NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Lenses Atkinson: 457 - 81 - 3059, Section 54 Jason Atkinson: 627 - 14 - 8861, Section 42 Josh Schenk: 463 - 87 - 7569, Section 34 African American Voices: The Life Cycle of Slavery, is an extremely detailed book about the trials and tribulations of many slaves. Slavery can be dated back as early as the fourteenth century. Slavery in ancient times was much like slavery in the New World. The biggest difference between old and new slavery, was that slavery in ancient times was not based on racial distinction.
The Atlantic Slave Trade, trading between European slave traders and the Americas over the Atlantic Ocean, began taking place in 1502. Almost two million slaves died on this journey from Europe to the Americas. Disease and death came one with another on the seven-week journey. This book portrays many different stories about the lives of slaves and informs society about the many evils and injustices of slaves traders and slave owners. The slaves were treated as if they were animals ready to be sent out to perform hard and enduring labor. ." each of the others, which have passed as good, is marked on the breast, with a red-hot iron, imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch companies" (Ballot, 33). Slaves were callously branded as if they were the cattle of someone else fixing to be sent off to work and then sent to the slaughter house when the slave owners were through with them.
However, the chances were not so high of a slave surviving the trip over to America. "Its cargo consisted of 505 African men and woman. Another 55 had been tossed overboard during the 17 days at sea" (Mintz, 47). The journey was brutal and harsh on the slaves because of the many things that they had to do to endure. Crowding the ships to their full capacity, the slave holders packed the ship with as many slaves as the ship could hold without, basically, sinking. Many slaves sat with one on top of the other and covered every inch of the ship as possible.
This closeness resulted in many of the slaves and crew members getting sick from diseases such as amebic dysentery, small pox, and the measles. Some slaves felt that they would rather die than to go through the pain and suffering that they faced and would continue to face for the rest of their lives. Feeling desperate and afraid, some of the slaves committed suicide. Slaves were forced to work vigorously, fearing the whip or whatever the horrible punishment may be, for nothing in return but what is necessary to keep them barely alive.
Slaves would have to wake before sunrise, get a fifteen-minute break for lunch, and work again till the sun went down and darkness filled the sky. "They do not stop. until the order to halt is given by the driver" (Northrup, 71). Outside of the cotton fields, many of the slaves had other chores and responsibilities that they had to take care of as well. During the slave days, many families were split up and sent all over the country. It was not uncommon to have a child on a plantation that did not know where mother or father was, or who their mother and father was. Slave owners did this in order to provide the owners with a sense of power that the parents of children could not overcome. "When I found that father and mother could not save me from punishment, as they themselves had to submit to the same treatment" (Stroke, 89).
In the next chapter entitled "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See" it involves stories about the slave's families. Slaves were often married and separated when they are sold to different owners. "Southern law did not recognize or protect slave marriages or slave family ties" (Mintz, 111). Slave families had a great closeness. Even the slaves on a plantation treated each other as family. There is a bond between the slaves that cannot be experienced in any other situation. "Nothing aroused the slave community than the sexual abuse of slave women" (Mintz, 114).
In one story by Josiah Henson called " The Overseer Sent my Mother Away To a Retired Place" a boy recalls his father coming to the rescue of his mother who was being assaulted by the overseer. The penalty of striking a white man was "one hundred lashes on the bare back, and to have the right ear nailed to the whipping-post, and then severed from the body" (Henson, 115). This man was eventually sold to a slave owner in Alabama. Many slaves brought the religious cultures from Africa.
He compares his religion, Ibo, to Judaism and Christianity. "They have many offerings... " just like Christianity (Equiano, 122). Equiano also states that "though we had no place of public worship, we had priests and magicians, or wise men" (122). In one instance, Peter Randolph illustrates that with all of their problems the slaves would forget them and remember that one day they would be in Heaven with their peers and family. They would say, "Thank God, I shall not live here always!" (Randolph, 126).
They would walk away singing in praise and blessing one another. Many slaves, who could read, also desired to read the Bible on their free time. Punishment was a very predominant thing among the slaves and their owners. Owners would use the whip to instill fear into slaves, or to simply show that they can control them at any time. "Though slave owners tried to disguise it, most relied on physical punishment to force slaves to toil for long hours and meager rewards" (Mintz, 131). Even on the kindest plantations, slaves were punished, .".. slave management was based on fear" (Mintz, 131).
Frederick Douglass, a former slave and established writer, stated that "a mere look, word, or motion, -a mistake, accident, or want of power, -are all matters for which a slave may be whipped at any time" (133). In one instance, Josh Brown describes how his master tried to prevent him from running. This was a common punishment among slave owners. The master affixed bells and horns on his head to ensure that he would be heard in the act of running away. Another similar type of punishment was to tie the slave down so he could not run. Different...
Free research essays on topics related to: ancient times, owners, slave owners, one instance, slave families
Research essay sample on Slave Owners Slave Families
