Intro to the blog

In this blog, you will find out about slavery in the south, and many different aspects of it. You will learn about slave punishment, slave clothing, slave work hours, slaves way of resisting, and a lot more. There is also a lot of pictures to go with some of the facts pointed out. You will learn more then you expected when your done reading this blog.

Slave Auctions Pictures

This is typically what a slave auction would look like

This is a poster that would be hung up for slave auctions

Slave Auctions

Once in the Americas, slaves were sold, by auction, to the person that bid the most money for them. It was here that family members would find themselves split up, because a bidder may not want to buy the whole family, only the strongest, healthiest member. Slave Auctions were advertised when it was known that a slave ship was due to arrive. Posters would be displayed around the town. When the slave ship docked all the slaves would be taken off the ship and placed in a pen. There they would be washed and their skin covered with grease, or sometimes tar, to make them look more healthy. This was done so that they would fetch as much money as possible. They would also be branded with a hot iron to identify them as slaves. There were two main types of slave Auction:
1. Those that sold to the highest bidder
2. Grab and go Auctions

"Sold! to the highest bidder"
The slaves would be brought from the pen, in turn, to stand on a raised platform so that they could be seen by the buyers. Before the bidding began, those that wished to, could come up onto the platform to inspect the slaves closely. The slaves had to endure being poked, prodded and forced to open their mouths for the buyers.
The auctioneer would decide a price to start the bidding. This would be higher for fit, young slaves and lower for older, very young or sickly slaves. Potential buyers would then bid against each other. The person who bid the most would then own that slave.

The 'Grab and Go' Auction
All people who wanted to buy a slave on the day of the auction would pay the trader an agreed amount of money. The trader would then give them a ticket for each slave that they had bought. At the sound of a drum roll, the door to the slave pen would be opened and the buyers would rush in and grab the slave or slaves that they wanted. The buyers then checked their slaves out by returning their ticket or tickets to the slave trader.
The slave auction was a terrible ordeal for the slaves, they did not understand the language and had no idea what was happening.

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad wasn't a real railroad and it wasn't necessarily underground. It really was a system that helped slaves escape to freedom in areas such as the northern states and Canada in the 1800's. This system was called the Underground Railroad because of the secret way slaves escaped. It was in 14 northern states but was mainly in Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the New England states. The slaves would hide during the day and moved almost always at night. To make sure no one found out about it, the people who aided the slaves and the fugitives would use many railroad words as code words. Although some slaves settled in the North, others didn't because they could be captured and would be returned to being a slave. Instead these slaves would go to Canada. The line between freedom and slavery was called the Mason Dixon Line. It is located on the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Slaves Free Time

Although the life of most plantation slaves consisted mainly of work, slaves however did find ways of enjoying themselves. Few masters worked their slaves so hard that they were given no leisure whatsoever. Slaves usually had Saturday nights and Sundays off. On some plantations, slaves had even more free time: occasional evenings, some Saturday afternoons, and all day Saturday during the slack seasons. And almost all slaves had a few days off at Christmas. Saturday evening was party time on many plantations. Slaves looked forward all week to Saturday. They would gather to dance, sing, and generally have fun after the long chores of the week were over. Most weeks the parties would be low-key and informal, but they were still parties and it meant no work for the slaves

More slavery vocabulary

Active Resistance- The act of resisting in a way that everyone (slave owners) knows. Obvious, or out in the open
Passive Resistance- The act of resisting in a way that almost no one (slave owners) knows about, sneaky, hidden
Petite Maroonage- running away for short periods of time, to meet loved ones, and in hopes of changing the relationship between them and their current slave owner
Grand Maroonage- a slave running away to freedom

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

These are pictures of Harriet Tubman (left) and slaves in the underground railroad(right)

Slave vocabulary, from Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

abolitionist - a person who did not believe in slavery and who worked to free slaves
anti-slavery- against slavery
auction- a place where slaves were sold
Civil War- a war fought from 1861-1865 between the northern and southern states that brought about the abolition of slavery
conductor- a person who provided shelter for runaways and directed them where to go next
Drinking Gourd- code name the slaves used for the Big Dipper
emancipation- to free from slavery
fugitive slave- a runaway slave
master- the owner of a plantation was called this by his slaves
overseer- a person who directed the work of field slaves on a plantation
patrollers- men on horseback who guarded roads against escaping slaves
plantation- a large farm on which crops are grown
Quakers- a religious group, many felt it was their duty to help slaves escape to freedom
quilt- a blanket made from pieces of fabric sewn together, it was sometimes used as a signal that a station was safe
runaway- an escaped slave trying to make his or her way to freedom
safe house- a place where runaway slaves could find food and shelter
slave- a person owned as the property of another person
slave catcher- a person who earned his living by tracking escaped slaves, capturing them and returning them to their owners for reward money
spirituals- religious songs sung by slaves to lift their spirits and relay information
station- another name for a safe house
Underground Railroad- a secret network of people who helped runaway slaves escape to freedom

Different Slave Jobs

Slaves didn't only just work in the field, they worked around the house, and they worked different jobs around the field. But if u were a slave in ancient Greece you would have about 250 jobs in one day. But the main jobs, slaves did were, working in the house, the fields, ship rowers, and even police. Only men could be police, and the only way they could have jobs as police their masters had to let them have freedom. Working in the house, slaves were considered part of the family. House slaves sometimes even took part in family activities, like sacrifices. But the house slave did have many tasks to complete, like cleaning the house, and keeping the fire going. The masters wife usually followed the slave to keep giving him/her jobs, and to make sure they are doing their jobs. but not all slave jobs were safe, there were some deadly jobs, like a war ship rower. Because if the boat sank then the slaves could not get out and they would drown, and there was usually 50-60 slaves on one ship. And if the boat didn't sink killing all the slaves, most slaves died of hunger because they would go days or even weeks without food.

Field slave work hours

Field slaves worked in the field from sunrise to sundown, and at harvest time worked an 18 hour day. Women worked the same hours as men, and even pregnant women were expected to work right up until they give birth

Slave Clothing

Most field slaves were issued clothes at birth. When they were small, both genders usually wore plain cotton gowns. Right before winter they were issued a jacket and shoes. These must last them all year long. Most clothing was made of a burlap-like material called hemp. This was cheap and easy to find on the market. Slaves who worked in the big house were given hand-me-down clothes from the planter's family.

Punishment

A lot of slave owners felt free to punish their slaves whenever they did the littlest things, such as sweeping the floor wrong. Punishments were whipping (often 50 to 100 lashes), branding, ducking under water, getting put in stocks, slapping, kicking, tarring and feathering, and tying up. Run away slaves were chased by dogs, and when caught, were hit with paddles or whips or got a body part such as an ear cut off. Some slaves even died from these punishments. But that didn't stop the owners, because these punishments were done even after it was against the law in the United States. However, the worst punishment for many slaves were to be sold away from their family. They were sent far away and to new places where they were uncomfortable. There were nice slave owners who did not hurt their slaves,so many slaves did not run away. The nice slave owners knew that if they were mean, the slaves would run away and the work would not be done on the plantation. If the work was not done, the plantation did not make money, and the owner could not buy new slaves. Then, finally,the plantation would fall a-part. So not all slave owners were harsh with punishments, but most didn't care.

Slave Codes

Every slave state had its own slave code and body of court decisions. All slave codes made slavery a permanent condition and defined slaves as property, usually in the same terms as those applied to real estate. Slaves, being property, could not own property or be a party to a contract. Since marriage is a form of contract, no slave marriage had any legal standing. All codes also had sections regulating free blacks, who were still subject to controls on their movements and employment and were often required to leave the state after emancipation. When the District of Columbia was established in 1800, the laws of Maryland, including its slave laws, remained in force. Additional laws on slavery and free blacks were then made by the District. By Southern standards its slave codes were moderate. Slaves were permitted to hire out their services and to live apart from their masters. Free blacks were permitted to live in the city and to operate private schools. By 1860 the District of Columbia was home to 11,131 free blacks and 3,185 slaves

An example of Active resistance: Gabriel Prosser

Gabriel Prosser was a slave who attempted to lead a revolt. he was tall for his age of 25, he was six feet two inches. His saying was give me liberty or give me death, which he wrote upon a silk flag. This conspiracy was well-formed by the spring of 1800. Swords, bayonets, and over 500 bullets were made by the slaves for this revolt. On the day of the attack the plot was disclosed by two slaves who did not want their masters slain; then Virginia governor James Monroe alerted the militia. That night, as the rebels began congregating outside Richmond, the worst rainstorm in memory flooded roads, washed out bridges, and prevented Prosser's army from assembling. Prosser decided to postpone the attack until the next day, but by then the city was too well defended, because someone in his army told the slave master about the revolt. And because of this, Prosser and all of his comrades where captured and executed. They were hung over a cliff but the rope was not tight enough to kill them instantly, so it just strangled them, so then an officer rode down the line of hanging men and shot each one in the head killing them. http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/spl/gabrielrevolt.html

Resistance in the south

In the south many slaves did not like their life that they lived, so in order to deal with this problem many slaves attempted to resist their owners. There is two types of resistance, active, meaning obvious or out in the open, and passive, meaning sneaky and hidden. Many slaves attempted to resist in a passive so its much harder for their owners to find out who did what and punish them. Although some slaves were willing to take the risk of being punished and resisted actively. Some examples of active resistance were running away, leading a revolt, refusing to work, and in rare cases suicide. Some passive ways of resistance were, burning the crops, stealing food from their owners, faking an illness, abusing livestock, breaking/losing farm equipment, and slowing down work process. the most common way of resistance was slowing down their work process. This was most common because that means they have to work less, disobey their owner, and not get caught as easily as they would like if they lead a revolt.

Resistance

this is a picture of slaves resiting their owners with violence. But this isnt the only way to resist