y on their plantation; the only way out wasdeath. A Virginia planter asked his former slaves to stay on the plantation and when hereceived a negative reply, he got a riffle and shot into the crowd of ex-slaves. Some of theterrorized blacks were killed and others were wounded. These ex-slaves became slavesfor the plantation again because of the fear put before them. Another former slaveholdergave a huge speech on how he knew they were free but he would like them to stay andwork his land like they always had. If the slaves stayed, it is not because they feltthreatened. The slaves believed since they contributed to the land the most and they outnumbered the owner they now owned the land. Several slaves thought the land belonged to them because they were born, raised,and worked on a plantation for many years. When a South Carolinian former slave ownerreturned, he found his servants in his house continuing their regular duties. The formermaster thought all was well until one ex-slave replied, We own this land now. Put it outof your head that it will ever be yours again (206). When a former slave owner told hisex-slaves that he wanted them to keep up his land, the slaves said with a smile, We aingwine nowhar... whar we wuz bon an whar belongs tuh us (208). Since the formerslave owners were angry over the slaves freedom and for their demand of ownership of theland the slaves bleed over, the friction and tension between the two escalated even more.The freed slaves thought because of their freedom they had rights as do the whitefolks, unfortunately, the never ending fight to be equal continued. Since blacks were nottaught how to read or write, they seldomly achieved other skills than that of a salve. Because the slaves only knew of servant work, they felt that the whites still looked at themas salves. The freed blacks wondered how they could succeed in a society dominated bywhite men and women. This feeling grants the ex-slaves ...
