9781422274194

Rare Glimpses of Slave Life

Rare Glimpses of Slave Life

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY: ABOLITIONISTS AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS AFTERMATH: FREED SLAVES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

SLAVE LIFE ON A SOUTHERN PLANTATION

SLAVE REVOLTS AND REBELLIONS

THE SLAVE TRADE IN COLONIAL AMERICA

WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SLAVERY

Rare Glimpses of Slave Life

CATHERINE A. GILDAE, PH.D.

MASON CREST PHIL ADELPHIA | MIAMI

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ISBN (hardback) 978-1-4222-4404-3 ISBN (series) 978-1-4222-4402-9 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4222-7419-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file at the Library of Congress. Interior and cover design: Torque Advertising + Design Production: Michelle Luke

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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Chapter 1: Escaping from Slavery. ...............................7 Chapter 2: Running Away.......................................... 23 Chapter 3: The Underground Railroad. ...................... 35 Chapter 4: Religion and the Abolitionist Movement... 47 Chapter 5: Abolitionists, International Changes, and Women's Rights. ................................ 59 Series Glossary of Key Terms. .................................... 68 Chapter Notes. ............................................................. 70 Further Reading........................................................... 72 Internet Resources.................................................... 73 Chronology............................................................... 74 Index........................................................................ 77 Author’s Biography and Credits................................. 80 K E Y I C O N S T O L O O K F O R : Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND

A person who is running away from authorities, or from a dangerous situation, is called a fugitive . Microaggressions were ways that slaves pushed back in subtle ways against the unjust system of slavery. The ways in which a living organism’s body and mind function are described as physiological . A religious revival is a period of increased interest in the activities of the church and in spiritual matters. Repercussions are the unintended, and often unwanted, consequences of a person's actions.

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Escaping from Slavery In 1818, a black child named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born on a Maryland plantation. His mother was a slave, and so Frederick was a slave also. His father was a white man—probably the plantation owner. Frederick was separated from his mother when he was very young, and was raised by his grandmother on another plantation. When Frederick was about ten years old, the plantation owner took him away from his grandmother. Frederick was sent to work for Hugh and Sophia Auld, who lived in Baltimore. While living in the city, Sophia Auld taught Frederick the basics of how to read and write. When she stopped tutoring him, Frederick secretly studied some books that he found. He also learned from friendly white children that he met while working. When Frederick became a teenager, the Aulds hired him out to work on nearby plantations. He was forced to work for others until he was about twenty years old. When he met a free black woman in Baltimore named Anna Murray, Frederick was inspired to gain his own freedom. Frederick ran away several times, but was caught

Opposite: this abolitionist literature from 1850 depicts white slave-catchers firing their muskets at four black Americans (possibly escaping slaves, but just as likely free men). Quotations from the Bible and the Declaration of Independence are used to highlight the evil nature of slavery.

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Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) escaped from slavery to become a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about the injustice of slavery.

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and returned to the plantation. In 1838, he finally managed to escape from Maryland for good. Once he reached Pennsylvania, he was sheltered in Philadelphia by a Quaker family. He traveled to New York City, then Massachusetts, which was a relatively safe haven for an escaped slave. From Massachusetts, Frederick contacted Anna Murray and she moved north to marry him. Frederick soon changed his last name from Bailey to Douglass. His literacy helped him join the growing abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. He founded an important newspaper, the North Star , and his autobiography, published in 1845, became a best-seller. Frederick Douglass would become one of the most famous and eloquent speakers against the institution of slavery in the United States. A CRUEL SYSTEM The institution of slavery was established in North America more than 150 years before the United States existed. Spanish settlers in North America and the Caribbean had used slaves from Africa for labor since the sixteenth century. In 1619, twenty African slaves were brought to the British colony of Virginia. They would be the

Scan here for a brief overview of American slavery.

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Escaping from Slavery

first of millions of Africans sold in the British colonies of North America over the next two centuries. As new British colonies were established, slavery was soon introduced in each one. Raising cash crops like tobacco or sugar cane involved a lot of work—more than the colonists could handle by themselves. Importing slaves from Africa was a solution to the labor shortage. European colonists justified owning other humans by promoting the idea that African slaves were less intelligent than whites. Over time, the idea developed that people with different skin coloration or physical features were not fully human. The legacy of these beliefs is racism and bias that has lasted beyond the time of slavery.

A group of slaves on their way to a cotton field in South Carolina.

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Throughout the South, black Americans were bought and sold each week at auction houses like this one in Georgia.

Slavery existed in America from the colonial era until the institution was ended in 1865. While today slavery is often thought of as a primarily southern institution, at one time slaves could be found in every colony or state. Slaves lived in both urban and rural areas, and worked on both small and large farms. They did many vital jobs: tending crops, woodworking or metalworking, and even caring for the children of their white masters. In the United States, slaves were considered to be the property of their owners, little more than livestock. They could be bought and sold without any input into the matter. Families were broken apart and slaves sold across state lines, never to be reunited.

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Slaves had no control over their own relationships. Slaveowners could sexually assault their female slaves without fear of legal repercussions , because slave women had no rights. Slaves could be beaten, starved, and made to live in inhumane conditions if they did not obey their master. Slavery in the United States was usually a permanent condition. Very few slaves had the financial means to purchase their freedom, or were given the opportunity to do so. What’s more, slavery was an inherited condition: all the children of a slave woman were also considered to be slaves. This meant that for most black Americans there was no way out of slavery—unless they could escape. UPRISINGS AND ESCAPES Slaves regularly engaged in all sorts of microaggressions against their owners. Some slaves worked slowly, broke tools on purpose, or pretended to be sick. They might secretly add toxic plants or leaves to food when they were cooking to make their masters ill. These daily forms of resistance were common and often documented in slave narratives. However, coordinated slave uprisings against the white slaveowners were much rarer. Very few slave uprisings succeeded, and the blacks who took part in them were often quickly captured. Those who did were often executed in gruesome ways. They were publicly burned, or their heads were cut off and hung on tall stakes, for example. These punishments were meant to warn other slaves about what would happen if they tried to fight back against the system. Escape attempts were also dangerous, although far more common. If caught, runaway slaves were returned to their owners. They could be expect to be punished harshly, usually by whipping. Repeated escape attempts would result in harsher punishments. A slave might have a foot or other part of his body cut off. Some slaves were punished by being “sold South” to plantations in

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Abolitionists photographed this slave from Louisiana named Wilson Chinn, whose forehead has been branded "VBM"—the initials of his owner, Volsey B. Marmillion. He is wearing an iron collar, which would prevent him from moving easily or interacting with others. The iron bars fastened to his leg restricted his ability to run, and the shackles around his ankle and iron chain would also have slowed him down.

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Escaping from Slavery

places like Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hot climate made the work conditions brutally unbearable. “Both slaves and servants ran away, and when caught, received for their efforts a wide range of nasty punishments, including whippings [and] bodily mutilations,” writes historian Peter Kolchin in

his book American Slavery: 1619 – 1877 . “Eighteenth-century colonial newspapers (there were none in the seventeenth century) were filled with advertisements for fugitives , both white and black.” However, the dream of escaping was part of the fabric of slave life. The promise of a free life—including possible reunions with loved

DID YOU KNOW ?

Many slaves who ran away only made it a short distance. Sometimes they were just looking to take a break from the drudgery of everyday work, or show their master how valuable they were to the plantation. Running away was not always seen as a permanent escape, but a microaggression against the master.

ones who had been sold away—was a powerful motivator. Some slaves were willing to risk their lives for the possibility of freedom. More male than female slaves escaped, primarily because of women’s roles in their family. A mother of young children would have to choose whether to bring her children or leave them behind as she made her escape. This difficult choice kept many female slaves from running away. However, that is not to say that women did not escape. Some of the most famous slave narratives were written by women who escaped from slavery. One of them was Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl . Jacobs lived in a small hiding place space for seven years before making her way to New York for freedom.

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Fifteen fugitive slaves arrive at Philadelphia in the mid-1850s. Philadel- phia had large populations of both anti-slavery Quakers and free blacks, two communities that helped the freedom seekers.

FINDING A SAFE PLACE During the colonial era, escaped slaves often headed south to the Spanish colony in Florida. Spain and Britain were often at war, and the Spanish authorities promised freedom to British slaves who ran away. A few slaves went west to the unsettled frontier, where they hoped to live outside the eye of British authorities. Around the time of the American War for Independence (1775–1783), some of the northern states began to pass laws that outlawed slavery. So once the United States became independent, it was logical for escaped slaves to try to reach these northern states, such as Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Runaway slaves often aimed for large cities in the North like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, where they could blend in

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Escaping from Slavery

with the larger populations. This meant less risk of being caught and returned to their masters. Slaveowners hired bounty hunters to find escaped slaves, because American laws gave slaveowners the right to recover their escaped property. The US Constitution, ratified in 1787, included a clause that said, “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.” This meant that states were responsible for returning escaped slaves (“Persons held to Service or Labour”) to their masters. In 1793, Congress passed a Fugitive Slave Act that authorized local governments to capture escaped slaves and return them to their owners. Because of this, the safest escape for freedom- seeking slaves was to cross the border into Canada. This was a British territory where slavery was illegal. Authorities in Canada would not return runaway slaves to the United States. The 1793 Fugitive Slave Act imposed penalties on anyone who helped a slave to escape. Despite this, some Americans believed that slavery was morally wrong. They put themselves in danger of punishment to help slaves escape to freedom. THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT People who wanted to end the system of slavery in the United States were called abolitionists. Abolitionists helped some runaway slaves to make their way to freedom. Some provided shelters for the fugitives as they traveled North. Others helped them to find work and settle into new lives when they reached the northern states, or assisted them in traveling to Canada. In addition to helping individuals, abolitionists worked to make the larger social changes necessary to end the institution of slavery. Abolitionists came from various backgrounds. Not all black Americans were slaves, and the free black population was the main

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