Abuse In Southern Slavery

Southern slavery is most well-known for its violence and abuse. Among the countless other issues surrounding it, slavery is defined by brutality. Of course, not all slave owners were cruel and harsh, but the vast majority were that way. The abuse slaves experienced was physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Most often times it was dealt out by their master, but also by the general population of free white Americans. Slaves were degraded solely because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity. They often turned to religion in order to be able to cope. Masters and the general white population in the South maintained this way of life through these forms of abuse. In order to prevent the slaves from acting out, they used fear tactics. The

Disobedience was often punished by floggings, one of the most common forms of violence. Blacks were expected to do everything the white man insisted. They could not say or do anything without fear of angering their master. Within the story of Thomas Jones, there are multiple accounts of beatings. Jones recalls that “[my master] whipped me with great severity, inflicting terrible pain at every blow upon my quivering body, which was still very tender from the recent lacerations” (Jones, 103). He received this beating because his master did not approve of him praying. What the free white man could do at any time, the slave could only do with their master’s blessing. In the account of Louisa Picquet’s life, she also is beaten for not obeying her master. She states that her master found her “and whip me with the cowhide, naked” and that she will “take some of the marks with [her] to the grave” (Picquet, 115). Without the physical pain and violence that was inflicted upon slaves, slavery would not have endured as long as it did. Masters used these forms of physical abuse to ensure submission. The slaves would not act out because they did not want to experience the