"Slavery in the American South." Constitutional Rights Foundation. Constitutional Rights Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
Summary: This article touched on numerous topics. First, being the buying and selling of slaves. In “Twelve Years a Slave”, a narrative by Solomon Northup tells of the cruel treatment of slaves when they are being bought and sold. In one account Northup talks about a Mother who is separated from her child and begs for them to stay together before being hit by the slave broker. Northup tells of what a usual day is for a slave working in a cotton plantation. They would usually have to wake up before dawn and are done only when it is too dark to see. At the end of the day the slave would bring the cotton they picked that day to a gin house where the cotton would be weighed. They feared the weighing for if it was too light they would be whipped and if it was too heavy they would be expected to pick that much the next day. Slaves lived in small cabins known as slave quarters. These cabins were very poorly built and did not help against the conditions of the seasons. Slaves had rules known as the “slave codes”. These codes were essentially stripping slaves of any rights or freedoms. There weren’t many instances of Slave resistance in the south because white people greatly outnumbered slaves in most places and they carried firearms. The slaves found other ways to …show more content…
Northup Solomon gave an amazing insight of what it was like to be a slave. His narrative gave life to what was happening at the time. Sometimes it takes a first person narrative to really get the message across about the topic. His narrative helped me see American slavery from a different angle. Since most slaves could not write back then having a first hand account from a slave is an amazing thing. The article also provided pictures, which was nice considering they did not have the author or the publishing
Summary: This article touched on numerous topics. First, being the buying and selling of slaves. In “Twelve Years a Slave”, a narrative by Solomon Northup tells of the cruel treatment of slaves when they are being bought and sold. In one account Northup talks about a Mother who is separated from her child and begs for them to stay together before being hit by the slave broker. Northup tells of what a usual day is for a slave working in a cotton plantation. They would usually have to wake up before dawn and are done only when it is too dark to see. At the end of the day the slave would bring the cotton they picked that day to a gin house where the cotton would be weighed. They feared the weighing for if it was too light they would be whipped and if it was too heavy they would be expected to pick that much the next day. Slaves lived in small cabins known as slave quarters. These cabins were very poorly built and did not help against the conditions of the seasons. Slaves had rules known as the “slave codes”. These codes were essentially stripping slaves of any rights or freedoms. There weren’t many instances of Slave resistance in the south because white people greatly outnumbered slaves in most places and they carried firearms. The slaves found other ways to …show more content…
Northup Solomon gave an amazing insight of what it was like to be a slave. His narrative gave life to what was happening at the time. Sometimes it takes a first person narrative to really get the message across about the topic. His narrative helped me see American slavery from a different angle. Since most slaves could not write back then having a first hand account from a slave is an amazing thing. The article also provided pictures, which was nice considering they did not have the author or the publishing