Life of a Slave

Life of a Slave

The life of a slave was not a pleasant one. They were subjected to some of the worst conditions of the time. They were deprived of most of civil rights and were considered barely humans; assumed to be mindless brutes. They were oppressed in almost every aspect of their life, but they were able to retaliate in their own way.

After arriving in America, slaves were "broken in" before they were sold. This usually consisted of brutal beatings and humiliation. The slave would be broken down mentally and physically. After that, the slave would be sold. After being bought, the slaves were introduced into a new hell. They were forced into hard manual labor. They worked from dawn to dusk, and if they slowed, they were punished. Slaves were given no civil rights. Most states declared that they could not marry, they could not testify in court, they could not own property, and they couldn't even leave their owner's property without written permission. Their life was truly a painful one.

Slaves were able to protest their masters in different forms. Most actions were small, just enough to make the slaves life a little more enjoyable. The main form was thievery. The slave would steal small things, like pies, a chicken, etc. They never learned that thievery was wrong, just that being caught would result in punishment. They felt no guilt in their actions because of this logic. Another from of protest was through their religion. Slaves usually adopted a form of Christianity much like their masters'. They altered it a little focusing on song and mixing traditions from Africa. This religion became the southern Baptist of today. The slaves worked protest into their bible hymns, praying to God for freedom. Through the bible, the slaves identified with the Israelites of the Old Testament, because they were in a similar situation as the slaves. A more risky form of protest was running away. This rarely worked, and usually resulted with deadly consequences. Slaves who lived near the Free states had a better chance of getting away than those in the Deep South. The underground rail road aided in the escape of the runaway slaves. One final from of protest was the slaves' storytelling. They passed down stories to their children of Africa. This allowed the slaves to keep a fragment of their heritage intact as they were forced to assume the white man's.

Slaves lived a horrible