The Impact Of Slavery In 18th Century America

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In the early eighteenth century, about three-quarters of the urban elite owned at least one slave. Throughout the eighteenth century, blacks risked their lives in effort to resist enslavement. By the mid eighteenth century, three slave systems in British North American had produced distinct African- American culture. In the Chesapeake, because of a more healthful culture. In the 17th and 18th centuries, some blacks gained their freedom, acquired property, and gained access to American society. Many moved to the North, where slavery, although still legal, was less of a presence. African Americans, both slave and free also made significant contributions to the economy and infrastructure working on roads, canals, and construction of cities.
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In addition, many West African peoples kept slaves. West African slaves were usually prisoners of war, criminals, or the lowest-ranked members of caste systems. During the 18th century, half of Williamsburg’s population was black. The lives of the enslaved and free people in this Virginia capital are presented in reenactments and programs throughout the Historic Area. Slavery was an integral part of 18th-century Virginia society. Attitudes and class structure legitimized a slave system based on color of skin; slavery touched virtually all aspects of life in 18th-century Virginia. Beginning with the arrival of the first Africans at Point Comfort in 1619, an initially unplanned system of hereditary bondage for blacks gradually developed. Over the course of 150 years, slavery became entrenched in Virginia society, increasingly supported by a series of restrictive laws and reinforced by the teachings of the community and
In the south it was illegal for slaves to receive an education, to many, to vote, to own property, to testify in court were even to burn their freedom through their work and the have 15 minutes break a day and to eat, slaves were given megger rations mostly of corn meal pork and the last season’s, and every year slaves received one new said winter and summer clothes and a new blanket, most slaves share their small cabins with 10 to 12 people and slept on straw piled on a dirt floor. The lives of slaves who work on tobacco plantations were filled with ending hardship suffering and poverty. Slave woke up at dawn and spend all day working on rice plantations. One of 100s out of 1000s f African-Americans that were enslaved and forced to spend their lives. Because of the racism and segregation, they faced, slaves soon develop a unique culture found nowhere else in the world. Slaves often sang spirituals to express political or religious beliefs, these songs could also contain directions for runaway’s slave. Slaves owner permitted the singing because they believed it helped slaves work faster. Slaves didn’t get to choose

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