Imagine being a slave in America in the 1800s. You are put up for sale at an
auction along with your father, mother, brothers, and sisters. You do not know
whether you will be sold with any member of your family. You do not know
whether you will be sold to someone who will whip or kill you if you disobey.
The only certainty is that you have no legal right to do anything except what
your owner orders you to do.
That is a small part of what the experience of slavery was like in America.
Sadly, slavery was not new. Many societies throughout history have had slavery.
But the practice of slavery has meant different things in different times and
places.
Most of the slaves brought to America came from West Africa. Europeans had
begun trading in West African slaves in the late 1400s. Even before this,
however, slavery existed on the African continent. In what ways was African
slavery like slavery in America? In what ways was it different? Let’s take a
look.
Slavery in West Africa
West Africa in the 1400s had towns and cities, kingdoms and empires. Trade,
especially trade across the Sahara Desert, had brought great wealth to West
African kingdoms and, eventually, empires, such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
But life for most West Africans revolved around their village. And village life
included slaves and slavery.
There were several ways that people became slaves in West Africa. In some
cases, circumstances made people choose slavery. If a man owned money and was
unable to pay, he could become a slave until the debt was paid off. Sometimes
entire families worked as slaves until a father’s or husband’s debts were paid.
In times of famine, some people sold themselves or their children into slavery
in exchange for food.
Other people were forced into slavery. Sometimes criminals were made slaves as
punishment for their crimes. Sometimes people, especially children, were
captured from their villages and sold into slavery by traders. The largest
numbers of slaves in West Africa, however, were prisoners of war. Some wars
were started just to take prisoners, who could then be sold to other villages
for a profit.
No one would freely choose to be a slave. Still, in West Africa the lives of
slaves were not very different from those of their owners. Slaves were part of
village life. They worked, ate, and slept with the family that owned them.
Slavery in America
The type of slavery practiced in the American South is called “chattel
slavery.” This means that slaves were treated as property rather than as human
beings. (The word
chattel can refer to any kind of movable property.)
The practice of slave auctions illustrates the meaning of chattel slavery. In
an auction, slaves were put on display and sold to the highest bidders. In many
ways, they were treated like animals being sold at a market. Buyers might
measure the strength of a slave by feeling his or her arms and legs. To see if
slaves were healthy, buyers might examine their teeth. As you have learned,
slaves from the same family could be sold to different owners, never to see
their loved ones again.
Slave owners kept tight control over their slaves, backed up by laws. In many
states, it was illegal to teach a slave to read and write. The laws made it
clear that slaves were not to be regarded as human beings with the same rights
as other people. For example, here is a Louisiana law that was similar to laws
in many southern states:
The condition of a slave being merely a
passive one… he owes to his master, and to all his family, a respect without
bounds, and an absolute obedience, and he is consequently to execute all orders
which he receives from him, his said master, or from them.
Other state laws and codes strengthened owners’ control over their slaves and
limited the slaves’ freedom. Except for work, slaves were forbidden to gather
in groups of more than five people. They were not allowed to leave their
owner’s plantation without a written pass. Slaves could not even preach to
their people if a white owner was not present. Law and custom alike constantly
reinforced the enormous gulf between black slaves and even the poorest whites.
Enrichment Activity
On a separate sheet of paper, create a Venn diagram like the one below. In the
outside rings record two unique characteristics of slavery in West Africa and
two unique characteristics of slavery in America. In the center section, record
at least two ways that slavery was similar in both places.
