How Did Enslav African Americans In The 1800s

Enslaved African Americans

In the south during the 1800’s, agriculture revolved around the production of cotton, and with the invention of the cotton gin demand grew very rapidly throughout the country and even in European countries. White wealthy plantation owners used slaves as free labor to produce the cotton; therefore, making themselves much wealthier. The institution of slavery wasn’t new to the south; it was deeply integrated into their way of life. By the 1830’s, the majority in the south saw slavery as a positive, while those in the north saw it as a negative. While white, wealthy men found more ways to use slaves as free labor, slaves were finding ways to escape to freedom. While some slaves in Virginia secretly formed a plan to

The law for bided anyone to teach slaves young or old how to read or write. African Americans had very little access if any to the bible, books or other literature. They whites were afraid that African Americans would become smart if they were to learn to much. What the white owner didn’t know is that their slaves would often find and hide a dictionary. Then at night they would light little pine torches to read all night. Slowly they would learn the words, how to spell, and how to write. Soon these slaves would be reading newspapers, that would let them learn more about the north. Without knowing it at the time the slaves were slowly gaining knowledge that would assist them and others in escaping the brutality of their owners. John Thompson, after reading a newspaper article with a speech from J.Q Adams. about abolition of slavery in District of Columbia, said in The Life of John Thompson a Fugitive Slave “While reading this speech my heart leaped with joy. I spent many Sabbaths alone in the woods, meditating upon it. I the found out that there was a place where the negro was regarded as a man, and not as a brute; where he might enjoy the “inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You can imagine how he must have felt knowing that there is a place where he could be a