Slave Songs

These are songs that slaves use to sing either to communicate with each other or to help the time pass
Wade in the Water
Listen to the song it is very powerful and really makes one think about what they are trying to say
Music

Slaves often sang about freedom and a lot of thier songs represented different meanings especially when they were trying to escape to freedom and it was for the purpose of not getting caught by their owners or any white American for that matter.  Freedom songs

There is so much info about slaves and some of the places I found my info was here
The Life as a Slave
Sojourner Truth
Years of Slavery

Slavery and the Abuse they Endured

Our country is now considered the land of the free and the land of opportunity but it hasn’t always been so.  Everyone is treated with more dignity and respect now than they were during the era of slavery.  Slaves were miss-treated and abused, which altered who they became and who they turned out to be and what they could accomplish. Slave women on the other hand had a solely different purpose.  Their main purpose was to bear children, especially boys.

            Slaves were treated more as property and not as people. Slaves had the knowledge that white Americans had, but were not given the opportunity to present it and use it. They were not able to go to school to further educate their minds, so what they knew was what they could be taught from listening or observing others. They also had feelings, but were unable to show them due to their owners. These feelings were not seen by their owners due to the fact that the feelings they had did not concern the owners. They honestly didn’t care if the slaves were happy, depressed, mad, or lonely as long as the work was getting done or they were doing what their “purpose” was. Slaves were sold on every day occasions just as we would sell animals, property, or even vehicles. Slaves between the ages of 18 and 30 were sold for the most money, especially women who were in their child bearing years (Louis and Goodman, pg 22).

The abuse that slaves endured is what truly affected their identity in the long run. The slave owners beat them on many occasions, not solely on what they did, but more for a feeling of power.  There are plenty of stories about slaves and the type of abuse they experienced and how

it affected the way they lived and what their future held.  A lot of the stories that were told included slaves being whipped until blood ran down there back. Once the brutal beating ended salt was then thrown on the wound to stop the bleeding, which also caused excruciating pain and discomfort.

            There are many other ways in which slaves were punished, which included things like being beaten with a chair, brooms, tongs, shovels, shears, and knife handles.  At times, owners would grab the closest objects to them and use it to discipline their slaves. There was one slave owner in South Carolina who would line a barrel with nails, put a slave inside and roll it down a hill (The Life as a Slave, pg 1).  This type of mistreatment had one sole purpose, which was to scare the salves and keep them from acting out or running away.  There were no ways for slaves to escape this abuse unless they took a huge chance of running away, but for most, the punishment for running away was far worse than the actual chance of them making to freedom.  They were stuck with nowhere to go, no one to turn to and nothing but a dead end. 

            People in our society today take freedom for granted.  We do not appreciate the fact that we can leave our home, go where we want when we want without asking permission, but slaves did not have this choice or freedom.  The decisions were made for them such as choosing what meal they were going to have or what they would be doing that day.  A lot of the time they were given salt cornmeal hearings, pork, and fish.  There were a lot of times that slaves went hungry and were not given anything to eat, either out of some form of punishment or just because there was not enough food for both the slaves and animals (The Life as a Slave, pg 1).

            In today’s society it is a law that any child under the age of eighteen is considered a minor and has to have some type of parental dependence.  Children in today’s society take their

parents for granted and some even resent them.  They do not realize what they have until it is too late.   When slaves were born they could be taken away from their mothers as soon as twelve months old (Life as a Slave, pg 1).  Growing up without a mother can have a huge affect on a child, not only mentally but also physically.  A lot of slaves did not have any nurturing figure growing up to give them the love and security they needed.  A child at any age needs guidance and a role model to help prepare them for their future.  Many slave children did not have this guidance to help lead them to their future, which definitely changed their outlook on life.

Families that were torn apart had a lot of emotional stress put on them.  They had no idea if they would ever see their loved ones again or where they were being sent. There was no way for them to know if they were safe or even alive. I can’t imagine being in this situation of not knowing. It not only changes the slave’s life that is being sold, but the family being left behind. This can be very draining and depressing for the family, which could then hinder their effort working.  There was nothing slaves could do once their masters decided to sell them. The slaves are then treated like property rather than individuals, which can really take a toll on someone’s personality or even the way they view themselves as a human being.  Slaves were no different than white Americans; they had a beating heart, ten fingers and toes, and the only difference was the color of their skin. Something as simple as their skin color changed their lives forever. Just because their skin was a different color, it didn’t mean they deserved to be treated like animals, or as if they had no knowledge or their own thinking process. Even after slavery was abolished African Americans were not treated the same as white Americans and would not be for many years to follow.

African Americans who were born into slavery had no choice but to grow up beyond their mental capacity; it was the only way they would survive.  Going through something like that changes a person and the way they look at the world. If slavery never existed there may not be hostile feelings still going on today between different races. It could have made coexisting easier and changed the way we live today.  Even today the way we live is it not considered completely equal, and it probably never will be. 

            Lucretia Alexander is a former slave that endured abuse not only physically, but also mentally.  She was 89 years old when she was first interviewed. She had four children and one of her sons would have been or is 64 years old, but  she does not believe he is alive. Rumors have it that he is still alive, but she can’t believe that he is, due to the fact that she hasn’t seen him since he was a child. For her to find out the truth about her son is probably a dream away. (Yetman, pg 11).  Imagine not knowing if your child is alive or dead. These feelings could cause depression and could cause their whole life to be flipped upside down. In today’s societies, people might relate to this situation if their children have been kidnapped. Someone so precious in your life being taken from you in a blink of an eye could cause these same emotions that African American slaves were feeling. A feeling of loneliness or helplessness could change your life forever. I know if anyone in my family got taken from me it would consume my entire life with no regards to how I wanted to feel. I might say I could be strong, but in reality I know that I would do everything in my power to find that person and bring them home safely. African Americans felt this on everyday occasions with their family and friends, but there was no looking for their loved ones, due to their masters. Their feelings could only be held inside and thought about on a day to day basis and the reality was only too real for them.

Where Alexander lived she often witnessed other slaves being whipped. Her owner would put his slaves in stocks so they could not escape, then following that would be a beating by him or someone else. One of the people who did the whipping was Elijah; he had a whip that they use to call Blacksnake (Yetman, pg 12).  When slaves got abused like this it downgrades them making them feel worthless and unimportant. Some slaves were strong enough and knew they could overcome this; Alexander was one of them. She was not afraid to stand up for herself.  It takes a special type of person to live through this type of treatment, African Americans were strong individuals.  Anyone who can survive this type of treatment deserves to be respected by society not downgraded. 

            Alexander was whipped once by her overseer Tom Phipps because she was standing up for herself against his daughter Martha Ann Phipps.  Martha took a pair of stockings that were given to Alexander and when she found out she beat her, and ran home to her mistress and told her.  Slaves did not have much to begin with so when they did own something they cherished it and did everything they could to keep it.  Tom Phipps said he would get her back for beating Martha and he did. He caught her once, and had two girls hold her while he beat her but she escaped (Yetman, pg 13).  This was morally wrong in my opinion because Alexander was just taking back what was hers, it was wrong for her to beat Martha at the same time.  When things like this happen it changes a person because they were treated so badly and were treated like everything came above them. It did not matter who was in the right and who was in the wrong. 

            Andrew Boone was another slave who witnessed abuse.   He lived on a plantation in Northampton County, his master was Billy Boone.  In the winter time when it was freezing out some slaves living on the plantation would build a fire around where they were working but if

the master saw it he would come put it out.  They were forced to eat frozen meat and bread a lot for dinner (Yetman, pg 33). This was a horrible thing the slaves had to go through. The food they ate was sometimes worse than that fed to the animals.  This had to make them feel worthless knowing that the livestock got to eat better than they did. This made them feel like they were not important at all.   

            Andrew Boone said that they would sell slaves back and forth just like they would horses; a slave that was scarred and had welts all over them was not worth as much.  A slave that did not have scares was worth a lot more. This is ironic because slaves were whipped on many occasions.  This is very contradictory because slave owners wanted slaves to be in good “condition” but yet they were the ones making them worth less.  One would think that slave owners would want to keep their slaves in the best condition possible so they could get more money when it came time to sell them.   Andrew Boone was whipped with cat-o’-nine-tails, which was a whip with nine lashes on it.  Slaves were also beaten with a cobbin paddle this was a paddle that had forty holes in it and they would hit slaves on their naked flesh. This left blisters on their backs and welts that took weeks to heal. Than after they were done beating slaves with the paddle they would take the cat-o’-nine-tails and bust the blisters (Yetman, pg 33).  This abuse has to be one of the worst I have come across in my research.  This is so severe that it amazes me that anyone could survive this, or in that matter that anyone has the heart to actually do this to another human being.  Not only is it cruel but it is sickening to hear that someone had to go through this.  Abuse alters a person no matter how severe, but when it is taken to this level it can alter a person’s mind and make them feel worthless.  It can get to the point where slaves could

Slave Picture

This is a picture that well represents the abuse that slaves went through.  There is no telling if this slave is alive or not, if he was left there to die, or will be saved by someone. Picture

This is a picture of what being whipped does to a person.  It is a hard picture to look at because no human should have to experience this.  Picture