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African American Slavery Methods

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What methods did planters use to control Africa-American slaves? One of the methods used to control African-American slaves was whipping them. They had a certain number of lashes depending on what they did wrong. “Overseers freely admitted that they relied on whippings to make slaves in the gangs keep at their work.” Owners of slaves noticed that the slaves would cooperate more efficiently if the fed, clothed and housed them. “Thus, planters’ self-interest probably improved the living standards for slaves in the first half of the nineteenth century, and the slave population grew at a rate only slightly below that of the white southerners.” They allowed them to have families so that they can reproduce and make more slaves for the labor. The work was hard and intense, but what kept them going was the fear of getting whipped at the bottoms of their feet. The planters would use the possibility of getting a better position as a. incentive to get the workers to cooperate and work harder. They were given special privileges for working hard like “extra rations, off on weekends, passes to visit a spouse on a near by plantation and the righto have a garden plot…” These techniques didn’t work for all of the slaves, resulting in them being severely punished and even killed. How successful were social reform movements during this period? Chapter 12 The reforms were stared by religious people and women who noticed the things that were wrong and against their morals. Certain movements

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