Early Slavery Research Paper

Many kids have not been to jail or experienced the loss of a close sibling or parent, and we do not understand the difficulty of being a slave. We can not even imagine that these terrible phenomena can occur. The book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson depicts two young, black slaves that have survived through the uprising of the Revolutionary War, the immoralities of slavery, and the tragic loss of family members.Throughout the book, Curzon and Isabel suffer through multiple events that have made them chained both figuratively and physically, but the couple of juvenile slaves grow more determined to receive freedom after they go through their hardships.

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass both wrote narratives that detailed their lives as slaves in the antebellum era. Both of these former slaves managed to escape to the North and wanted to expose slavery for the evil thing it was. The accounts tell equally of depravity and ugliness though they are different views of the same rotten institution. Like most who managed to escape the shackles of slavery, these two authors share a common bond of tenacity and authenticity. Their voices are different—one is timid, quiet, and almost apologetic while the other one is loud, strong, and confident—but they are both authentic. They both also through out the course of their narratives explain their desires to be free from the horrible practice of slavery.

During the period of 1830-1860 slavery existed throughout the United States. The topic of slavery has a long history in the United States, beginning with the slaves used to cultivate tobacco in the southern colonies. When writing the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers realized they could not include any articles against slavery, for it would lead to the South not agreeing upon it. In the 1830’s to 1860’s, attitudes towards the institution of slavery varied throughout social classes and regions, ultimately settling with the North coming out against the expansion of slavery and the South for it.

Hughes lost his father during the Civil War, he had become a soldier and was killed in battle. The young Mr. Hughes found himself along with his siblings and mother trying their best to get along during the war. Their owner “B.” had fled the war as he could not find a substitute to fight for him. When he returned after the war he fell ill and passed away, according to Mr. Hughes is was all for the best as there was little food to go around by this time. When the soldiers came to town they had broken the flour mill, dumped the flour into the river, broken inot the stores and threw all the meats and sugar into the streets. Slave children lime himself would go to these sites and recover as much as they could, all to see those who were once of privilege eating everything they could get their hands on, leaving nothing for the slaves to eat. At the time of emancipation, they hardly knew what to do at first. They slept under the stars at night, which they were used to already, Mr. Hughes stated; “Why then we'd just go and stay anywheres we could. Lay out a night in underwear. We had no home, you know. We was just turned out like a lot of cattle.” His mother with no money to afford to care for the children did what was called bounding, she found someone to take her two oldest children as servants for the wages of one dollar per month. Not unlike Abraham Lincolns father did to him back in the

The slaves are all on the boat, loaded in loose pack. They are laid on their backs, luckier than those who had to be in tight pack, but unfortunately continue to suffer. The slaves all cry, yell, and moan as they take off. All of them are miserably separated from each other, keeping them from communicating or supporting each other through the pain. Each one of them is chained to one another, forced to watch the other die slowly.

The man, as I later learned was named Frederick Douglass, would frequently tell stories about how he escaped and how his owner treated him. At those times, I had flashbacks to how I nearly got captured while escaping. I still feel the creeping presence of the sentries scouting the area for any escaped slaves.

Throughout the years, many people have attempted to portray the hardships and struggles of slaves based on what they learned or what they might have been taught. But realistically, there is no way for anyone to understand the lives that many blacks were forced into because they have never actually experienced it themselves. During slavery, blacks were separated from their families and pushed into a lifestyle that was dehumanizing and depressing. Their everyday lives were being watched and harsh punishments were being given for reasons that were unethical. Harriet Jacobs, Phyllis Wheatley, and Olaudah Equiano wrote about the different struggles that they faced as slaves in order to give readers an understanding from their point of view.

Slavery was a challenging and uncomfortable life for the slaves such as Jacobs. Her mistress watched over her when she was sleeping trying to provoke Jacobs into accuse herself of attempting to seduce the mistress’s husband. Slave narratives have gothic elements to it because Jacobs was fearful of her life and her mistress watched over her when Jacobs was variable from being asleep. Jacobs describes how she was in her grandmother’s attic for seven years and

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup is an autobiography that revolves around the author’s life in the 1840’s as an African-American slave, and it is told in his own words after his rescue. Northup was born in Minerva, New York City in the year 1808 on July 10th. Solomon Northup grew up a free man on a farm with his father, mother, and older brother Joseph. As a child he would help on the farm, as well as, reading books and playing the violin. Throughout his childhood, Northup had always known the feeling of freedom; before he was born his father, Mitus, was enslaved to a man, but then released upon the death of the gentlemen.

In this book, Buckmaster begins by telling the story of a man, Jeb, on the run from his slave owners in 1850. Jeb was just one of the many black slaves who fled to freedom. “This was the desire for freedom which sent more than two thousand slaves out of the South every year.” (Buckmaster 4). Many slaves had it worse then others. Some were made to work 20 hours of the day while some were treated as guests and were able to live inside the plantation homes. Still, just

This tour gave me a better understanding of slavery in terms of the hardships slaves encountered, what living and working quarters were like, and how they were treated compared to the slave owners. The Haile and Chesnut family who own this plantation had 66 captive workers that live in 18 cabins in 1864. The total for some of their captive laborers was $8,672.30. In the year 1854, the Haile family moved from South Carolina and had 56 slaves build the six thousand two hundred foot home while their land measured 1,500 acres.These enslaved men would cut down enormous trees and make wooden plants to support the bottom of the house that measured around 100 feet long. These individuals who were held hostage created slabs that held up the house that

He was so determined to convince people that slavery was wrong thing to do as he preached many his fellow Quaker slaveholders to free their slave during the meeting. He was willing to travel many places in order to spread his anti-slavery speech as he was constantly on the move. He didn’t do anything directly related to slavery like buying a slave, and even avoid anything indirectly related to slavery like refused to wear dyed clothing, and declined to be served with silver kitchen utensils. While he was staying with slaveholders in order to convince them, he insisted on paying slaves who attended him. As we can see,

Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. He includes personal accounts he received while under the control of multiple different masters. He analyzes the story of his wife’s cousin’s death to provide a symbol of outrage due to the unfairness of the murderer’s freedom. He states, “The offence for which this girl was thus murdered was this: She had been set that night to mind Mrs. Hicks’s baby, and during the night she fell asleep, and the baby cried.” This anecdote, among many others, is helpful in persuading the reader to understand the severity of rule slaveholders hold above their slaves. This strategy displays the idea that slaves were seen as property and could be discarded easily.

Before the Reconstruction which took place after the Civil War, many slaves began to acquire their freedom by many things, including escaping plantations, buying their freedom, or being granted freedom from their former owners. Once slaves entered the North, they were able to finally be seen as a free African American. The thing that scared African Americans the most, frequently happened, being sent back to the South into slavery. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup gives a recap of how his life, filled with joy and freedom one day, became a living nightmare the next. Northup, a self-taught, master violin player is fooled into traveling with “gentlemen” to share his talents for a small fortune. Leaving his family behind, he decides to go with the men and once he reaches New York City, the men convince Northup to travel to Washington D.C. Solomon soon began feeling sick and one day wakes up chained in a cell. Next thing he knows, he is being sold into slavery. He lives a life of a slave for twelve years until he is rescued by Henry B. Northup, who saves Solomon while he was working in the field. Once back in his own home, Solomon writes an autobiography of his experiences. After many decades, a historical movie retelling Solomon’s autobiography was released. Throughout the movie, many differences are present. For example, the wife of Solomon’s master was portrayed to be an evil woman in the movie, but in the book not so evil. Another example is while slaves did not fight back

We knew there was another auction coming up, my mother was afraid that she was going to be sold next, she was getting ill and could no longer do the same work as she did before. I convinced my mother the we had to do something, she was not sure she was up to traveling through the woods, but there was no other choice. You either die here as a slave or try to escape to freedom. My sisters were also lenient about leaving because the plantation was all they knew, they were both born on the plantation so they didn’t know anything about the north, I didn’t know much as well, but whatever was out there in