American Antebellum Slavery

A detailed Summary of American Antebellum Slavery


Images in contemporary life, mostly from Hollywood, have tended to portray the life in the American south as a natural aristocratic society, however this reflection of slave life could not be wider of the mark. Thankfully, much literature has been written over the years regarding the notorious subject, which has provided a much more accurate reflection of plantation life, representing the slave owners as arrogant, selfish, brutal, and uncaring for human existence. There is a great deal of literature available, explaining the nature of slavery in the antebellum South, however much of it overlooks the relationships between the slaves and the slave owners. Peter Kolchin, in his book, "American Slavery", focuses on this in particular detail; therefore it is a good source of information when examining the slave-slave owner relationships.

Southern slaves, as Kolchin observes, "suff


ered an extraordinary amount of interference in their daily lives" . Slaves were regarded by their masters, first and foremost, as property, therefore the slave owners assumed a lot of direct control over their property, and this interference ultimately shaped the everyday lives of the slaves themselves.

The ultimate, and most dreaded form of interference in slave families, however, was the forced separation of family members, which remained, as Kolchin says, "a pervasive feature of the slave South". Although many slave owners strove to keep their slave families whole, there were instances where the separation of families "made sense" or was "necessary". This again goes to show the stark truth that slaves were regarded as property first, and humans second. It is estimated that one first slave marriage in three was broken by forced separation and half of all children were sepa

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Approximate Word count = 594
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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