How Did Slavery Dehumanized African Americans

Jennifer Earley
AAS 33A; Section 04
Soo Choi
24 November 2015
Southern Establishment of Slavery and How African Americans Coped
The white larger society in the South dehumanized African Americans for the purpose of monetary gain. As a way to stay sane and escape from the forced labor, African Americans created and formed their own collective identity through combination of various practices. White slaveowners tried to justify their attempts at keeping slaves and using them as indentured servants for their fields. First, they looked to the law to back them up on their claims. The Constitution protected private property, which (to them) included slaves (Jones et al. 217). By this standard, slaves were no longer considered people of their own

but the demand for slaves was not limited to the farms that only grew and produced cotton. sugar, indigo, and other plant-based products were also part of the southern economy. the only thing separating cotton from the others, is that cotton is what the economy was based on; it was essentially used as currency. The increase in demand for slaves and slavery as a whole was the result of the increasing popularity in the cotton gin. this created an economy centered on cotton. Southern farmers tried to smuggle more African Americans in well after the Abolition Act of 1808 was put into effect (Jones et al. 259). This resulted in the number of slaves increasing in the South. Southerners also wanted their slaves to have more children, much like cattle (Jones et al. 260). If the slaves had more children, then there would be less of a need to go through the trouble of importing slaves from

the greatest of all the rebellious acts was in fact running away from their slaveholders (Jones et al.262).Of course, white slaveholders were blind to the true colors of the slaves feeling towards them. when the slaves interacted with their owners, they acted completely different compared to when they were alone or with other fellow slaves. this was known as the “defiance ritual” (Jones et al. 262). The slaveholders would eventually catch on to what their slaves were actually doing. As a form a discipline and ownership, slaveholders practiced the art of branding their slaves, as well as beating and punishing those who disobeyed orders (Jones et al.