Slavery

The Background of Slavery before Abolition

In the 17
th
century the colonists needed a more abundant and a cheaper work force
(they had indentured servants at the time). In 1916 a Dutch trading ship brought
~20 Africans to the Americas. Soon after these very first slaves were brought ashore
other traders began to catch on. These sailors had usually brought a variety of
supplies to the Americas but the demand for blacks was high so that many of these
traders became strictly slave only traders and built ships for the exact purpose of
transporting slaves. Many times when slave traders raided villages they would bind
and whip the blacks to find who can take the most abuse and the ones that died
from the whipping they would leave behind. Then they would pack the slaves into
the ships by the hundreds, and began the long passage to the Americas. Many of the
blacks died on the passage from sickness, abuse or murder. Even if they lived to the
shore they often were deadly ill.

Once they got to land it didnt get any better, they were auctioned off, all most
always splitting families, they were ripped from their language, culture and all ties
to home. If they were not auctioned off right away they would usually be killed or
left to die.

After they had been purchased and taken home by their new owners (usually
plantation owners) they were put in little dirt huts that usually had no furniture in
it, not even a bed. Occasionally there were slightly more benevolent masters that
would house their slaves in fairly descent houses; although nice compared to other
slaves conditions, their homes were nothing close to what their masters lived in.
Because the blacks had no personal items, they were usually forced to work the
minute the got to the land.

Slave owners sought to make their slaves completely dependent on them so that
they wouldnt even think of running away. If a slave was acting or talking in
rebellious way or even if the slave master just felt like it, the blacks might be
whipped, collared, masked and sometimes imprisoned. Some of the more irrational
masters wouldnt even allow their slaves to learn how to read and write. Even
though they were sold off at about age 5, Slaves were strongly encouraged to have
children (women were frequently raped by their master but these offspring would
be left to die). The usual jobs that blacks would be assigned was picking cotton and
tobacco, sometimes they would harvest rice or indigo and in some areas of the US
would mine in extremely dangerous conditions when whites would not.

Although rare, slave revolts did sometimes happen. The most terrifying revolt the
shook the US was led Nat Turner in the fall of 1831, Southampton, Virginia. His mob
numbered around 80-90 blacks, including a few free blacks. They destroyed
plantations all over that area leaving 60 whites dead. Two days later the militia
arrived to put down the revolt leaving over 100 blacks dead and Nat Turner
tortured and hanging from a tree.

Rise of the Abolition Movement
Proslavery whites used Turners revolt as proof that they were beasts, not people
and why waste education on savages? Soon after laws were set about how many
blacks could gather without supervision by a white together (commonly the limit
was 5). Because of these repression laws the Norths abolition movements grew
stronger and stronger. The idea of a world without slavery began to slowly trickle
down to the southern states. But the ideas stopped around the Kentucky-Oklahoma
line where they were they were the most dependent on slaves. But in the north
these ideas grew even stronger. Soon after these ideas were wide spread, (but not
necessarily accepted) a few supporting whites and several free blacks such as
Harriet Tubman, began a escape system for enslaved blacks in the south called The
Underground Railroad. This system really began to gain momentum in the 1930s.
Around 50,000 to 100,000 were brought to freedom in the north through this
system. This raised extreme tensions between the north and the south.

The Abolition of Slavery
It is well known that Abraham Lincoln was an antislavery supporter and while the
end of slavery may not have been the reason for the civil war, he gave everything he
had in order to abolish slavery while the south was weak and had no basis on which
to fight back. When Union troops overtook the south they freed slaves as they went
giving them guns to help fight. A few months after the battle at Antietam, Lincoln
gave his Emancipation Proclamation speech January 1, 1863. In this he made every
slave, black or white, free. By freeing over 3 million blacks this deprived the south of
the bulk of their work force.

Even though the slaves were free they were still treated intolerably. One of the most
brutal of these groups was known as the Klu Klux Klan, they would burn crosses in
the front lawns of black people or white supporters showing that they were going to
target them, they would then beat them and sometimes tie the victim to a cross and
burn them alive. (This organization still exists today but it is very rare for them to
get away with harming any blacks or white people for blacks.) People such as Martin
Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks played huge rolls in ending segregation. Martin
Luther King Jr. is best known as a leader of non-violent civil disobedience. Rosa
Parks is also very well know because of similar non-violent protests such as sit-ins
and boycotts. Thurgood Marshall did do much protesting himself he did mark a
major milestone by becoming the first African-American Justice. Things still have to
be done end segregation for good but discrimination towards blacks continues to
improve for the better.