A Slave's Life
Although many cultures have practiced slavery throughout human history, no system of slavery was ever more brutal and dehumanizing than the race-based slavery of the transatlantic slave trade. Africans kidnapped from their homes faced a terrifying sea voyage to the Americas that often ended in disease or death. Upon arrival in America, they faced an existence foreign to any they had known, and they were stripped of all freedoms and human rights. Bought and sold, physically and mentally confined, and often starved or abused, slaves in America were forced to cope with ever more restrictive conditions.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, American slavery was tied to the tobacco and rice crops of Eastern Seaboard states. Because traditional methods of growing and harvesting these crops required knowledge and skill, most slaves during this time were skilled workers. But during the nineteenth century, America turned its attention to cotton, a crop experiencing explosive growth after the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin. The cotton gin was a machine that quickly and easily separated cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber. Unlike rice and tobacco processing, cotton production did not require skilled labor. Seizing an opportunity for unprecedented financial gain, many farm owners migrated to the lower South, taking their slaves with them. Life for Southern slaves, especially for those working in the cotton fields, became more isolated and restricted.
The Middle Passage
The terrifying voyage from Africa to the Americas claimed the lives of millions of Africans. To maximize profit, traders packed their human cargo tightly onto wooden slabs. Disease was rampant in the filthy “slave hold,” where vomit, excrement, and corpses were infrequently removed. Those who survived these hellish conditions endured physical and mental abuse. Many Africans preferred death to bondage, and starved themselves or jumped overboard. Those who failed at suicide received severe punishment.
This engraving from daguerreotype shows slaves on board the deck of the ship Wildfire.
The Business of Selling Slaves
As in any mercantile system, slave agents recorded, insured, advertised, displayed, and finally, sold their “wares” to the highest bidders. To prepare for sales, dealers fed, cleaned, and oiled down slaves to hide disease and to improve appearance. Sales took place on ship decks, in slave pens, by preset contract, or at auction. On the auction block, potential buyers examined every part of these men and women's anatomy. Healthy young men usually sold first and for the highest value.
Printed advertisements for the sale of slaves were posted to attract buyers and often provided descriptions of available “merchandise.”
Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin.
This manuscript document transferred ownership of a slave from William Rose to Randolph Savedge. The deed gives to “Randolph Savedge, his heirs and assigns, one Negro boy by the name of Warren.”
Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin.
This wood engraving depicts an indoor slave auction. A slave mother and child stand on a raised platform as the auctioneer conducts the bidding. Other slaves stand in the background awaiting their fate on the auction block.
Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin.
Life in Bondage
Slaves lived under heavy restrictions—physical and geographical—in their day-to-day lives. Physical confinement was the primary method slave owners used to take away freedom from slaves. Ankle and wrist shackles, for instance, limited mobility, discouraged flight, and were degrading to the men and women who were forced to wear them.
In some areas, masters hired out their skilled slaves to work outside of the plantation. While off the plantation, slaves were required to travel with a tag or pass. Traveling without official permission could result in punishment for the slave and, in some cases, the master.
Gift of Julia A. Wilbur.
This pass, issued to a slave named Alfred, was proof of license to travel in and around Washington DC.
Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin.