Female Slave History Research Paper

In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs writes, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (64). Jacobs' work shows the evils of slavery as being worse in a woman's case by the gender. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slave's desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing.

Slaves in the South performed many different types of labor. Many of the slave population performed as field laborers conducting agricultural work. Some of the labors performed by Southern slaves included cultivating cotton which involved 55% of the population, growing tobacco which involved 10% and producing sugar, rice and hemp involved the other 10%.

Describe the treatment of slaves in the South as compared to the lives of urban workers in the North during this time period.

Harriet Jacobs wrote, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” using the pseudonym Linda Brent, and is among the most well-read female slave narratives in American history. Jacobs faces challenges as both a slave and as a mother. She was exposed to discrimination in numerous fronts including race, gender, and intelligence. Jacobs also appeals to the audience about the sexual harassment and abuse she encountered as well as her escape. Her story also presents the effectiveness of her spirit through fighting racism and showing the importance of women in the community.

During the fifthteenth century, when the Europeans first colonized the North American continent, the land was tremendous, the work was cruel and there was not sufficient work of labor. The land needed to be worked on; thus, many people developed toned to pay for work through the use of indentured servant. However, indentured servants did not provide enough labor for the vast land. Although, the indentured servants improved a lot of the work issue, much still needed to be done. Around the seventeenth century, African American servants were brought to the colonies by a Dutch ship. Originally, the idea of African American servants (who are later known as slaves) were of indentured servants and was only meant to

The working and living conditions of the enslaved Africans in the New World were inhumane. It was brutal, degrading, and stripped the slaves of their humanities. They were met with harsh physical abuse such as whipping, beating, shackling, mutilation, branding, imprisonment, and even sexual abuse. Slaves were usually beat if they were disobedient, but some were beat by their owners to solely assert dominance. The barracks that the slaves were kept in were tightly packed and securely locked down to prevent anyone from escaping, usually with barbed wire at the top. Slaves received hardly any food and water and were malnourished, some even dying from this.

Linda’s account of the incidents she encountered during her 27 years as a slave shows us the harsh, terrible, fearful conditions in which slaves lived. Especially, the life endured by slave girls. In fact, these girls grew up side by side with the children of their masters, but at age fifteen they would become subjects of the morbid attention of their masters. If these girls were blessed with beauty, then they would endured even harder situations due to the attraction that their masters had towards them. Linda recalls how she used to play with her master’s daughter until she turned fifteen.

The bright orange sun was scorching, and the slaves were worn out. They were excited for the sun to go down, so they could take the night to cool down. The day seemed to never end, with an owner whipping and yelling at them to stay on their feet at all times. The cotton fields were slimming, but they knew the work wasn't over until they could escape from this place. They had hope for the day they’d been planning for months. It was Jonathan, the slave owner's eldest son, who was secretly the slaves best friends. The day the six slaves arrived on the farm, Jonathan was in charge. He watched them for several weeks, until his father could trust them to stay.

White historians in the past described the relationship between slavery in the American South and the rising political power and economic growth of the United States as i.e. timely unrelated. Furthermore, white historians believed that slavery had no impact on America’s modern economy or industrialization. Perhaps slavery wasn't considered a “modern” institution because to acknowledge it as a modern act in society would be to recognize it as something commonplace in that specific day and age.

“Not Killing Me Softly: African American Women, Slave Revolts, and Historical Constructions of Racialized Gender” is an attempt by Rebecca Hall, to uncover women’s participation in slave revolts and to address a concern of why enslaved women were silenced in revolt. She also focuses on why certain aspects of slave revolt are seen as exclusively male activities. To accomplish her task, she uses a number of book excerpts from prominent historians, as well as many sources from accounts of slave revolts in history. Although Hall relies heavily on the works of other historians to support her argument, she also utilizes her own observations and experiences to strengthen her thesis. The significant points discussed in Hall’s dissertation are, the

No one in today’s society can even come close to the heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery suffered by women in slavery. Many women endured this agony their entire lives, there only joy being there children and families, who were torn away from them and sold, never to be seen or heard from again.

In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs writes, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (64). Jacobs' work presents the evils of slavery as being worse in a woman's case due to the tenets of gender identity. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slave's desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing.

In history, a woman 's experience of slavery is presumed inadequate and useless. Unfortunately, there are many experiences of women during slavery that is untouched and needs some highlight. For instance, did enslaved women work as much as enslaved males? If so, did they work in the same field or was there a difference. Women grew burdensome in that they would spitefully work inefficiently and slower than needed, leading to the resistance. Specifically, this paper 's discussion why are similarities and differences in the roles of enslaved women who resided in both Jamaica and Barbados bring complications to slave owners. I will attempt to understand the percipience of female slaves in the Caribbean, in order to gain a better insight into their lives and daily experience that may or may not have been similar or different as well as what are some possible reasons why an enslaved females’ history is ignored and often generalized.

The simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. First of all, it wasn=t underground, and it wasn=t even a railroad. The term AUnderground Railroad,@ actually refers to a path along which escaping slaves were passed from farmhouse to storage sheds, from cellars to barns, until they reached safety in the North. One of the most widely known abolitionists in history is a slave by the name of Harriet Tubman. She is best known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad and risked her life to help free nearly 300 slaves. The primary importance of the Underground Railroad was the ongoing fight to abolish slavery, the start of the Civil War,

My name is Elijah Johnson and I was born a slave. I say I was born a slave because that was what became my identity for the first fifteen years of my life. It did not matter that I was a boy, a child, a brother or a son. I was looked upon as a slave and treated like one all through my formative years. I was born in the year 1850, on the 23rd of October. I know because like every other child born on the plantation my birth was recorded too. Even as a baby I was seen as a future worker for the master of the plantation. The plantation where my parents worked was not huge. It was a mid-sized plantation and mama told me that when they started working there there were about 60 slaves in the plantation. Mama and Papa were sold to Mr. Jackson when they were quite young and they never got to meet their families after that. When Mama and Papa