Slave Resistance & Slavery & Freedom in American History in Tennessee History 251 Final Paper Paula Burton Resistance to slavery was formed due to the extreme brutality which the slaves were forced to endure at the hands of their masters. Early African Americans found ways to escape following their master’s orders. Many slaves would pretend to be ill, do their jobs poorly, refuse to work, destroy equipment, steal food, and set fires to buildings. These revolts were not part of an organized plan, but rather individual acts. The objective was to upset the plantations normal routine in any way possible.
Sickness was a huge problem faced by the colonies around the year of 1623. A letter by Richard Frethorne written to his parents describes the poor conditions at the time. He wrote that “causeth much sickness [including] the scurry and [dysentery] and diverse other diseaeser, which maketh the body very poor and weak”. This document accurately sums up that during this time the numbers of the Virginia colony were weakened greatly by the numerous plagues taking effect on the settlers. Another source writes of the sickness making cultivating the farmland impossible.
Paternalism in slavery is the idea that slave holders held slaves because they believed it was in the slave’s best interest or an explanation that claims that slaves viewed their masters in a manner similar to the way children see their guardians. There were different views on paternalism; it could either be for the good or the bad. Owners thought that by beating a slave was best for the slave. In Nicholas Boston’s “Living Conditions” article he states, “Southern plantation owners defined slavery not as an institution of brute force, but of responsible dominion over a less fortunate, less evolved people.” The slaves were given very small amounts of food on a weekly basis such as molasses, peas, greens, and some meat. The clothing for the slaves, depending on age and gender, was only distributed about once a year on special occasions.
The slaves on the other hand were chained up, and had to spend much time below the decks, where the temperatures were hot and disease and sickness thrived. The slave's treatment was also more inhumane. They were forced to eat and, if they didn't, they were tortured. The third example, during the 17th century, indentured servants evolved into the lowest class of people in the New World class system. They had restricted rights.
Others of them die from either suffocation from being very crowded or starvation. After we had to throw all the deceased slaves overboard because was sicken. That night I will never forget it I wish I could help these people but I just don’t have to power to do so if I would help them I would got in trouble by the captain and everybody would have thought am a negro lover. When we finally reached to our destination the slaves were getting sold off their families were splitting apart young children were being taken away from their own mothers it was just a painful and mournful thing to watch. Well after my crew and I left I thought about my family and how I will feel if they were ripped apart from and when I got back home to my beautiful wife and children I decided to be anti-slavery and to never do another journey like that again.
informative essay Yo check it, African Americans in the south during the early 1900’s had lived the most terrible, excruciating lives, at least the majority of them did. Back then African Americans were badly abused, belittled, and were given little to no rights at all. Discrimination and desecration were handed to African Americans each day along with their living conditions and social life which also were tormented by the white people who thought themselves as superior to the African Americans around them. Religion played a big factor in the social life of African Americans. They were forbidden and shunned from any type of real interaction with whites or anyone alike, so their faith in religion is what they based their social life around.
“Most of the Northerners did not doubt that black people were inferior to whites, but they did doubt the benevolence of slavery(civilwar).” Slavery was so cruel that many slaves had to figure out ways to escape it. For example, slaves would destroy farm machinery, fake sick and even commit murder but the most common act of the slaves was to runaway(civilwar). In the 1860s, the Civil War in America was the start of slavery becoming abolished. Slaves in the south escaped and went to the North, where Union generals made abolitionist policies. Many Northern abolitionists became aggressive.
Before Jim Crow, black people were receiving more rights then they had ever had in America. Jim Crow seemed to only be a setback for blacks. One damaging effect that Jim Crow had on the community was that it had a detrimental effect on the education of children, especially of those who lived in the south. The government completely neglected the educational needs of black children. Black schools consisted of poorly trained teachers, lack of supplies, and poorly constructed schools.
The slave’s physical health was affected substantially as there would have been a serious lack of fresh air below deck; this caused a stench to form. The stench was caused by the poor sanitation as the slaves were so cramped together that caused their chains to rub against each other. This then caused wounds to form on each slave which would have became inflamed and cause them pain; or worse the wounds became infected with disease to them because of the lack of sanitation. With the lack of nutrition the wounds wouldn’t heal as quickly as they
They were dehumanized if they stepped out of line “My husband cousin... they took her tongue out for talking to the clan... You think they gone take our tongues? For talking to you?” (Stockett, 301)- Winnie (A black maid). Black people were denied the right to speak their mind or else they would be tortured or killed. They had to write the novel in secrecy in fear that they would get caught and killed. All the rights of a human being were denied to the black society in which freedom of speech and freedom in society were not