Southern Society in the Pre-Civil Period

WHAT WAS SLAVERY LIKE?

WHAT WAS SLAVERY LIKE?

WHAT WAS SLAVERY LIKE?

WHAT WAS SLAVERY LIKE?

Slavery as shown by HollywoodFact or Fiction?

Scene from Gone with the Wind, made in ______

Real life for the Southern FamilyWhat was slavery really like for

them?

Slave-ownership in the Pre-Civil South

15-20%

10%5%

SUPPORT OF SLAVE OWNERSHIP

1. Slaves were expensive= $1000.00; only the wealthy planter could afford many slaves

2. Even though most people did not own slaves, they supported with the hope of owning slaves themselves;

3. Slaves were considered property and southerners believed they had the “right to own property” (COMES FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE)

Overview of Groups in the SouthGROUP DESCRIPTION 1. Slaves

--60% of Southern population --most lived on plantations --some were house slaves; some were field slaves

2. Free Blacks --1860, numbered million --discriminated against --could not vote and denied all civil rights --few could read or write --obtained freedom in one of the following ways: A. escaped to freedom B. purchased freedom by using money gained from after hours work (using learned skills: sewing, carpentry, blacksmith) C. willed freedom (from dead slaveowners)

3. Poor Whites --10-12 % of population --lived in mountains often where farming was poor

4. Laborers and Tenant farmers --usually in debt --lived hard lives

5. Small Farmers --middle class; small income

6. Slave owners --small slave owners: 1-2 slaves or a family of slaves --Planters: owned 20 or more slaves per family

Treatment of slaves

• Depended on whether the slaveowner was “kind” or not

• “Difficult” slaves → slave breakers who used harsh treatment to break the slaves down

Plantation slavery

Slave muzzle

Slave master brands

Slaves were an investment!

• A hurt slave was not able to work!• Therefore, not all slaves were punished harshly• Masters generally “cared” for their “investments” by

feeding & clothing them

Mental cruelty of slavery

A slave auction: human property

Separation of families

How did southerners reason that slavery was correct?

• Slavery had existed throughout history• Slaves were better off in America than they

were in Africa• Slavery gave Africans the opportunity to

become Christians • Slaves had better lives than northern factory

workers

YOUR TASK

• Using the notes from slides 1-15, create a 5-item quiz activity:

• -T or F• -Multiple choice• -Fill-in-the Blank• NO Q AND A• ***You will email it to me w/ a key

WHAT DO THESE PICTURES AND SONG REPRESENT

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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SONG: FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURDLyrics: http://www.osblackhistory.com/drinkinggourd.php

SLAVE RESISTANCE

• TWO TYPES: PASSIVE (quietly resisting or rebelling) and ACTIVE (loudly/boldly resisting or rebelling)

PASSIVE RESISTANCE• 1. Pretending to be sick; self-vomiting->less work• 2. Pretending to suffer from food poisoning-->less work

• 3. Female slave pretending to be pregnant• 4. Destroyed crops; tools• 5. Organized work strikes (all slaves would slowdown work)

• 6. Pretending to not know something or how to do something

• 7. Maintaining own culture; refusing to assimilate– Accomplished with dance and song, folklore/stories

• 8. Slave songs with hidden messages about how to escape

ACTIVE RESISTANCE1. Slave rebellions (exs:

--Nat Turner in Southampton, VA--Denmark Vesey (real name, Telemanque) in Charleston,SC--Gabriel Prosser in Richmond, VA

2. Escaping; running away to the Canada or Mexico (Underground Railroad--Harriet Tubman)

3. Use of arson4. Self-mutilation (meaning what?)5. Suicide (as we’ll see in the film Amistad)6. Rob, assault or murder slave masters and mistresses7. Poison slave owners’ food• Created maroon villages: a community of runaway slaves

called maroons that were set up in or near swamp lands and deep forests in the Sea Islands of S.C. and GA)

-- would go back to the plantations and attack the crops and livestock of the masters. -- influenced other slaves to join their communities.