Slavery In The Nineteenth Century

The Life of a Slave Slavery a name known since the beginning of time but I will be focusing on the year of 1619 to 1865. When Africans first arrived at the colonial America and how they got there. They greatly influenced the lives throughout the thirteen colonies. People failed to realize they were humans just like them.

For an example, a slave named Simon Gray, was put him head of a riverboat crew on the Mississippi by his owner to handle the responsibilities of being in charge of selling his lumber at urban markets, be in charge of both white and black workers (bending the law), and handle the large sums of fortune. But Gray’s experience was very typical. According to studies, there was a large majority of slaves, seventy-five percent of them were women and ninety percent were the men that were working in the field. “The largest concentrations of slaves, however, lived and worked on plantations in the Cotton Belt [(South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi)], where men, women, and children labored in gangs, often under the direction, of an overseer and perhaps a

During the 18th century the slave trade prospered. Europeans manipulated Africans from the coast to attack nearby tribes and take captives (slaves). The slaves were exchanged for goods like guns and cloth. They were then shipped across the Atlantic in horrifying conditions. In spite of this the British forbidden the slave trade in 1807.

Sellers would show the best possible face to the buyers in the showroom. Slaves were first dressed up that involved in feeding them bacon and milk to increase the fattening of the slave, resulting in a bulkier and "healthier" body. Then, slaves were bathed with oil to show a healthier look to the buyers in the showroom. Next was the grooming and haircuts, eyebrow plucking, etc., along with elegant outfits: the ladies in calico dresses, and men in suits and hats. Lastly, the slaves were then displayed in a showroom that were very elegant with nice wooden floors so one could see a slave being walked around to display his or her appearance.

The majority of slaves bought were used for labor in the owner’s plantation, only a selected few worked on the domestic duties of the household. The slave's job type determined their quality of food, clothing and shelter they would be provided. Domestic slaves worked in the house and their duties included: cleaning, cooking and tending to their owners demands. Working inside the house these slaves were usually better feed, given hand me down from their owners and living quarters were usually within the home and nicer than field slaves received. Field slaves would tend to the needs of the plantation which included harvesting crops, animal care and any outdoor chore that need to be completed.

When the British colonized North America, there was a large demand for labor. This labor came in two forms, indentured servitude and slavery. Indentured servitude was very popular at first but slavery soon became a huge market. With the importation of hundreds of slaves from Africa, it became the easiest and cheapest way to supply labor to plantations. But these slaves were seen as property, not people.

Initially these slaves were not from Africa but indentured servants or white slaves who had voluntarily mortgaged themselves for a better life in America. At the beginning of the 1700’s there were 100,000 white slaves in the southern colonies working for landowners that came to dominate the agriculture and commerce. This system was misused and once free little or no land was available as promised. This in turn led to dissent, rebellion and a great deal of tension. When there were no longer any willing whites to enslave these landowners turned their eyes toward Africa.

Thousands of Africans were brought to America as slaves. Slaves were considered as personal property, entertainers and treated as wild beasts. Slave women were used as a machine for producing labor for plantation. The institution of slavery consisted of applying the business theory, and strategy for maximum profit to masters. Stronger the slaves were, higher was their market value.

These people were sent in by the thousands across the Atlantic Ocean and to Spain, Britain, Dutch and Danish west indies. Since the start of the European development in the New Worlds colonies the Portuguese learned they can make money from transporting the slaves, by the seventeenth century production had expanded as did the number of slaves required to do the job. Due to the improved production, an estimated 1.3 million people had been exported on the trade route. Production kept increasing and so did the number of slaves, by the eighteenth century over 6 million had been taken from their homes by their own people and taken into slavery. By the nineteenth century the Trans-Atlantic trade had been banned.

With the conquest of the newly-found Africa, came the introduction of slavery, which led to the enslavement of nearly 7.7 million African slaves by Europe between 1492 and 1820. The Europeans believed that this New World would provide them with the riches that couldn’t be found in Europe. Along with these riches, Europeans were also in search of religious and further social equality.

Throughout the 1400s to the early 1900s, an industrial revolution began, bringing with it economic and social change. Africa was a place where slaves were collected, first by the Muslims and later on the Americas and West Europe. They were collected in Africa because most of the native people found in the New World, found by Christopher Columbus, died of diseases brought by the Spanish and other foreigners. Also, slaves were needed to do the work that the plantation owners didn't want to do, such as collect cotton. Most places such as the Americas began an industrial revolution.

Specifically, southern white women used this period to elevate their social status so that they could climb the social tower to gain power and compare to men. Southern women wanted to get out of the ideal that women should only be housewives, so they used slaves to relieve themselves of house chores, which brought them away from just being housewives. This elevated them socially because instead of being ridden with housework, they were give leisure time and time to focus on their husbands and wives. Slaves were thought to benefit because slave owners would take care of the slaves and that they would be better off being a slave than running around Africa. Slave owners would give slaves food, shelter, and clothing, take care of their children, and teach them christianity (Jones, 102).

In the nineteenth century, slavery was at its peak, reaching millions of slaves in the nation by the mid-1800s. As messages of equality were presented by free blacks, abolitionists, and Evangelical preachers, slaves in the south began to fight for their freedom. Slaves in America fought in both organized and unorganized ways, which eventually freed many slaves and enticed reactions from both pro-abolitionists and anti-abolitionists. Many slaves organized revolts to fight for their freedom. The first of these was held in 1800 by Gabriel Porter.

Slavery began long before the colonization of North America. This was an issue in ancient Egypt, as well as other times and places throughout history. In discussing the evolution of African slavery from its origins, the resistance and abolitionist efforts through the start of the Civil War, it is found to have resulted in many conflicts within our nation. In 1619, the first Africans in America arrived in Jamestown on a Dutch ship.

Some people lived in larger, centralized states, while other lived in simple village communities. Islam was one of the most widespread religions in Africa before missionaries came to convert them to Christianity. This might have been a more positive influence if the Europeans hadn’t viewed the Africans as a people in need of refinement and guidance instead of understanding and respecting their culture. However, one benefit of Europe’s growing control of Africa was that the transatlantic slavery slowly came to an end, but in East Africa, slavery continued to run rampant. Although the end of much of the slavery did rid Africa of much exploitation, it continued in other ways including the harvest of copper, ivory, and other resources taken from the Congo, civilians forced into hard labor for little compensation, and little to no control of the government was given to native