not of been successful without the institution of slavery. The production of cotton does not just depend on soil or its climate but on the existence of domestic slavery. â€Å"Slavery is alike that sin and the shame of he American people†. Men, woman and children were robbed of their life, and there is no good in that. â€Å"This system is one of robbery and cruel wrong, from beginning to end†. This paper discussed the daily life of African American slaves in the nineteenth century. Along with that topic it explained the origins of slavery and its importance it played in the economic and political growth of the United States. From my research I learned how cruel and degrading the daily lives of African American slaves were. They were tormented and overworked. Their whole life was controlled by a man they called â€Å"master†. Women were treated with no greater compassion, they worked side by side with their men, and children who were born into slavery became slaves for life. I came upon this topic after taking a course called Building Community Through Diversity at Notre Dame de Namur this past semester. I became very interested in learning about slavery, white power, privilege, and race. To help me illuminate my topic I used both books and internet sources. It is important that everyone is educated about slavery, because never want history to repeat itself again. The institution of slavery was not a good thing but without institution of slavery the United States wouldn’t of been so rich in agriculture. African slaves played a major role in the growth of the United States, without the institution of slavery; tobacco, cotton and many other plantations would not of made nearly the amount it has done. In conclusion, the wealth of our nation bore with the institution of slavery.