Examples Of Transition From Slavery To Freedom

While slavery was legal, free men would often be kidnapped into slavery, and sometimes slaves actually escape to freedom. There are many different stories on slavery and how many slaves escaped, but just because a slaves escapes from slavery, does not mean he or she is free. If a black person was considered a free man, he or she had to get official document saying so, and even after the documents were given to them, some of them still found themselves as slaves. Although transitioning from slavery to freedom seems easy, that is just as hard as being free and being kidnapped into slavery. Solomon Northup is a free black man. One day while he was out at the park, he was approached by a man, and the man introduced him to two men. The two men …show more content…
It was also common for slaves to be caught by their masters. Joshua Glover was a victim of this. Glover was a slave and he wanted his freedom badly so he escaped. Joshua’s master was really upset about this when he found out. During that time, if someone owned slaves and their slaves ran away, it would make them angry because they lost a free worker, and it makes them look weak to other slaves. The masters were scared that one slave escaping would cause a domino effect with the other slaves. When Glovers master found out he ran away they put a bounty on him. Glover was eventually caught. He knew that he had to tell his master something so that he would not be beaten to death. “Glover said that he had been on a drinking spree,” Glover lied and said that he was drunk and wandered off and he had0 to hide because he did not want to be sold to anyone else (Jackson 51). Glover had to think like a slave in order to live. He did not want to go back with his master, but he had to because he did not have the intelligence to take his master to court and …show more content…
Black people, free men and slaves, were sold in this trade. The people who sold slaves were always looking for travelers, like Solomon Northup. It was illegal to sell free men and women and there was an eight hundred dollar fine if caught. Most people felt like the fine was a small price to pay because of how much a slave could be worth. Because of this slave trade, many men and women who were born free lost their freedom. Another common thing during this time, was for slave owners to lease their slaves to people with larger plantations. When they did this, the slave owner got a percentage of whatever the slave made for the plantation owner (Jackson 5). The slave trade was banned with The Compromise of 1850, but it was not effective until the Emancipation Proclamation (Jackson