Coming to America: Portrait of Colonial Life: Introduction of Slavery in Colonial America
For most of the 17th century, the number of slaves in the American colonies is quite small. Indentured servants and the settlers themselves handle most of the colonies' labor needs. The transition to slave labor in the Chesapeake is the result of ec...
Cotton Revolution, The
Historian and author Ira Berlin explains that with the advent of cotton as the most important crop during the nineteenth century, many slaves were uprooted from the seaboard states and transported to the deep south. This forced migration broke apart...
Laws of Slavery, The
Historian and author Ira Berlin explains that the laws pertaining to slavery were written so as to give slave owners virtually unlimited power over their slaves, while the slaves themselves had no power. In some cases, slaves were allowed to carve o...
Process of Enslavement, The
Historian and author Ira Berlin explains that the process by which African were enslaved was much more complicated than the stereotypical notion that, "...Europeans placed a few beads....on the coast of Africa, and Africans came out and somebody bop...
Master and Slave: Slave Resistance
From the time they leave Africa; slaves resist their captive state. Actual rebellions are rare, in part because the vast majority of the population is white and free. In a one-year time frame in the early 1830s two significant events occur: the init...
Master and Slave: Rich Culture Created from Backdrop of Slavery
On the narrow ground of their lives, slaves create a culture that is a nexus of kinship and family rich with religious, political, philosophical, and musical traditions. Slave religion combines traditional African religion with aspects of evangelica...
Master and Slave: Effect of Slavery on Southern Society, The
Southern slaveholders in the 19th century pride themselves on their paternalism and how they care for their slaves which they contrast with the plight of the Northern workforce. If asked whether or not white and black people could ever live together...
Master and Slave: Peculiar Institution, The
A slave is legally defined as property, a subordinate position enforced by violence. Although unfree labor is primarily used in the field of agriculture, almost 20% work in cities or towns as skilled artisans, sometimes earning enough to buy their o...
Master and Slave: Life of a Slave
Slaves generally receive enough basic necessities to live and work: corn meal and salt pork to eat, cheap clothing and shoes to wear, and crude cabins in which to live. Life for women in the slave community may take on many different roles, from the...
Master and Slave: Slave Trade, The
The slave trade increases dramatically as the agricultural lands of the Southwest are developed. The lives of more than 1 million slaves are disrupted, families and communities destroyed, as the auction block becomes the nightmare of African America...