Before the Civil War the roles of African American men were significantly different from the women. There were differences in their ways of life when it came down to labor, treatment by their masters, and why they wore bought in the first place. The men filled the typical male roles that consisted of physical labor, they did not have much interaction with their masters, and they were chosen based on their health and strength. The Women on the other hand usually filled the role of a maid, oversee the children, or to provide medical attention, and they were bought mostly based on if they could reproduce or not. One major difference between the men and women prior to the Civil War was their job roles. The Women tended to work more in the homes of their masters. They would cook, clean, make clothes, nurse, and tend to the gardens if …show more content…
One reason would be the type of labor the slave owners needed. If they needed work as a nurse, or house maid they would buy women, if they needed more workers in the plantations they would buy a man. If the masters wanted to continue their slave family tree, which most did, they would purchase women to reproduce and make more slaves. The women were told who to marry and who to have kids with. Some white slave owners even raped their slaves to make more kids and although the kids would be half white, that did not set them free from the slave system. Unfortunately, slave masters didn’t care how the kids were created they just cared about having more workers which were free to them. The fertile women were most desired, and ones that were unable to have kids were not treated the same. Ultimately, the men were chosen based on their health and ability to preform in the fields and do physical work and the women were chosen based on their ability to reproduce and expand their masters slave