Slavery in Texas

A detailed Summary of Slavery in Texas

In the book, "An Empire for Slavery", Randolph B. Clark describes the way in which Texas slaves coped with life under oppressive circumstances. Some of the topics discussed in the book include how slaves approached daily chores and provided for their material and physical condition. Also, it is demonstrated how slaves tended to their psychological and spiritual well being and how they displayed their feelings towards this "Peculiar Institution."

Some slaves in Texas approached responsibility for work in such a manner that they were given a great deal of leeway for their own daily job assignments and were even given supervisory positions over other slaves. Some bondsman, working as managers, tended to plantations and farms in the absence of the owners. This practice is quite remarkable when we sometimes visualize a slave as a blackman with a chain and heavy ball attached to one foot. The conception of manager slaves apparently was propagated in such an encompassing manner that some proponents of slavery found it to be very disconcerting. Some slave owners felt too much liberty was being given to the interned hoard.

In 1858, state senator Henry E. McCulloch introduced a bill to outlaw the

In addition to farm raised meat and vegetables, nature itself contributed to the larder in the form of whitetail deer, bear, rabbit, squirrel, coon, opossums, quail, dove, turtles, and fish. Wild nuts and berries could be gathered at certain times of the year. Slave women would prepare the meals in addition to their normal chores and no doubt created what would later be known as that delicious "soul food."Yummy. In summary, slaves appear to have had food that was in both good in quality, quantity and variety to provide for what amounted to one of the best parts of their lives.

The important lesson here is that everyone now can and does have equal access to the opportunities created by the greatest system of government the world has ever known, a government that was helped to be created by the efforts of everyone. Our constitution guarantees the PURSUIT of happiness. However, we must pursue.

It would have been very difficult for slaves to laundry clothes, so not only were the clothes ill fitting and uncomfortable, but probably smelled to high heaven too.

practice. The bill passed, but had little effect because it had little support in the white community. Some blacks, if not managers, were more in the order of middle managers known as "drivers." Drivers were specialty supervisors who oversaw operations related to "chopping" cotton (cultivating), plowing, planting and harvesting. As slavery progressed many slaves graduated to other jobs that required a different degree of responsibility, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, personal valets, and housekeepers and the like. So it would appear bondsmen were perfectly capable of accomplishing any task given to them by their tormentors.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bondsmen Texas, Henry McCulloch, Slaves Texas, Peculiar Institution, Randolph Clark, Bibliography Retired, slave owners, slaves texas, EMPIRE SLAVERY, quantity variety, slaves appear, cabins built, masters slaves, psychological spiritual, slaves apparently, empire slavery,

Approximate Word count = 1593
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History