ge of forty.” This is a time when women were not given equal rights to the common white man, as was true for the African Americans who also faced many grueling hardships. Since slaves spent their whole lives in complete bondage, they resorted and depended on their family as a source of comfort and control. Slavery was a painful reality, which the African American men and women wished to escape. “Planters’ records reveal how members of extended-kin groups provided support, assistance and comfort to each other.” In addition to the hard work in the fields, slaves were often beaten in front of the faces of their relatives, which added more to the excruciating pain. They often protested the harsh treatment of those people in their family. Families of slaves often live on plantations for generations, which leads to the development of the strongest extended kinship ties. “If a nuclear family is broken up by sale, other relatives could help with child rearing and similar tasks”. The significance of these kinship ties is best displayed during this sort of occurrence. The role of the family offered the little hope and unity that slaves had.Although colonial women had a distinct role in society, it was clearly an overlooked responsibility, which they did not receive enough recognition for. In their hard work, they took on the responsibility of being wives, mothers, and housekeepers. The responsibilities that women took on were often larger then the duties of colonial men, yet they were considered inferiors. The role of family and extended kinship ties in the lives of African Americans, served as the emotional pillar and as the only sense of hope to these people. “Among colonial blacks, the extended family served a more important function than it did among whites.” Colonial life can be described as a harsh reality that African Americans had to live through, searching for any source of...
