Resistance and Revolt

Next, the psychological trauma will be examined, in particular the valuation and division of slaves. Slaveholders deemed slaves as valuable assets such as clothes, furniture, pigs, and horses which was how slaves were sold and traded. By this method, slave masters would mentally engrain the message to slaves that they were not, indeed, human beings, but rather items of personal belongings. As a result, slaves did not know their self-worth. Another method of psychological distress would be to divide slaves from their families. In this effort, slaves were both stripped of both their morale and identity. The very first chapter of Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass proves this assertion.

The act of violence also contributes to the dehumanization and the “breaking down” of the slaves. Slaves were beaten, and whipped daily, subjected to cruel torture. Northup describes these acts of violence in his narrative very vividly.

In a time period when women were considered inferior, as were blacks, it was unimaginable the horrors a black woman in the south had to endure during this period. African women were slaves and subject to the many horrors that come along with being in bondage, but because they were also women, they were subject to the cruelties of men who look down on women as inferior simply because of their sex. The sexual exploitation of these females often lead to the women fathering children of their white masters. Black women were also prohibited from defending themselves against any type of abuse, including sexual, at the hands of white men. If a slave attempted to defend herself she was often subjected to further beatings from the master. The black female was forced into sexual relationships for the slave master’s pleasure and profit. By doing this it was the slave owner ways of helping his slave population grow.

Slavery as a Cruel Institution Cruelty can be defined as an inhumane action done to an individual or group of people that causes either physical or mental harm. Slavery, at its very core, was a cruel and inhumane institution. From the idea behind it to the way that it was enforced, it degraded the lives of human beings and forbade the basic liberties that every man deserves under the Constitution of the United States. Three major areas where cruelty was especially prevalent were in the slaves working conditions, living conditions, and loss of fundamental freedoms. Working conditions for slaves were about as bad as can possibly be imagined. Slaves worked from dawn till dusk and sometimes even longer. Solomon Northrup describes his

Women were not only used for their labor, but were also exploited sexually. Slave owners felt they had the right to use black women for their own sexual desires, and felt they had the right to use their bodies for slave breeding. This obscenity between the master and slave were not only psychologically damaging for black women, but would also lead to physical abuse. In her narrative, Ms. Jacobs gives us a firsthand description of the abuse that would occur if she were to upset her master, “Some months before, he had pitched me down stairs in a fit of passion; and the injury I received was so serious that I was unable to turn myself in bed for many days”

Moans of anguish fill the air, a man has fallen down from intense labor and is getting whipped to get back up. The man tries to get up, desperately pushing himself off the ground, yet the whip lashing into his body gives him no such opportunity. Eventually he falls flat, never to get up again. The person who was whipping him shrugged, “He was a waste of food anyways.” This was the life for a slave in the South before the Civil War. Destined to work in chains until they weren’t of use to the owner. In this essay I will prove that the North learning of the harsh treatment of slaves through the Fugitive Slave

As a young child, Frederick Douglass was introduced to the acts of violence towards the slaves including the all too common whippings. He says, “I have often been awakened at the down of day by the most heart-rendering shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.” One could only imagine the horrid pictures that slaves would have seen on a daily basis of other slaves nearly being beaten to death by their masters. For the black children growing up on the plantation, the master was seen to be a man of great power and not to be taken lightly. This was exactly

One of the most common moral defenses of slavery was that slaves were being kept in better conditions than they would be if they had legitimate, paying jobs. For example, once slaves had grown too old to complete hard labor in the fields, they could be brought into the house, where they could be more comfortable working less strenuous jobs. Whereas a paid field worker would be fired once they grew too old to work. What this defense didn 't take into account was the horrible conditions that many slaves lived in their entire lives, and the physical, mental and emotional toll that these conditions took. For example, many slave owners allowed their overseers to hit workers who they believed were disobedient, or who just weren 't working fast enough. Female slaves were routinely sexually abused, and were punished for attempting to protect themselves. This kind of physical abuse would create an atmosphere of fear

Starting from a slave’s birth, this cruel process leads to a continuous cycle of abuse, neglect, and inhumane treatment. To some extent, slave holders succeed because they keep most slaves so concerned with survival that they have no time or energy to consider freedom. This is particularly true for plantation slaves where the conditions of slave life are the most difficult and challenging. However, slave holders fail to realize the damage they inadvertently inflict on themselves by upholding slavery and enforcing these austere laws and attitudes.

Every person depending on their ranking or gender were given different punishments. The crimes that are visible in the laws are different compared to the crimes that would take place today . For example it says that if a builder fails to construct a house properly and the house fallss an kills its owner then the builder should be put to death. Again in law 200 we can see that if a man knocks out another mans ( equal ) teeth then the damage should be returned. Here we can see that damaging someone equal to you will give you the same consequences. The most common punishment among women at that time was either painful death or being cast into water. From what i can see there are’nt many laws that suggests that slaves would get a different kind of punishment if they commit a

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

The slashing , Putting runaways to death, The burning screaming that could pierce through your soul and heart. This was how African americans were treated They were forced to work day in and day out until their limbs were falling apart and there was no will to live. Usually in mines, Farms or Homes because That was how they were to work. That's not all though if they did wrong ( knowing how to read or write) Or just because there master felt like it…. They would brutally assaulted them with the slashing of a whip Or put to death just for the heck of it. Or Because there owner thought they were doing wrong; So what was the cause and effects of this Unfair ruling of pain, Suffering and Terrible act of violence called slavery?

Plantation owners thought that this extreme discipline would make the slaves too scared to rebel. In South Carolina it was said that "a slave owner would put nails in a barrel sticking out on the inside of the barrel, then put the slave in and roll him/her down a very long and steep hill. Another punishment slave owners used was to whip their slaves. Other slave owners in Virginia smoked their slaves. This involved whipping them and putting them in a tobacco smokehouse".("life of a slave" thinkquest) Other punishments were getting beaten with various objects such as a chair, broom, tongs, shovel, shears, knife handles, the heavy end of a woman’s shoe, and an oak club.("life of a slave" thinkquest) Although slaves lived terrible lives, they found hope in religion. Many converted to Christianity which did not please many whites.

and had developed skills useful to the plantation owner. They were often in working positions

     Many times Stowe writes of slaves being unjustly punished for no good reason. One time is when the slave, George, is describing his experiences in hearing is sister unjustly whipped. He felt helpless, knowing he could do nothing to stop it. George says, “I have stood at the door and heard her whipped, when it seemed as if every blow cut into my naked heart, and I couldn’t do anything to help her; and she was whipped, sir, for wanting to live a decent Christian life” (Stowe 123). The use of the whip is consistent with one of Jack Larkin’s essays he wrote in 1988. He records, “The whip remained the essential instrument of punishment and discipline” (Larkin 136). Larkin says that the whip was used often and sometimes for no clear reason. When slaves heard it, he says, they “knew that they were never more than a white man’s or woman’s whim away from a beating” (Larkin 133).