1. Slavery was an old
institution
Practiced for many centuries in most
societies throughout the world
Often war prisoners, non-believers of
the religion of their conquerors, and
poor people who indentured themselves
to get out of debt
Older slavery was not permanent,
involving multiple generations, denying
education, marriage, parenthood, and
did not degrade slaves to sub-human
status. It also had not been primarily
race-based
2. •Indentured servants were cheaper at first, but
had to be replaced every 5-7 years
•Slaves were more expensive initially but:
1. they were not paid
2. were never given their freedom
3. their children were became slaves
So it became more cost effective over time.
Why slave labor?
3. Difficult, if not impossible, to enslave
Native Americans
Whites felt culturally superior to Africans;
it was right to enslave them
Distance of Africa to “New World” made
Africans feel disconnected from their homes
since it was impossible for them to return.
Whites, as Christians, felt an “obligation” to
convert blacks to Christianity from their
Muslim faith
Why enslave Africans?
4. •First priority was profit
•Objective as to arrive in the
Americas with the most live
slaves possible at the least
cost.
•Comfort and cleanliness was
not important
Slave ship
5. This drawing of slaves on
deck of a slave ship hides the
unbelievably harsh conditions
that the slaves endured
during the Middle Passage
between Africa and the
Caribbean.
Slaves were frequently
brutalized, mistreated and
forced to live for weeks on
end in individual spaces no
larger than a grave with little
food and water.
The toll of these conditions
was horrendous. A voyage
which resulted in less than
one-quarter of the cargo
dying was considered
successful.
Brutal conditions in the Middle Passage
6. Slaves were better fed as they approached the
New World in order to make them more “saleable”
Their bodies were oiled down to make their skin
look more healthy, and hot tar would be used to fill
“imperfections”, such as scars from beatings and
whippings on board slave ships
Slaves would then be sold to the highest bidder
Young males were the most expensive. Followed
by young women, middle aged people, children,
and finally older people
Slave Auctions
As the southern colonies developed, it became obvious that a limited population would not provide free labor needed for shops and factories, similar to what had been developed in the New England and Middle colonies. The Southern colonies, with limited male population and very few cities and factories, lent themselves to reliance of slave labor over free labor and indentured servitude. While slaves were more costly in the short term, they tended to have more economic benefit in the long run. While an indentured servant would eventually be able to earn their freedom, a slave was a slave for the rest of their lives. In addition, any children that slave would bear would also be subject to a life of servitude.
Many whites sought to justify the enslavement of Africans. While some whites attempted to enslave Native Americans, this tended to be extremely difficult to do because Native Americans could more easily escape because they knew the countryside. This made African enslavement more attractive, since they would not know the territory as Native Americans would. In addition, whites could easily rationalize slavery because they felt culturally superior to black Africans. In their view, their language, music, government, and so on was more advanced than those in Africa, and therefore enslavement seemed more acceptable, to the point that many whites believed that Africans were not human, but were simply human-like creatures. As Christians, many whites also felt that Muslims were inferior, and frequently endangered of not reaching salvation unless they would be converted. In the minds of some whites, the only effective way to convert these “heathens” was to enslave them.
Slaves were transported via ship for the long voyage from Africa to the New World. Slavers frequently chose to “tight-pack” their slave ships, often “layering” their cargo one over the other in a “spoon-style” fashion. As the voyage continued, and slaves were allowed to be brought on deck for short periods of time, some would jump overboard to drown or be eaten by sharks rather than suffer any further in the horrible conditions “tween decks”. More than 20% of the slaves captured in Africa died from disease, maltreatment, or injury as the ships made their way across the Atlantic.
Slaves en route in the Middle Passage would generally be fed only two meals per day, and the type of food that they would receive would generally depend on the supplies that slavers were able to forage from the region the slaves were captured in. Water rations usually averaged about a half pint per day. Slaves were infrequently brought on deck and “danced” for exercise. They were forced to jump up and down to the beat of a kettle drum, sometimes until the shackles on their legs caused the skin to chafe and they would actually bleed. On some ships, crew members would clean the slave decks with hot vinegar to eliminate the smell of human waste and vomit, but frequently, they would simply let the stench grow until they arrived at port. In some instances, ports would not allow slave ships to dock due to the smell and possibility of spread of disease, such as smallpox, which could easily kill most of a slave ship’s cargo and crew. In some instances, ophthalmia, a highly contagious disease which quickly caused blindness, would sweep through a ship.
