The Injustice Of Slavery In America

Superior Essays
Over the course of its existence, America has had many injustices. From unfair dealings with Native Americans to bad presidents, the nation has seen it all. But the worst of all by far was when Americans imprisoned and abused fellow members of the human race.Slavery was a dangerous thing that no one realized until millions were killed. Even though American slavery has ended, the history is timeless and it still happens today. First, there were the origins of Slavery. The first accounts of slavery was believed to have been in 1472 in Western Africa and Haiti(Horton 13-15). In these countries, the warring nations and tribes sold off their prisoners of war as slaves to gain extra resources. Even Christopher Columbus himself was looking for slaves …show more content…
Slave Owners were very rude and overworked their slaves(Horton 110-111). Slaves were expected to pick anywhere from 50-150 pounds of cotton per day under the hot sun and brutal overseers. Those that lived farther south and worked with sugarcane often had it a lot worse and got sick more often than the average slave. Also, slaves were not allowed to be intelligent(Skinner 19). They were not allowed to learn to read and write in fear that the slaves would get smart enough to realize they could escape or overthrow their masters. Some slaves were so smart that they created inventions, but most of the time their owners took the credit and the slave who actually came up with it was thrown to the side. Many slaves actually got married which provided one of the few escapes from the brutal thing that is slavery(Streissguth 94-97). However, if they chose to have children, they ran the painful risk of being separated from them if their master sells their child away(Carey 18). Slaves could have many different occupations when working at plantations(Carey 18). Most slaves did groundwork, but some were asked to help in the kitchen, dress the wife or children, or even play with the children. Most plantations didn’t care about their slaves and saw them as replaceable(Streissguth 64-66). They only got Saturday afternoons off and were nothing but a price tag to most plantation …show more content…
Although male slaves were much more common than female, life was arguably harder from them as slaves(Carey 18). They were berated constantly by the wives and some of them had more difficult times out in the fields(Streissguth 105-106). Most girls were used as sex slaves by force(Skinner 118). It didn’t even matter what age the young lady was, if the master wanted her, there was nothing she could do. If she resisted, then they would be abused and still have to go through with the owner’s disgusting plans. Sojourner Truth was one black woman among many who had a large part to play when it came to both slavery and women’s rights(Horton 74-77). Though technically born free, Sojourner was born in New York before it was a state and was therefore unrightfully deemed a slave. When she was finally granted freedom, she searched for her son Peter and found him abused by his owner in Alabama. From that point on, she became a powerful and moving advocate for not only slavery, but for the rights of a woman. Women in slavery had a difficult time, but found a way to move through it in the

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