Plantation Life

The plantation was the place where thousands o0f slaves would work and bleed in the hot sun to make life easier for the white man. The plantation was where the crops and raw goods were grown to be manufactured and slaves were the manual labor that insured the products were cultivated. If a slave were to slack or become tired most often the owners would become enraged and attack and beat the slaves senselessly. This is why slavery is considered evil because of the forced labor and the evil and cruel beating that went on during this time. The harsh mentality of the slave owners is what cause a major outbreak and force to create an abolition movement.

Slavery In The Northern Setting

Slavery is notorious for being centered in the south but little do most people know is that slavery was a major aspect of the northern way of life. Slavery was originally everywhere but as the nation advanced and views varied the north attempted to eradicate the institution. Even though the north attempted to hide their involvement in the evils of slavery they still were involved. the north was the industry and the supplies and goods came from the plantations to grow on the land in the south. The north needed the goods in order to create business so even if they denied slavery, they had a direct involvement through economics. Abolitionist made it hard for slavery to exist peacefully. The north made itself safe for slaves so the north became a beacon of salvation to runaway slaves who dreamed of freeing the opression they were entagled in and escaping to the north but fugitive slave laws made this dream harder than anticipated.

Fugitive Slave Act

Fugitive slaves acts were made to hurt runaway slaves in anyway possible. These laws were made throughout the 1800s to encourage whites to report and do whatever means necessary to aid in the help of the capture of slaves. these laws made escape much harder for the runaway slaves and they were sought after and hunted like animals. Revolution was growing in the eyes of the slaves who were losing hope in freedom because the evils of slavery were making it impossible for that shot at redemption. Rewards for capturing runaway slaves were quite common while punishments to instill fear were guaranteed to those who aided or even avoided an opportunity to capture a slave.

Slave Trade

The slave trade is a chain of events that ultimately involved one country's thriving economy, at the price of actual human life from another. The slave trade, also known as the "triangular trade", was the trading that went on in between Europe, Africa, and then the Americas. Slaves, rum, molasses, gold, and other exotic materials were exported from Africa and brought to America, where the slaves were auctioned off and put to work in plantations. From the resources collected in the plantations by slaves, the Americans then do trade with Europe and get European goods, then the cycle just starts all over again.

SOURCE: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/freedom/viewTheme.cfm/theme/triangular

Harriet Ann Jacobs

Harriet Ann Jacobs was born as a slave and was raised in North Carolina as a slave. At the begging of her life, she was owned by her grandmother's master's daughter, who was a very kind and loving woman. She treated her and her brother with great care and rarely made them do work that they didn't want to do. After a couple of years however, the kind master died, and she was transferred to a 5 year old girl. However, because the girl wasn't "mature enough to handle the gift." so she was given to her father, Dr. Norcom. Norcom tried throughout her adolescence to make sexual advances on her, but refusing to be raped by Dr. Norcom, she took on a a relationship with Samuel Tredwell Sawyer, a lawyer and future congressman. Through this relationship, two children were produced. Joseph in 1829, and Louisa in 1833. She much desired to run away with her children, but it was extremely risky, so while the children were in the good care of her grandmother, Jacobs was in a attic crawlspace for about 7 years, still being with the children by seeing them through a crack in the window. As her plan of escape, she secretly took a ferry to Philadelphia. From there, she took a train to New York where she became a writer. Writing most of her book in Rochester.

SOURCE: http://www.harrietjacobs.org/bio.html