Harriet Jacobs- The author of The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, which was an autobiography, but used the name Linda Brent. She was born into slavery and fought to become free. She was happy when she was little, but as she got older her master kept making advances on her. She had two children with a white lawyer. She hid for seven years in her grandmother's home. She was able to flee to the North where she would later be reunited with her daughter, son and brother. Harriet soon became free when a friend purchased her and let her free. She would then become encouraged to write her life story and work with fellow anti-slavery organizations.
Slave Trade- To acquire slaves, America used the Trans-Atlantic slave trade or the "middle passage". Slaves would be taken from their native home and packed into ships that would go to America and Europe. Almost half of the slaves on the boat would die from different causes. Many slaves were taken from their homes and separated from their families. The slave trade officially ended in 1808, but even then, slaves were still being transported in secret.
Slavery and settings in North America- Slavery took place all over the United States but centered specifically in the South. Slaves were needed in the South to help maintain plantations. Even though slavery took place throughout the country, the North and abolitionists started to protests it and wanted it to end. The North and South made a compromise, the Missouri Compromise, that would make a line to keep slavery from spreading North. The civil war would then take place. With the election of President Abraham Lincoln, he would call for the emancipation proclamation. The emancipation proclamation called for the end of slavery, but even then, African Americans were treated horribly.
Fugitive Slave Act/Law- The fugitive slave act called for everyone to return a fleeing slave back to their masters. If one was to hide a slave they would be punished too. In newspapers there were many ads that called for the return of run away slaves. If you saw someone who could be a slave you were to hand them over. Many people returned free slaves just to get the rewards for returning an African American.
Abolition Movement- There were different kinds of abolition movements taking place during this time. Slaves would protest by not doing their work properly or break things. They would also runaway. There were many people who rose to the occasion of this movement. People used both violent and non-violent kinds of protest. A man named James Brown had took decided to go with his plan of using violence by taking over arsenals. this ended up in the many deaths of many people. There were also people like Federick Douglas, who used his words to make people think differently and protest against slavery.
Plantation Life- The plantation life of a slave was tough. Slaves were mostly used in the South because they were needed in maintaining and growing crops. They were expected to plant and harvest the different crops their masters wanted. Many times slave would resist their masters by breaking tools or working badly. Their masters in turn would punish them badly. Starting at a young age, slaves were expected to do some kind of work.
Works Cited
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2923.html
http://www.harrietjacobs.org/bio.html
http://cghs.dadeschools.net/african-american/europe/slave_trade.htm
http://www1.american.edu/TED/slave.htm
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slavery-us-constitution.htm
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=22
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/emancipation-proclamation.htm
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/fugitive-slave-law.htm
http://afgen.com/abmovement.html
http://www.stratfordhall.org/learn/slavery.php
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