Tsongas Industrial History Center, c. 2019.
Slavery in the American South
One day Master takes us to town and puts us on that auction block and a man name Bill Dunn
bought me. I was about seven years old. Talk about something awful, you should have been
there. The slave owners were shoutin’ and sellin’ children to one man and the mamma and
pappy to another. The slaves cried and carried on somthin’ awful.
- Millie Williams, born into slavery in 1851
Why do we learn about slavery? We learn about history to understand our past – where we
came from, and how we got where we are today. Slavery is part of the history of the world and
of the United States. It is very hard for many of us to understand how and why slavery happened
here – by our own people, to our own people. As you go through this lesson, it is okay to feel
angry or sad. You may question why we even learn about something as bad as slavery. It is
important, though, to learn what happened in the past. We need to honor the lives of the men,
women and children who endured and survived these hardships and tragedies so that we will not
repeat the acts of destroying other human lives.
What did it mean to be an enslaved person in the southern United States? People in the
United States practiced a form of slavery called chattel slavery. Chattel slaves were considered
property and could be bought and sold just like any other piece of property. Enslaved people had
no rights and were expected to perform labor on the orders of a slave master. The lives of
enslaved people were controlled completely – where they lived, and what they did for work,
even whether or not their family could stay together. This also meant that children born to
enslaved people were also enslaved. Enslaved people were bought and sold at their owner’s
whim.
Why did slavery happen in the United States? Slavery existed in the American colonies,
beginning in the 1619, before the formation of the United States. Wealthy people wanted others
to do work for them so they could make more money and have time for other tasks. Slavery was
one option for labor. Slavery was not just a Southern institution. At one point there were
enslaved people in all of the Northern states as well as Southern states. By 1790, slavery had
mostly vanished in the North, with only 6% of the enslaved people in the northern United States.
It was around this time that slavery began to grow in the South. The invention of the cotton gin
made growing cotton on plantations very profitable. More enslaved people meant more cotton
plants to grow which equaled more money for the plantation owners. By 1860, there were almost
four million enslaved people in this country, with the majority of them living and working on
cotton plantations.
How could the United States’ government and people let this happen? There were people in
the North and South who thought slavery was wrong. Some fought hard to free all enslaved
people and end slavery. Most white people thought of slavery as a normal part of the United
States’ society and economy. Some thought people of other races were meant to be controlled.
Many even came to believe that people of African descent were naturally suited to slavery, or
could not take care of themselves if they were free. This false idea was used to justify and
promote the enslavement of people of one race.
