history 2

Professor Dabel

Jan 18th, 2018

The Experience of Male and Female Salve in the Nineteenth Century

Nowadays there are workers everywhere. They work for certain hours and they get their salary or income, they are totally free which mean they can quit at any time they want. Why there was slavery in the past? In the past, these people who worked for other people are not free and they called them slaves. The American history talked a lot about the salves and how people treat them. People in that era were plundering their rights and they had a very harsh life. The slavery started in the 18th and 19th century and it continued until the civil war. In that era, people were buying the slaved from Africa to work for them. There were using the salves for different purposes and mostly there where using them in the farms. “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” (Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works - Volume XII), here Lincoln shows that people should be free, and being free is not for some elite group of people, but it is for every human. Although both men and women sometimes endured servitude in similar ways, nevertheless there is an inherent difference in how the sexes experienced slavery, because women and men often did different types of labor, men and women rebelled in deferent ways, and men and women faced different forms of abuse/punishment.

Male slaves used to do several types of work. The English people in Virginia were the people who brought the slaves from Africa to do the farm work for them. Before that, the people who came from their county to America was doing the work as a contact to pay the cost of the journey. These people left their countries escaping from the poverty in their original countries. The African slaves that brought to America were not doing only the farm work but they also doing different works. In addition, the salves worked as a personal servant[footnoteRef:1] who does for them what they want. For example, the slavers were waving for their owner and they worked as a shoemaker[footnoteRef:2]. Male slaves used to work in the artisan shops[footnoteRef:3] too and help with the ships. [1: West, T. M., & Douglass, F. (1999). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 142] [2: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 142] [3: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 146]

The female slave had gone throw harsh life at that era and they did different types of work. She suffered a lot being a slave, besides that she gets sexual harassments she had to work and do different tough jobs. Women slave had to make the food for the people and feed them.[footnoteRef:4] Moreover, the females were sewing the clothes and dairy maids[footnoteRef:5]. They treated same as the males and they had to work as a personal maid. [4: White, D. G. (1999). Ar’n’t I a Woman?: Female Slave in the Plantation South P.142] [5: Ar’n’t I a Woman? P.142]

There are different forms of the rebellion and the resistance. As I mentioned, the slaves had gone throw many events and people did not give them their rights to live as a human. They treated differently and harshly. The slaves did not remain silent about their rights. They tried their best to resist and insurgency. The mentioned in the book, Give me Liberty about how the slaves killed white people and that was the first people that they killed.[footnoteRef:6] In addition to that, the Indians incited the slaves for the resistance. Another form of the rebellion in increasing the slave’s population so it will be easier for them to resists because abundance overcomes the courage. The also explains how the slaves stopped the plantation system so the colonies are going to be affected because of the crop shortage. [6: Foner, Eric, 1943- author. (2014). Give me liberty! : an American history. P.149]

The females did resist too, and they played a significant role in the rebellion. As we know the women don’t have man’s brave and power but not at that time. Female slaves were very strong, and they resist courageously beside that they treated brutally. In the book Aren’t I a Woman, Deborah Gray shows how the females slaves resist by burning the farms[footnoteRef:7]. Furthermore, they add poison the food and they provide the food for the slaves while the master is not around.[footnoteRef:8] [7: Ar’n’t I a Woman? P.165] [8: Ar’n’t I a Woman? P.79 and P.155]

Slaves had diverse types of punishments and abuses. Slaves worked hard, and they punished by the worst ways. The masters force them to the dangerous work without thinking about their lives or thinking about the injuries that they might get of doing this work.[footnoteRef:9] In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglas talked about Mr. Covey and how they forced him to work in different weather conditions despite the cold or the rainy weather.[footnoteRef:10] Slaves work for long times and many days, the masters don’t give them days off and that was one the cause of abuses that they get. Douglas talked about a slave called Demby in his narrative. This slave was whipped and then he jumped into the water to cool himself and this shows the savage punishments that the slaves get. [9: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 65] [10: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 55]

Female slaves had punishments by the masters in different forms. The master punishes the slaves both the females and the males. The male slaves might have less effect and he can resist the punishments, but the females were oppressed. Douglass talks about killing a young girl and breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick.[footnoteRef:11] Another type of punishments if they didn't let them be close from relatives and they try to separate them.[footnoteRef:12] In addition to that, female slaves had a lot of sexual assaults and the masters rape them. [11: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 21] [12: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass P. 43]

In conclusion, both male and female slave gone throw horrible life and they were killed for trifle reasons. They brought the slaves from Africa for the work, but they didn’t treat them as humans who have rights. Master didn’t care about their lives and killing them was easy for them. They made the slaves do different types of work for both genders. We can that the slaves tried to resist but that didn’t hide the truth about their terrible life. At that time the slaves really were wronged, and one would like to be in their position.

Bibliography

Foner, Eric, 1943- author. (2014). Give me liberty! : an American history. New York :W.W. Norton & Company.