Fighting Against Slavery

Chapter 8, Section 4

In the North, slavery

continued to exist until the 1840s

By 1860, nearly 4 million African Americans lived in slavery in the south The majority of

southerners were not slave holders

Southern economy depended on the labor of slaves

The Lives of Enslaved African Americans

Work was the dominant fact in the lives of

slaves Men, women, and children were expected and

forced to work whenever the slaveholder demanded it For most enslaved people, this meant every day

of their lives Those who could not perform the tasks

needed were of little use to slave holders

A Life of Work

Most enslaved people lived on

farms or plantations in the south Cotton was the leading crop and

was labor intensive Many slaves worked as: field

hands, planting, tending, picking, processing, and loading cotton Other plantation slaves worked

in the slaveholder’s house: cooking and cleaning

Some were skilled artisans and worked as blacksmiths, bricklayers, and carpenters

A Life of Work

Some slaves worked in cities

They worked in factories and mills, in offices, and in homes

Some worked in mines or in the forest as lumberjacks

A Life of Work

Enslaved people lived, for the most part, in

barely tolerable conditions Food, clothing, and shelter were typically

inadequate Medical care was non existent Enslaved African Americans had no right under

the law, which viewed them as property

A Life of Want

Many slaveholders treated their

slaves relatively well Did so to make sure their slaves were

loyal Did not make up for the fact they

were holding another human as property

Other slaveholders treated their slaves much harsher Punishments such as beating,

whipping, starving and threatening family members to keep slaves obedient

Many slaves were separated from their families Sold to different slaveholders

A Life of Fear

African Americans developed ways to survive

and bring some light into their lives Religion: Combination of African and Christian

beliefs provided hope for a better life after death

Story telling Songs: provided inspiration and a brief respite

from their hard lives

A Life of Hope

There were free blacks

who lived in the South They had either been

freed by their slaveholders or were free because their ancestors had been emancipated

These men and women faced harsh legal and social discrimination Aided people in escaping

slavery and spoke out for freedom

Anti Slavery Movements in the South

1776-1860 – 200 slave revolts

and plots occurred in the US Nat Turner Rebellion in 1830 was

the deadliest slave revolt Turner and 5 accomplices killed

Turner’s slaveholder and his family

Got 75 more followers and killed dozens more white people

Local militia captured rebels and killed 20

Other white people killed about 100 other slaves suspected of sympathizing

Slave Revolts

Some slaves escaped

Tried to reach the free states of the North or Canada or Mexico

No one knows exactly how many escaped: possibly 40,000-100,000

Most that escaped were soon captured, but some made it to freedom

Escape

Underground Railroad: an

informal, constantly changing network of escape routes

Sympathetic white people and free blacks provided escapees with food, hiding places, and directions to their next destination

Harriet Tubman was one of the famous workers on the Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad

A campaign to

abolish, or end, slavery

Supporters were called abolitionists

One of the largest reform movements of the Reform Era of the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s

The Abolition Movement

Abolition movement was

rooted in religion Quakers condemned

slavery since colonial times

Second Great Awakening contributed to the rise of the abolitionist movement

Religious people saw slavery as morally wrong

Religious Roots

One of the most

outspoken abolitionists from Philadelphia

Wanted slavery to be abolished immediately

Published an abolitionist newspaper called The Liberator

Founded the American Anti-Slavery Society

William Lloyd Garrison

Women played a leading role in

the campaign Sarah and Angelina Grimke –

daughters of a South Carolina plantation owner Fought for the rights of slaves

and the rights of women Frederick Douglass – fought for

abolition and women’s rights. Escaped slavery at 20. Published the North Star Powerful speaker, intelligent and

educated

Leading Abolitionists

To slaveholders, abolition was an outrage Seen as an attack on their

livelihood, their way of life, and their religion

Southern ministers attempted to justify slavery through the Bible

Slaveholders and politicians said that slavery was essential to production of cotton and health of the economy (counted for 55% of the country’s exports)

Support and tolerance of slavery in the north so free blacks do not take factory jobs

Opposition to Abolition