SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH: THE 1800’S

Why did the south need slavery? Where in the United States were

slaves mostly located?The Southern half of the United States consisted mainly of “Slave States”, which allowed slavery of African Americans. The states that allowed slavery were Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Delaware, and Maryland. Due to this southern location, the south mostly needed slaves for farming and working fields. Slaves were meant to improve their economy by doing the hard work and letting wealthy planters rule the government.

What did the slaves do for Work? What tools did they

use? Slaves mainly worked in fields either planting, harvesting, taking care of farm animals, or (in rare cases) more intelligent slaves would work in the house and take care the owners. The tools slaves were given were barely good enough to get a job done, let alone quickly and neat like they were expected. Lots of times rakes and pitchforks would break, rust out, or not be able to hold the necessary load. One invention that was efficient was the cotton gin, which was able to clean cotton by turning a handle, one slave could do the work of 50 slaves. Sometimes even these were not good, because cotton could get jammed and owners would whip them if the machine was broken.

Did slaves ever try to escape? What happened if they failed?

Some slaves would occasionally try and escape, usually by running away at night, hop onto wagon trains, or use the underground railroad. In some rare cases, slaves would even poison owners or shoot the owner to try and escape without being stopped or known about. To notify slaves that houses would accept them, they would hang up quilts or blankets as a secret message. If a slave was ever caught trying to run away, they would be whipped and beaten in front of the rest of the slaves, usually they were also required to work much longer and less breaks after being caught.

How often were slaves fed? Were they given days off? Where Did They stay?

Slaves seldom went hungry, unless they were caught running away, or were in trouble for not working. To make a slave go hungry is not smart, because what good is a slave if he is too weak to work and harvest? This was the only decent thing that slaves were given, but it was still very unjust. Field Slaves were given Sunday off as a break day to hold weddings, go to church, and try to rest for the week. House slaves were required to go to church with the master and were not given any days off, although their work hours were easier and shorter. Field slaves would stay in long rows of small huts made out of mud or cement that were cramped and hardly bearable. House slaves stayed with the owner in a broom closet or old small room in the cellar and were to tend to owners needs.

What did slaves do in their free time?

When Slaves had their free time after work (which after a good work day was about 8 hours) they were usually tired and went straight to sleep after prayer. On Sunday, they would also rest and quilt blankets, tell stories, have weddings, worship, sing songs, and improve their own houses. If a slave had been in trouble with the master, they had to work on Sunday and only get a break when it was time to worship.

Picture Websiteshttp://www.google.com/imgres?q=Slave+Picture&um=1&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbnid=1saW5ihZa0wCNM:&imgrefurl=http://www.historyguy.com/civilwar/statistics_slave_population.html&docid=yusL0ZW7pjbztM&imgurl=http://www.historyguy.com/civilwar/slavery_scars.jpg&w=295&h=340&ei=EPzLT97fFcGM6QG6iIX-Dw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=254&sig=102223914563224918325&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=110&start=0&ndsp=34&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:0,i:113&tx=22&ty=75

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Slavefood&um=1&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbnid=Le6Iz2gp2G0UZM:&imgrefurl=http://usslave.blogspot.com/2011/06/slave-food-watermelon.html&docid=gAnBNw6S1BGavM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qbLb4cJ0gCM/Tgi13rwaPAI/AAAAAAAAHs4/w3EcJG0uqGc/s400/food%25252Bwatermelon%25252Bmelon.jpg&w=360&h=278&ei=Z_zLT6ffLNLH6AGrw8Aa&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=366&sig=102223914563224918325&page=1&tbnh=128&tbnw=164&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:0,i:109&tx=122&ty=45

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http://www.google.com/imgres?q=cotton+gin+in+the+1800s&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbnid=EPSn-65sBMMcoM:&imgrefurl=http://apush-wiki-marlborough-school.wikispaces.com/The%2BIndustrial%2BEra%2B(1877-1882)&docid=mgYHCZ3qbaNsRM&imgurl=http://apush-wiki-marlborough-school.wikispaces.com/file/view/cottongin_12718_md.gif/69574331/cottongin_12718_md.gif&w=368&h=350&ei=k_7LT5DRBoae6AGc2JH5Dw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=453&sig=102223914563224918325&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=149&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:81&tx=126&ty=109

Works cited Hart, Diane. History Alive! The United States through Industrialism. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. 2005. Print. Lester, Julius. TO BE A SLAVE. Washington DC: Text Copyright. 1968. Print. Yellin, Jean. Harriet Jacobs A Life. New York, New York: Bookcomp Inc. 2004. Print. “Constitution of the United States” Wikipedia. Wikipedia, June 2nd, 2012. Web. June 3rd, 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States> “Field Slaves” Oracle ThinkQuest. Oracle ThinkQuest. June 3, 2012. Web. <http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215086/dailylife.htm>