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Slaves were predominately black Africans. Africans made up the majority but they were not the only ones. Native Americans and even English indentured servants made up the rest of the people put into slavery. There are two different kinds of slaves. There are slaves that stayed in the house and took care of the families, and there were the slaves that worked the land. Domestic slaves were usually women and children. Mean and young boys made up the farm hands. These men worked from sunrise to sundown. Working outside was by far the worst of the two. Some slaves didn’t fall under these to types there were slaves that served as guides, trappers, craft workers and nurses. Jobs that people do not relate slaves with. Slaves had different jobs depending on what of the country they were sent to. Slaves in the north generally worked in the mills and clearing forest. Slaves in the south worked the farms all year. Up north slaves only had to work the farms in the summer months because of the rigorous winters they went through. Domestic slaves stayed in the house picked up after the family, cooked and served meals, cleaned and kept up with the daily chores of the house. It was easier than working outside. Slaves were treated as property. Owners had the right to do whatever they wanted to them. They were property, not people. Owners would have the white farm hands stand in the fields and make sure the slaves were working as fast and hard as they could. If they weren’t working as hard as they could and a white farmhand saw it. The slaves would be beaten, and sometimes in severe cases killed. When the owner wasn’t around slaves could interact with each other. Families that came over on the boats were ripped apart at the auction blocks. They were thrown together not knowing each other and had to form some kind of structure to their personal lives. Younger men and women and children looked up the older men and women as parents. Slaves would be put into made up families put together by the owners. Religion served as a get for the slaves from the workday. Slaves usually practiced their native religions. Owners became suspicious when slaves wanted to convert to Christianity. Only because they thought they would have to be freed. Years later after the American Revolution, slaves were encouraged to convert to their owners religion. When the slaves went to the white churches they were put into what was called a “slave gallery.” They were told to be obedient to their owners, and to do what they were told. Slaves were transported to this country on ships built to small to hold the number of slaves put in them. There are two ways the owners of the ships used to pack in the slaves. They are tight and loose packing. Loose packing was when the owners gave the slaves a little more room, and fed them better. Tight packing was when the owners just stuffed slaves in the boat giving no room to maneuver around. Tight packing usually brought sickness quick and helped the disease spread quickly. Boat captains argued about the method they used and explained why it was better than the other was. Captains that used tight packing argued that the even though fatalities would was higher, there would be more slaves alive, which means more money. Loose packers said that if you give them a little more room and feed them better. A lot more will live. In the end the tight packers usually made out better than the loose packers because the number of slaves that lived was much higher. In 1788, you could only carry 454 slaves per ship instead of just packing in as many as you could fit. The slave trade wasn’t a pretty thing in the least. Every slave was treated like animals on their way through the Middle Passage and on to America. Slavery really picked up because the lifestyle and quality of living in England picked up. That meant that there were fewer people willing to be an indentured servant. The labor intense south turned to slaves to pick up the end that the indentured servants left behind. At one time in Virginia black slaves made up 40 percent of the population. Slavery was by no means a small movement it is said that slave ships brought over 15 million slaves to America. The Middle Passage was a name used to describe triangular route of trade that brought slaves to America. The slave ships would take from thirty to ninety days to reach America from Africa. The passage was considered one of the most horrific thing slaves went through during their lives. Treated like animals, death was almost inevitable. When the weather was good slaves would be brought onto the deck in the morning. They were not let up on the deck unless they were shackled together. They were served their first meal in the morning. Depending on what part of the West Coast of Africa they were from they was fed different meals. Those from the northern coast would be fed boiled rice, millet, or cornmeal. Slaves from the middle of the coast were fed stewed yams. The slaves from the south were fed manioc, cassava flour, and different types of fruits. Occasionally, slave ship captains would put pieces of meat in their food to give them something to stay healthy. In the afternoon slaves were fed their second and last meal of the day. Sometimes the slaves were fed the same thing as they were in the morning. Usually, they were fed just horse beans. Horse beans were the cheapest food that captains could get their hands on. The owners of the ships had to keep the slaves in pretty good shape to get top dollar for them. The white deck hands would bring the slaves on deck and go through and exercise they called “dance.” The men were forced to jump until the shackles broke they skin on their ankles. The women and children who were not shackled could dance to a rhythm. Slaves enjoyed their exercise because it was the only time they were aloud to move around. If the slaves refused to dance they were beaten with whips. The whips were called “cat-o-nine-tails” they were made up of nine cords covered with tar; each cord had a knot at the end. When bad weather hit it became very rough for the slaves. The slaves were not aloud to come up on the deck. This is where disease and filth ran through the slaves. In conclusion, slavery although was a big part of the rise of this country. It was looking back, one of the most terrible things done by humans to other humans. Learning from our mistakes took a long time. The Civil War was the point in our history where everyone realized that you could not treat people like animals. That everyone is looked upon as equals. Bibliography: Word Count: 1250
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